The Gunfighter (1950)

Leaving aside the opening shots of Jimmy Ringo (Peck) riding through the New Mexico landscape while the credits roll, there's not a wasted scene or word in this great classic western.

For eighty-five minutes or so, the viewer is treated to some of the best dialog, cinematography and editing of that era, together with a truly suspenseful story as Ringo – reputedly the fastest gun in the west -- stops at a small town called Cayenne to find his estranged wife and to see his young son. Hot on his trail are three determined brothers of young Eddie (Richard Jaeckel) whom Ringo had been forced to shoot the day before in another town.

Ringo thinks he's got a good lead on those brothers because he'd left them in the desert with no horses. They, however, got some fresh horses and guns from a helpful rancher and were closing in on Ringo a lot quicker than he thought...

Complicating the situation for Ringo even more is the presence of an old man who wants to revenge the murder of his son killed by Ringo – or so the old man thinks. Unknown to Ringo, the old man waits across from the saloon, hiding, his rifle ready for when Ringo steps through the saloon door onto the dusty street.

But the real wild card is Hunt Bromley (Skip Homeier), a young tough who thinks he's fast on the draw and wants to prove it to all the townsfolk. And, he'll go to any lengths to do it.

Which all means that the local Marshall, Mark Strett (Millard Mitchell), has his work cut out to make sure that Ringo gets out of town as soon as possible and alive. Why? Well, he and Ringo are old buddies – long ago, they both rode together until Strett decided to go straight while Ringo carried on as the gunfighter. Strett doesn't want to see his old buddy die, so for old times sake, Strett will help Ringo see his wife and son and get him out of town also. Strett makes all the necessary arrangements with his deputies and thinks all is going okay...

Then those three brothers arrive, ready for a killing...

This is a superb narrative, the action moves quickly, and the suspense builds as Ringo paces around, waiting to see his wife and boy, and as a succession of people come to the saloon for various reasons. Amongst all this tension there is an astounding piece of comedy between Ringo, Strett and some of the town's womenfolk that has to be seen and heard to be appreciated fully.

The casting for this film is generally excellent, although Helen Westcott as Ringo's wife wasn't the best choice, in my opinion. Peck is as good as he usually is – solid, dour, tough as nails. But the best actor in this one, for me, is Millard Mitchell as 'the toughest man' of them all, to use Ringo's own words from the story. Kudos also go to Henry King again, who always seemed to direct Peck so well in quite a number of movies, including The Bravados (1958), Beloved Infidel (1959), The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952) and others.

Like Shane (1953), a few years later, The Gunfighter ranks as one of the great westerns that traces the tragedy of the lone gunfighter who's trying to change with the changing times but, for them, time is always running out too quickly...

Highly recommended.

Fmovies: The Gunfighter established the trend for mature Hollywood westerns by having the hero be a mature gunfighter who wants to retire in peace, not in pieces. The movie created the line which has been parodied since "everywhere I go, some young punk wants to try me." Using Richard Jaeckle and Skip Homier as the young wanna-be gunfighters was a classic piece of casting, since both of them went on to play similar parts in westerns, although not together. One piece of trivia about this film was that Harry Cohn at Columbia originally had bought the script with the intent of having John Wayne play the lead. Wayne,by now, was a major star, producing his own films. Wayne wanted to do the role, but didn't want to do it at Columbia. As a young actor, he had been treated badly by Cohn who humiliated him after his disastrous first lead in "The Big Trail." Wayne told Cohn in so many words what he could do with his script. The script was then sold to Twentieth Century Fox. Wayne did play a similar role in his final picture, "The Shootist."

I chanced upon the DVD of this movie at the local library and decided to check it out, as having already previously watched Peck in other Westerns like "The Bravados", "The Big Country" & "Mackenna's Gold". In all these films, he appears to me to be playing the same kind of role - a reserved character whose behavior is atypical to those around him which manages to garner him unwelcome attention. Here in "The Gunfighter", he plays Jimmie Ringo - a tribute to the Johnny Ringo character, perhaps? - a dead-hand gunslinger with 15 kills to his credit (or discredit, whichever way you look at it), who wishes to put the past behind him and to be left alone and start a life anew in peaceful obscurity, but is hounded everywhere by would-be wannabe Billy the Kids who are vying for the "honor" and "distinction" of having shot him. Reminds me of the movie "The Shootist" starring John Wayne, which has basically an identical plot. Technically speaking, Ringo is an outlaw to be feared by the general public, yet one can't help but take sides with him and empathize with his situation. Serendipity takes him to a town where the Marshal turns out to be his ex-compatriot in crime and the bartender knows him from elsewhere but feels nothing but admiration for his past exploits and both do everything they can to help him, much to the dismay and annoyance of the townspeople especially the Ladies Committee made up of self-righteous biddies.

