Fury at Gunsight Pass

Hollywood histories rarely mention journeymen like Fred F Sears. Yet he churned out dozens of efficient B-movies, leaving even more unreleased when he died a year after directing this taut and incident-packed western. The opening moments pass quietly, as Sears deftly sets the scene for an outlaw raid on a small-town bank on the day the manager's son gets married. However, outlaw David Brian aims to cheat gang leader Neville Brand of the $35,000 stored in the safe. But the robbery doesn't go according to plan and a vengeful Brand rides into Gunsight Pass just as a sandstorm hits. Ace oater screenwriter David Lang shoehorns numerous twists and double-crosses into his pacey script, while cinematographer Fred Jackman Jr makes effective use of the rugged Vasquez Rocks terrain. The townsfolk prove an ornery bunch, as they demand lynchings and banishments. But Percy Helton and Katharine Warren steal the show as the duplicitous undertaker and his grasping spouse.