Three Hours to Kill is a 1954 American Western film directed by Alfred L. Werker and starring Dana Andrews, Donna Reed and Dianne Foster.
It inspired the 1956 Roger Corman film Gunslinger.
Contents
Plot
Jim Guthrie (Dana Andrews) returns to town three years after being falsely accused of murdering Carter Mastin (Richard Webb). Jim finds that his old friend Ben East (Stephen Elliott) is now the sheriff. In a flashback, Jim recounts his near-lynching by a mob convinced he had shot Carter in the back. Laurie (Donna Reed), Carter's sister, who was planning on marrying Jim, disrupts the lynching, and Jim narrowly escapes. He still bears a neck scar from his ordeal. Ben gives Jim three hours to find the true killer. Through confrontations with several of the men who had been eager to hang him, Jim is led to the guilty man.
Cast
Dana Andrews as Jim Guthrie
Donna Reed as Laurie Mastin
Dianne Foster as Chris Palmer
Stephen Elliott as Sheriff Ben East
Richard Coogan as Niles Hendricks
Laurence Hugo as Marty Lasswell
James Westerfield as Sam Minor
Richard Webb as Carter Mastin
Carolyn Jones as Polly
Charlotte Fletcher as Betty
Whit Bissell as Deke
Francis McDonald as Deputy Vince
Reception
In The New York Times, Howard Thompson wrote:[This] lusterless drama adds a few mild psychological overtones to a familiar story, a varmint's return to his home town... Mr. Andrews plays the ne'er-do-well of a prairie spot called Furnace Flats...[The] actors, as we say, acquit themselves respectively. Mr. Andrews, for instance, is bedraggled bitterness personified... As for this saga of Furnace Flats, it's flat all right, but not so hot.