Stranger Wore a Gun

André De Toth directed seven of producer-star Randolph Scott's Westerns; The Stranger Wore a Gun is the most disappointing, especially since its original 3-D is now moot. That gimmicky process obliged the one-eyed director to concentrate on framing every shot with foreground clutter (and matte eerily mobile "rocks" onto the chase scenes), as well as dream up reasons for people to shove torches and hurl water pitchers at the camera. Scott's trajectory takes him from Confederate officer in league with Quantrill's Raiders to riverboat gambler to undercover detective. On the upside, Claire Trevor is always welcome as a Western leading lady, and George Macready as chief villain. Macready's henchmen are the prestellar Lee Marvin--who grossed out '50s audiences with his 3-D spitting of tobacco juice while lolling in a chair--and Ernest Borgnine, who gets into a laughing duel with Alfonso Bedoya over which one is really "The Face That Kills." --Richard T. Jameson