A sort of biopic of the famed gun maker starring James Stewart from 1952. Williams was a war veteran who upon returning home couldn't wait to get married but when he comes collecting for his piece of land from his father, who demands he put in time before getting his, decides to give up his claim & make his way while working as a manual laborer but when he hears he can make more money servicing moonshine stills (he's something of a mechanical savant) he jumps at the chance becoming so successful he opens more stills along the way. This is the time of prohibition however so when the feds come w/rifles drawn, a gun fight erupts w/one of the agents getting killed. Williams is brought to trial for the death & ever the kind of man he is who accepts his fate, he takes the sentence willingly, spending the bulk of his time in forced labor (he gained an infraction for having a knife). During his down time he begins working on a rifle (w/parts scored from the prison's workshop) which will become his legacy, w/at first skeptical support from the warden which becomes full throated seeing the revolutionary design & possible applications, which gains him an early release. The film works as a profile of a man whose determination can stand against all comers but as a study of someone who is a tinkerer (the rifle's construction is more of an internal coping mechanism after he spends time in solitary) the film is lacking but Stewart, the consummate every man, can do no wrong so the film is worth a peek just for that. Also starring Wendell Corey as the tough but fair warden, James Arness as one of Williams' brothers & Paul Stewart (he played Kane's butler in Citizen Kane) as a thug always looking to break out of prison.
Review of Carbine Williams
