The actor Sterling Hayden made six features in 1955; four of them were westerns. It was a remarkably busy year for a man who professed to disliking acting. He remains a fascinating and contentious figure in mid-century American cinema. Standing a full 6’5″, the former marine was a former communist who had ‘named names’ during the McCarthy hearings but had escaped much of the industry’s subsequent ire due to his selfless military service during World War II. While he made a lot of westerns, he starred in all kinds of genres: war films, pirate movies, comedies, romances, and melodramas. He was, and remains, a striking presence in every film in which he starred.

Top Gun was Hayden’s third 1955 western, and followed Timberjack and Shotgun. He would conclude the year playing Jim Bowie in The Last Command. While I have yet to track down a copy of Timberjack during my survey of the 1955 western, I can safely confirm that Top Gun is the best film of the other three. It is a remarkably well plotted and effective b-movie, packed with strong performances and some surprising directions.

Hayden plays gunslinger Rick Martin, who returns to his home town of Casper, Wyoming to warn of an impending gang attack. He is not welcome. Marshal Bat Davis (James Millican) tells him the people of Casper have not forgiven his criminal activities, and breaks the news that his mother had died. What is worse, Rick learns his former lover Laura Mead (Karin Booth) is engaged to Canby Judd (William Bishop) – the man who may have murdered Rick’s mother.

Top Gun boasts quite an extensive cast of characters. Beyond those already mentioned there is hotelier Jim O’Hara (Regis Toomey) – Rick’s only friend in town, gang leader Tom Quentin (John Dehner), and locals Ed Marsh (Hugh Sanders) and Lem Sutter (Australia’s Rod Taylor). They are surprisingly well balanced, and well introduced. Top Gun manages to squeeze quite a complex story into its 74 minutes, and a side effect of that complexity is that it has no time for padding or unnecessary elements. It is all, start to finish, plot or character informing plot.

Sterling Hayden is excellent as Rick, portraying a man with both conviction and regret. He shares a strong chemistry with Karin Booth, and does strong work against William Bishop. John Dehner has a gruff, charismatic presence as Quentin; the climactic fight between Quentin and Rick is well played.

Top Gun is directed effectively by Ray Nazarro, a career filmmaker of cheap B-grade westerns. Contemporary Budd Boetticher referred to him as a ‘ten-day picture guy’, in reference to the rapidity of his directing style. The screenplay, credited to Steve Fisher and Richard Schayer, is based on Fisher’s short story “The Fastest Gun”. Altogether the film is a fantastic example of both the b-movie and the ‘man comes to town’ variety of American western.

1955 West is a review project to watch as many western features from 1955 as possible, in order to gain a ‘snapshot’ view of the genre at its height. According to Letterboxd, there were 72 westerns released that year; this is the 34th film reviewed. You can see all of FictionMachine’s reviews to date by clicking here.