''The High Powered Rifle'' is a 1960 American

action film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

produced and directed by

Maury Dexter Maury Dexter (born Morris Gene Poindexter; June 12, 1927 – May 28, 2017) was an American producer and director of film and TV. He worked several times for Robert Lippert and American International Pictures. Life and career Dexter was born in P ...

and written by Joseph Fritz. The film stars

Willard Parker Willard Parker (born Worster Van Eps; February 5, 1912 – December 4, 1996) was an American film and television actor. He was a leading man under contract to Columbia Pictures in the 1940s and starred in the TV series '' Tales of the Texas Ran ...

Allison Hayes Allison Hayes (born Mary Jane Hayes; March 6, 1930 – February 27, 1977) was an American film and television actress and model. Early life Allison Hayes was born to William E. Hayes and Charlotte Gibson Hayes in Charleston, West Virginia. She ...

, Dan Simmons, John Holland, Shirley O'Hara and Terrea Lea. The film was released in September 1960, by

20th Century-Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Disn ...

. It was also known as Duel in the City.

Plot

A private eye is attacked by an assassin.

Cast

as Stephen Dancer *

as Sharon Hill *Dan Simmons as Lt. Sam 'Mac' Donald *John Holland as District Attorney *Shirley O'Hara as Jean Brewster *Terrea Lea as Terrea Lea *Leonard P. Geer as Gus Alpert *Clark Howat as George Merkle *A.G. Vitanza as Little Charlie Roos

Production

In the mid 1950s

created a separate film company to make

second feature A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double featur ...

s in

CinemaScope CinemaScope is an anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter. Its creation in 1953 by ...

initially called Regal Pictures, then

Associated Producers Incorporated Robert Lenard Lippert (March 31, 1909 – November 16, 1976) was an American film producer and cinema chain owner. He was president and chief operating officer of Lippert Theatres, Affiliated Theatres and Transcontinental Theatres, all based in ...

or API. Each of their features was shot in seven days in black and white with a budget of $100,000. Unlike other B Picture producers, Regal and API maintained motion picture union standards of salaries and schedules. With Fox's decreasing main feature production schedule, there was a fear that API would have to be disbanded as there were not enough main features to support (which eventually happened in the mid 1960s). As an experiment,

Robert Lippert Robert Lenard Lippert (March 31, 1909 – November 16, 1976) was an American film producer and cinema chain owner. He was president and chief operating officer of Lippert Theatres, Affiliated Theatres and Transcontinental Theatres, all based in ...

told API producer

he wished to make films at half the budget and release them as

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 ...

s in the manner of

American International Pictures American International Pictures (AIP) is an American motion picture production label of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution company known for producing and releasing fi ...

and

Roger Corman Roger William Corman (born April 5, 1926) is an American film director, producer, and actor. He has been called "The Pope of Pop Cinema" and is known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film. Many of Corman's films are based on works t ...

Filmgroup The Filmgroup was a production and distribution company founded by filmmakers Roger Corman and Gene Corman in 1959. Corman used it to make and distribute his own movies, as opposed to ones he was making for American International Pictures. (The rea ...

. Dexter was skeptical, but made his directorial debut when he leapt to the challenge. He completed the film at $50,000 on actual locations, including the house of

Gary Cooper Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901May 13, 1961) was an American actor known for his strong, quiet screen persona and understated acting style. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice and had a further three nominations, a ...

's mother.pp, 103*104 Weaver, Tom ''Maury Dexter Interview'' in ''I Talked with a Zombie: Interviews with 23 Veterans of Horror and Sci-fi Films and Television'' McFarland 18 Apr 2014 Dexter said the film's title came from Lippert and Harry Spaulding had to write a script to suit it. It was Dexter's directorial debut.

References

External links

*
''The High Powered Rifle''
at

TCMDB Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of Atl ...

1960 films 1960s English-language films 20th Century Fox films American action films 1960s action films Films directed by Maury Dexter American black-and-white films Films scored by Albert Glasser 1960 directorial debut films 1960s American films English-language action films {{action-film-stub