The Fastest Gun Alive
Son of a notorious fast-drawing sheriff, George Kelby Jr. (Ford) and his wife Dora (Jeanne Crain) settle down in the peaceful town of Cross Creek under assumed identities to avoid having to continually face men out to become famous for shooting down the "fastest gun alive". Now known as George Temple, he becomes a mild-mannered teetotalling shopkeeper, little respected by the other townsfolk.
One day comes news that outlaw Vinnie Harold (Crawford) has gunned down Clint Fallon (Walter Coy, reputedly the "fastest draw in the west." George listens to the townsmen talk about Wyatt Earp, Wes Hardin, and other so-called "fast guns". They are also laughing at George, seeing him as nothing but a "ribbon clerk".
His pride stung, George retrieves a gun from hiding (he told his wife he had tossed it into a river years ago) and—over her desperate pleading not to destroy the peaceful life they have built—says "they have to know who I am." The men are astonished at seeing George wearing a gun, believing him to be drunk. He sets about destroying the myths these men have about gunmen, displaying a detailed knowledge of guns and gunmen they never suspected he had. George then blurts out his secret that he is the fastest gun alive, "...faster than Earp, faster than Hardin, faster than Fallon, and faster than the man who killed him."
With the citizens understandably skeptical, George takes them into the street and gives them a demonstration of his skill. First, with only two shots, he hits two silver dollars tossed into the air on the count of three. Following that, he shoots a beer glass full of beer dropped from Harvey Maxwell's (Allyn Joslyn) hand at 20 feet, hitting it almost immediately after it left the man's hand.
Later, while everyone is in church, where they have taken an oath not to tell George's secret, Harold rides into town. A local boy tells him about George's display of gun skill. Though he is on the run—and over the objections of his fellow bank robbers, Taylor Swope (John Dehner) and Dink Wells (Noah Beery, Jr.), who just want to escape the law—Harold is intent to remain in town until he can see this George Temple face-to-face.
Harold finds out that the "fast gun" is in the church. He sends Swope there to call him out. When the townspeople refuse to send out "the man who shot two silver dollars at the same time," Harold gives an order to Dink to find some kerosene and pour it everywhere. He then instructs Swope to deliver a message to the people in the church that if their fast gun does not come out in five minutes, Vinnie and his men will burn down the whole town.
The townspeople now try to force George into the street. George must reveal the whole truth, explaining that he is no gunman, that he has never been in a real gunfight. The gun with the notches in the handle actually belonged to his father George Kelby (a famous lawman shot down in an ambush) and he is terrified at the prospect of actually facing a man in a gunfight.
Swope and Wells elect to abandon Vinnie. Dink stays for a while, but he also rides off. Swope, who decides to take his share of the gang's loot, is told by Vinnie to either draw or ride out, but without any of the loot. Swope toys with the idea of drawing on Vinnie, but thinks better of it and leaves.
Realizing that George is too terrified to face Harold, Lou Glover asks George for his gun. Glover intends to pose as George for the sake of the town. Reluctantly, George straps on his gun and walks toward the door, warning everyone not to say anything because it will not take much for him to change his mind.
George meets Vinnie in the street, where both men draw their guns and fire. When a posse pursuing the outlaws shows up, the townspeople are attending the burials of both Harold and Kelby, telling the posse how the two men shot each other dead. Both the tombstones of Harold and Kelby are dated November 7, 1889. After the posse leaves, it is revealed that Kelby was not killed. A coffin filled with stones, Kelby's gun, and his reputation as "the fastest gun alive", was buried, instead. This allows George and Dora to resume their peaceful existence in Cross Creek.
murder