I understand that this movie did not do too well at the box office but great films are not necessarily big money-earners, and vice-versa. This is one Western which is, like the roles Gregory Peck plays in films of such genre, is atypical in that the emphasis is more on the study of central character and his inner self rather than his deeds. The only flaw I found was the lack of a proper movie score especially for some of the more tense scenes like the confrontation with the 3 cowboys, which would have highlighted the moments. Otherwise, a great film in my opinion.

The Gunfighter fmovies. This underrated classic deservs to be seen by true fans of westerns - in 1950 when it came out it was one of the first that tried to get it really right - the clothes, the guns, the look, etc. Peck gives a wonderfully angry, sad performance as Ringo an old gunfighter who is dead tired of the "life" and wants to retire. Fascinating characters, great performances, tight, strong script. Seek this one out. Made before High Noon but never gets the attention it deserves.

THE GUNFIGHTER is the seventh western movie I've watched in the last couple of weeks in my quest to catch up with a bunch of films I've never seen that I recorded from TV. And I've made sure I've posted a review as I viewed each for the first time.

THE GUNFIGHTER is another superb western from a director not normally associated with the genre. Falling squarely between the 1940s and 1950s, I was at first uncertain at to which camp this film fell into. It has all the incidents you'd expect in a 1940s oater, but overlaid with the kind of psychology and sensibilities you'd expect in a 1950s western. In the end, I decided this is a film about contrasts.

The first contrast you notice is the visual one. The movie is shot in black and white and it seems that those were the only two tones available to director Henry King. The exteriors are bright, bleached out and hard on the eyes. The interiors are dark, cool and gloomy. There doesn't seem to be much shades of grey going on (of course, I could have been watching a bad print, but work with me, here ...)

This visual contrast is echoed by the contrasts between the characters. The first of these we see is the contrast between Peck's Jimmy Ringo and the dumb kid who challenges him in the first bar. Ringo tries to talk him round, the kid won't have it and goes for his gun. But Ringo - of course - is faster. Darwinism at work ...

The next telling contrast is between Ringo and his old compadre, Town Marshall Mark Street. While Ringo still drifts from town to town, occasionally having to show some punk who's fastest, Mark has gone respectable and settled down. Mark is a respected citizen while Ringo's presence causes mothers to call their children indoors.

Then there's the contrast between Peggy, Ringo's estranged wife, and the gossipping, prejudiced biddies of the town. Is it any coincidence that Peggy is a teacher, representing education and, by implication, civilisation?

THE GUNFIGHTER is very tightly plotted at just 85 minutes. It seems longer because of the wealth of incident it packed into its slender running time. Film makers of today could learn a lot about how to pace a story from films like this.

If it shows up on TCM or somesuch satellite/cable channel, do yourself a favour and make the effort to catch it. It's well worth your while.

The Western is not my favorite genre. I've seen some of John Ford's classics and many B-Westerns. Of most I can't even remember the titles, but this one is different. It's much more a psychological study, without the grand landscapes, backgrounds or epic story lines. If John Ford's splendid cinematography is not for you, this one cuts back to the basics of human relationships, without the epic adventure many Westerns try to depict.

This film is skimmed down to an absolute minimum with Gregory Peck as Jimmy Ringo, notorious killer and the deadliest shot in the Old West. Though his appetite for bloodletting is over, Ringo is forced to stay on the run from young ambitious gunners determined to shoot him down. After killing an upstart in self-defense, he escapes to the nearby town of Caynenne. There, he hopes to convince his estranged wife (Helen Westcott) to resume their life together, but his arrival causes a sensation. With more young bucks gunning for him, Ringo's fate lies in the hands of the sheriff (Millard Mitchell), his old bandit partner.

With this film the old credo, "less is more", is evident. No great showdowns, not much action, just Gregory Peck in a great character study with carefully built-up tension. He never let me down, giving a fantastic performance, again.

Camera Obscura --- 9/10