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One Foot in Hell is a 1960 Western DeLuxe Color and CinemaScope film starring Alan Ladd, Don Murray (actor) and Dan O'Herlihy, directed by James B. Clark and co-written by Sydney Boehm and Aaron Spelling from a story by Spelling.

One Foot in Hell
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	James B. Clark
Written by	Aaron Spelling Sydney Boehm
Produced by	Sydney Boehm
Starring	Alan Ladd Don Murray (actor) Dan O'Herlihy
Cinematography	William C. Mellor
Edited by	Eda Warren
Music by	Dominic Frontiere
Distributed by	Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Release date	September 11, 1960 (1960-09-11)
Running time	89 min
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1,090,000[1]

Synopsis

Mitch Barrett (Alan Ladd) is a former Confederate soldier emigrating to the West whose wife Ellie (Rachel Stephens) dies in childbirth in a small cattle town in Arizona because of what Mitch sees as the heartlessness of three local men – George Caldwell the hotel keeper (Henry Norell), Sam Giller the general store owner (John Alexander) and Ole Olsen the sheriff (Karl Swenson). Unhinged by Ellie's death, he plots to get his revenge by robbing the local bank of $100,000 deposited by a rich cattleman, thus ruining the town.

He accepts the job of deputy sheriff, then murders the sheriff so that he can take his place. To help him carry out the elaborately-planned robbery, he recruits four people: Dan Keats (Don Murray), an alcoholic ex-Confederate soldier who scrapes a living drawing portraits of the customers in saloons; Sir Harry Ivers 'of the Lancaster Ivers' (Dan O'Herlihy), an upper-class-sounding English pickpocket; Julie Reynolds (Dolores Michaels), a prostitute who hopes for enough money to go East and make a respectable life for herself; and Stu Christian (Barry Coe), a ruthless gunman. During the robbery, on Mitch's instructions, Ivers and Christian kill the store owner and the hotel keeper.

Afterwards, Mitch sets out to eliminate the other members of the gang in order to conceal his own part in the plot. He succeeds in killing Ivers and Christian but when he corners Dan and Julie, who have fallen in love, Julie manages to kill him. Dan and Julie then return the money, prepared to stand trial and spend some years in jail with the prospect of long-term happiness awaiting them after their release.

Cast

• Alan Ladd as Mitch Barrett
• Don Murray as Dan Keats
• Dan O'Herlihy as Sir Harry Ivers
• Dolores Michaels as Julie Reynolds
• Barry Coe as Stu Christian
• Larry Gates as Doc Seltzer
• Karl Swenson as Sheriff Ole Olsen
• John Alexander as Sam Giller
• Rachel Stephens as Ellie Barrett

Production

The film was known as Gunslinger[2] or The Gunslingers.[3]

The budget was over $1 million and Ladd got 10% of the profits.[4]

Filming was interrupted when the Screen Actors Guild went on strike during the shoot on March 7.[5] Filming resumed on 11 April.[6][7] Alan Ladd injured his hand while working at his ranch during the layoff but was well enough to resume filming.[8]

Dolores Michaels said that "Playing westerns aren't included among the things I'll settle for on screen, although the part of Julie in this picture is better than most. She's a bad girl who goes good and has a highly dramatic moment with a gun at the end. But a woman never wins in a Western and there's just so much you can do with this period piece."[9]

References

External links

• One Foot in Hell at the TCM Movie Database
• One Foot in Hell at IMDb
• One Foot in Hell at AllMovie
• One Foot in Hell at the American Film Institute Catalog

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