The Gunfighter
Directed by Henry King
Written by William Bowers and William Sellers; story by Bowers and André de Toth
1950/USA
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
First viewing/Amazon Instant
[box] Jimmy Ringo: How come I’ve got to run into a squirt like you nearly every place I go these days? What are you trying to do? Show off for your friends?[/box]
This is a very solid Western character study of a gunman who can’t seem to put down his guns.
When Jimmy Ringo (Gregory Peck) rides into a town, people come from miles around just for a peek at the notorious gun slinger. He can’t even have a drink without some young runt who wants get famous needling him to provoke a fight. When he kills the latest one in self-defense, he is forced to hit the trail again. Now the brothers of the dead man are after him. He manages to buy some time by leaving them stranded without horses.
Ringo’s next stop is the town of Cayenne where his wife, from whom he has been separated for many years, is living incognito as a schoolteacher. Unbeknownst to him, Mark Strett (Millard Mitchell), an old friend, is the town’s mayor. Mark has managed to go straight after being the same band of outlaws as Ringo in his younger days.
Ringo’s appearance causes the same commotion in Cayenne as elsewhere. All the young boys, including Ringo’s own son, play hooky from school and settle down outside the barroom door where Ringo waits. His wife refuses to see him. Another young punk is after him. Marshall Mark does his best to keep law and order.
Eventually, the wife succumbs and there is a brief reunion. Ringo wants to take his family somewhere far away where he is not known and live a normal life. His wife thinks there is no such place and she may be right. In the meantime, the brothers are closing in on Cayenne.
Fans of Gregory Peck should love this thoughtful Western. The original story was written with John Wayne in mind and I think he would have been great in it. Peck is good, mustache and all, though, and the film has a nice melancholy feel to it.
My husband and I are having a disagreement about who is riding off into the sunset at the end of the story. Does anybody other than my husband think it was Ringo?
The Gunfighter was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z6Obp0rcuo
Clip
