511 - Gunslinger
Air Date	October 9, 1993
Movie Director	Roger Corman
Year	1957
Cast	John Ireland, Beverly Garland, Allison Hayes, Jonathan Haze, Bruno VeSota
Preceded by	510 - The Painted Hills
Followed by	512 - Mitchell

The Movie

Synopsis

Cult bombshells Beverly Garland and Allison Hayes star in this low-budget panthecolor feminist Western directed by Roger Corman. When the marshal of Oracle, Texas, is killed by a hired gunman, his quick-shooting widow, Rose (Garland), straps on his gun and star, puts on some pants, and aims to find out who did the hiring.[1]

Information

• The seven day shooting schedule was chock full of accidents. John Ireland and Beverly Garland were attacked by red ants during their romantic tree-sitting scene. Allison Hayes fell off her horse and broke her arm. Later, Beverly twisted her ankle and it became so swollen that her boot had to be cut off.
• William Schallert, who plays Beverly's husband the sheriff who is killed in the first 2 minutes of the movie, is best known as the father on TV’s Patty Duke Show and the teacher on TV’s Dobie Gillis.
• The sound effect used when Dr. Forrester is trying to "scan" Frank is the same sound used for Brain Guy sending the movie in the later seasons.
• Most of the initial conflict in the movie would have been avoided if Erica from the Red Dog Saloon had simply applied for a zoning variance. (Sorry, I'll stop.)

The Episode

Host Segments

Prologue: Gypsy, Joel, and Crow play "Kaboom" with Tom’s head, which has been replaced with a balloon hooked up to a pump.

Segment One (Invention Exchange): Servo's massively swollen head now holds all of the knowledge of man. Dr. F presents The Scanner Planner, inspired by the Scanners movies, which he proceeds to try out on Frank. Joel and the Bots have new wiffle products: the wiffle cup, wiffle underwear, etc. Dr. F's scanning causes Tom's balloon head to explode.

Segment Two: Tom, Crow, and Joel are resting in caskets to see what it’s like to be dead. Even though they're never going to die, the Bots discuss what kind of funeral they’d like to have. Tom wants his friends to toss him up and down in a blanket at his funeral. Crow wants a beach funeral.

Segment Third: Tom sends Joel a message about what he wants for lunch using Gypsy Express, with Crow as the rider and Gypsy as the pony, despite the fact that Tom and Joel are standing a mere 3 feet apart.

Segment Four: Tom demonstrates quantum linear super-position so that Joel and Crow will understand how John Ireland is able to go into the attorney’s office and immediately end up on his horse on the street. He also warps time and space at will.

Segment Five: Since Roger Corman made the 1870’s seems so dismal, Joel and the bots discuss how dreadful the 1970’s were. The Bots have deep fried the letters, but Joel is able to read one anyway. Back in Deep 13, Dr. F finally succeeds in working his scanning skill on Frank.

Stinger: Saloon dancing girl: "What about our clothes?"

Obscure References

• The psychic powers Dr. Forrester use to "scan" Frank make the same noise as Brain Guy's mental powers in the later seasons.
• You're a man playing a woman, playing a man - summarizing the theme of the musical Victor Victoria.
• Who shot Vivian Valance? Reference to The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and Vivian Vance.
• Dennis Moore, Dennis Moore, Riding through the glades... A reference to a Monty Python sketch about a Robin Hood-like character.
• "With Red Buttons to watch Red Dwarf."

Red Buttons was an American actor and comedian. Red Dwarf is a British sitcom about a group of misfit space travelers.

• "Why did they cancel Manimal?"

Manimal was an action-adventure show which ran on NBC for 8 episodes in 1983.

• "Been a long time." "Been a long, long, long, long, lonely time."

Quoting lyrics from the Led Zeppelin song "Rock and Roll".

Video Release

• Commercially released on DVD by Rhino in October 2004 as part of The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: Volume 6, a 4-DVD set with Teenagers from Outer Space, Attack of the Giant Leeches, and Mr. B's Lost Shorts.