''Flesh and the Spur'' is a 1956 Western film directed by

Edward L. Cahn Edward L. Cahn (February 12, 1899 – August 25, 1963) was an American film director. Early life and education Cahn was born in Brooklyn, New York. He went to work at Universal Pictures in 1917 while still a student at UCLA. Career ...

. The film stars John Agar as Lucius Random, Marla English as Wild Willow and Mike Connors (billed here as Touch Connors) as Stacy Tanner. The film was released by American International Pictures as a

double feature The double feature is a motion picture industry phenomenon in which theatres would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which one feature film and various short subject reels would be shown. Opera use Opera ho ...

with ''

Naked Paradise ''Naked Paradise'' (sometimes credited as ''Thunder Over Hawaii'') is a 1957 drama film directed by Roger Corman. It stars Richard Denning and Beverly Garland. Corman later asked Charles Griffith, who worked on the script, to reuse his screenplay ...

''. The plot is about a young cowboy who searches for the killer of his twin brother.

Plot

Tanner is a desperate prisoner who escapes from jail and promptly murders an innocent farmer named Matthew Random. Stealing Random's horse and gun, the outlaw promptly makes his escape. Finding his twin brother murdered, Lucius Random (Agar) vows revenge and sets off to find the killer. Although he does not know the identity of the killer, Random knows that he is part of the nefarious "Checker Gang" and can be identified by the gun he stole from Matthew, which is one of a unique set of two that the brothers Matthew and Lucius owned between them.

Cast

* John Agar as Luke Random/Matthew Random * Marla English as Willow * Touch Connors as Stacey Doggett * Raymond Hatton as Windy * Maria Monay as Lola * Joyce Meadows as Rena * Kenne Duncan as Cale Tanner *

Frank Lackteen Frank Lackteen (born Mohammed Hassan Lackteen August 29, 1897 – July 8, 1968) was an American film actor best known for his antagonistic roles. He appeared in nearly 200 films between 1915 and 1965, including several Three Stooges shorts. ...

as Indian chief * Mel Gaines as Blackie *Michael Harris as Deputy marshal *Eddie Kafafian as Bud * Kermit Maynard as Outlaw

Production

The film was originally titled ''Dead Man's Gun''.Mark McGee, ''Faster and Furiouser: The Revised and Fattened Fable of American International Pictures'', McFarland, 1996 p71-72 Mike Connors also acted as

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

and raised the money with Charles Lyons from Armenian friends for the film's $117,000 budget. He recalled being called in to a meeting with AIP's

James H. Nicholson James Harvey Nicholson (September 14, 1916 – December 10, 1972) was an American movie producer, film producer. He is best known as the co-founder, with Samuel Z. Arkoff, of American International Pictures. Early life Nicholson was born on ...

Samuel Z. Arkoff Samuel Zachary Arkoff (June 12, 1918 – September 16, 2001) was an American producer of B movies. Life and career Arkoff was born in Fort Dodge, Iowa, to Russian Jewish parents. He was the son of Helen (Lurie) and Louis Arkoff, who ran his ...

and Alex Gordon. They showed him a poster of leading lady Marla English tied to a stake with fire ants crawling on her. Connors remarked that there was no such scene in the script. The AIP heads replied that the movie had been presold on the basis of Albert Kallis' artwork and that the anthill torture scene would be written in later.p.29 Weaver, Tom ''Mike Connors Interview'' in ''Eye on Science Fiction'' 2003 McFarland (This was a marketing ploy frequently used by AIP to promote films during pre-production, often before the screenplay had been written.) Alex Gordon recalled dropping ants on the bound and gagged Marla. However, the ants would promptly run away from her. The ungagged Marla finally asked Gordon "Look, you've got six ants there, isn't that enough??"

Release

The film was released on a double bill with ''

''. Although popular it was the last Western made by AIP who preferred to concentrate on genres more specifically targeted at the teenage audience. Marla English retired soon after making the film.

Home media

On October 27, 2009,

Alpha Video Alpha Video (also known as Alpha Home Entertainment) is an entertainment company, based near Philadelphia, that specializes in the manufacturing and marketing of public domain movies and TV shows on DVD. Alpha Video releases approximately 30 ne ...

released ''Flesh and the Spur'' on Region 0 DVD.

Notes

External links

*
''The Flesh and the Spur''
at TCMDB *
Review of film
at Variety {{DEFAULTSORT:Flesh And The Spur 1956 films 1950s English-language films Films directed by Edward L. Cahn 1956 Western (genre) films American International Pictures films Films with screenplays by Charles B. Griffith Films scored by Ronald Stein American Western (genre) films 1950s American films