Gun Law
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
David Howard
George O'brien
Rita Oehmen
Ray Whitley
Paul Everton
Robert Glecker
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
While riding to the lawless town of Gunsight, Arizona, United States Marshal Tom O'Malley is ambushed in the desert by The Raven, his longtime foe, who steals his horse, water and identification papers. Later, The Raven loses his water and, crazed with thirst, drinks from a contaminated spring. When Tom stumbles on his dead enemy, he retrieves his belongings and takes a "letter of reference" from The Raven's pocket, which is addressed to Flash Arnold of Gunsight. By luck, Tom is picked up by a preacher, Joshua Ross, and his daughter Ruth, who take him to Gunsight. There Tom locates Arnold, the saloon proprietor, whose band of outlaws have just robbed a stagecoach, and introduces himself as The Raven. He then tells Arnold that he killed Tom O'Malley and, as proof, shows him his own badge. Convinced by Tom's story, Arnold reports to his "silent" partner in crime, John Blaine, the respected mayor of Gunsight, who tells Arnold to make Tom impersonate Tom O'Malley in order to quell the "law and order" faction in the town. As the new marshal, Tom protects Joshua and Ruth from the bullying outlaws and helps them to collect money to build a church. Soon after, Sam McGee, a deputy marshal who is working undercover as a singing waiter in Arnold's saloon, informs Tom about an upcoming payroll robbery. Disguised in a bandana, Tom ambushes Arnold's outlaws and returns the money to the stagecoach drivers. Sure that Tom is trying to take control of the town, Arnold then starts a rumor that he is a thieving impersonator and accuses him of stealing the funds for the church. Before he is arrested, Tom escapes on horseback and, with Ruth and Sam's help, exposes Blaine and Arnold and convinces the townspeople that he is, in fact, Tom O'Malley, United States Marshal.
Director
David Howard
Cast
George O'brien
Rita Oehmen
Ray Whitley
Paul Everton
Robert Glecker
Ward Bond
Francis Mcdonald
Edward Pawley
Frank O'connor
Lloyd Ingraham
Crew
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Gun Law was the first of sixteen George O'Brien westerns that RKO produced as well as distributed. Bert Gilroy produced all sixteen pictures, and David Howard directed fourteen. Modern sources contend that Oliver Drake wrote a similar story for the 1932 Willis Kent production Reckless Rider , although no contemporary information on the plot of that film has been found. The story of this film does resemble that of a 1934 John Wayne-Lone Star Production, West of the Divide , and modern sources claim that Drake contributed to that picture's story as well. Ray Whitley appears with the Six Bar Cowboys, according to Motion Picture Herald's "In the Cutting Room," which also includes Ethan Laidlaw in the cast. Their participation in the final film has not been confirmed. Modern sources add Hank Bell, Paul Fix, Bob Burns, James Mason, Neal Burns, Ken Card, Ray Jones, Herman Hack and Willie, Earl and Norman Phelps to the cast. Robert De Lacy directed a 1928 FBO Pictures version of Drake's story called When the Law Rides, which starred Tom Tyler and Jane Reid (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1921-30; F2.6253).
