Alamo Fast Draw

Gunfighter Bob Crisman: I personally don’t think that Shane had a lot to do with the beginning with the excitement of Fast Draw. I didn’t see it really happen until ’55 when Gun Smoke came out. Shane was an interesting movie just like High Noon prior to what I would consider the beginning of Fast Draw. I don’t consider it had a lot of influence on Fast Draw. That’s my opinion.

Gunfighter Blackbird: Well, I don’t necessarily agree with that. I think it had a lot of influence on the development of technical expertise and arranging gun blazing in film. That may be directly reflected in Gun Smoke.

Gunfighter Bob Crisman: Well I assure you I speak from the stand point of us being young kids. In those days we were in our 20’s. When we’d buy a gun and start practicing Fast Draw, I think it had more to do with Gun Smoke more than any movie prior to Gun Smoke. Maybe Shane and High Noon prepped us and got us in the mood.

Gunfighter Blackbird: Yeah.

Alamo Fast Draw: If I remember right, I think Shane was the first time you saw somebody fanning a single action Bob.

Gunfighter Bob Crismon: Well, I don’t know. There’re folks out there that have studied movies more than I. I really haven’t done that. But it’s a fact that fanning has been around a long time before Shane.

Alamo Fast Draw: No. I mean, I thought that was the first time you had seen it yourself.

Gunfighter Bob Crismon: Uh, I guess probably the first time I noticed it. I guess probably the first time I saw it. Yes, you’re right. ‘Cuz, I started shooting in around’53 in San Antonio. We were all thumbing. All six of us. We were thumbing and we weren’t doing any fanning at all. Garry Cooper in High Noon… Did he fan or did he thumb?

Gunfighter Blackbird: Well, he was a thumber I guess in that particular film. Which Bob are we talking to?

Alamo Fast Draw: Bob Crisman.

Gunfighter Blackbird: Crisman?

Alamo Fast Draw: Crisman.

Gunfighter Blackbird: We have a lot of Bobs. They’re confusing Blackbird.

Getting back to the fanning…

Alamo Fast Draw: Okay. By the way, Guest 2 said it looked like he was trying to comment that he thought that Shane was filmed in ’51. I think this is what he’s referring to. I’m not sure.

Gunfighter Blackbird: I disagree with that, but I’ll wait till’ I’m better informed.

Alamo Fast Draw: [Laughs]

Gunfighter Blackbird: I think in addition to Gun Smoke, The Life and Legends of Wyatt Earp had a big influence on the beginning of Fast Draw. TV Guide ran an article on Hugh O’Brian. Showing off Hugh O’ Brian’s Fast Draw; his new holster. I think a lot of kids were influenced by the sequence of color photographs of the Poker Chip Draw that he does in the TV article.

Alamo Fast Draw: Okay. Let’s get back to the fanning.

Gunfighter Bob Crismon: Fanning was very predominant in possibly early 30’s and very prominent in the late 30’s. Buck Jones was a proficient fanner as was Jim McCoy. These two guys excelled at it. They used it a lot in their movies. A lot. This was not something that was new by any means, you know in the fifties.

Gunfighter Blackbird: You know we had gun coaches who were active in Hollywood back in the thirties. In the days before you heard much of Marlboro Drama or Red Wing. We had David Sharp. We had Karl and Ben Pitty who virtually invented gun spinning and some of the Fast Draw techniques. For gun fanning you had again, David Sharp. For a fanner, you had Colonel H. H. Hardy who had expertise with every hand gun and gun shooting method and was also a very famous exhibition shooter who made his own version of the holster gouchie. He called it the Hollywood Special. It had metal inserts. You’d be surprised at some of the things they had in the 1930’s in Hollywood. This goes back long before Shane, but I think Shane had a lot of influence on westerns. It caused a lot of people to look a lot more closely at Westerns. It’s a very authentic and moderate production, considering that era in terms of clothing, costumes and the armory involved.

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