Director: Felix Feist

Cast: Randolph Scott, Patrice Wymore, Dick Wesson

Synopsis: An undercover government agent battles insurrectionists whose want Southern California to secede and become a slave state.

Ho-hum. Randy Scott pulls on his uniform once more and clocks on for another day at the coal-face in The Man Behind the Gun. He could sleepwalk through most of his movies, playing essentially the same character in ninety-percent of them, and you can’t help thinking it must have become something of a grind for him. He’s an undercover agent in this one, uncovering a dastardly plot to have Southern California secede to become a slave state immediately prior to the Civil War. The plot’s a little bit muddled to be honest. It has one decent twist which is revealed fairly early on, but not much else to distinguish it from any other studio B-movie. Perhaps it’s because I missed a few minutes fairly early on, but was I the only one waiting for Philip Carey’s character to reveal himself as a bad guy? The way he accurately theorises on the bad guy’s plans with a faraway look in his eyes, I was sure it was only a matter of time before he revealed his true colours.

(Reviewed 16th April 2012)