Shame on me, but it took me a while to get used to Alan Ladd's puffy face. It wasn't until I got up to go to the bathroom and looked in the mirror that Ladd started looking pretty good to me. Once I got over that silliness, I ended up having a pretty good time watching "Guns of the Timberland". It has a very good story and it tells it well. The direction is sharp as is the cast. Alan Ladd once again delivers the goods and Gilbert Roland is terrific. In lesser hands, Roland's character would be a real villain. But the way he plays him, he comes off as a well meaning but flawed person (aren't we all). Roland manages to give him real humanity and turns him into the best character in the movie. "Guns of the Timberland" is also a great looking movie with songs that I actually liked. This movie was such a nice surprise that I'm planning on reading the book by Louis L'Amour real soon. Honorable mention: the way the trees look when they come crashing down. It's really cool. Some of the actors, including Gilbert Roland, look really close to the crash. It's great stuff.