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Nabaza.net-The MarketPlace - Gunfighter
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List Price: $12.98
Our Price: $18.16
Availability: N/A
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
Starring: Gregory Peck, Helen Westcott, Millard Mitchell, Jean Parker, Karl Malden
Directed By: Henry King
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Average Customer Rating: 
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Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786301801737
Format: Black & White
ISBN: 6301801733
Label: 20th Century Fox
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: 1998-01-01
Running Time: 85
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Theatrical Release Date: 1950
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Editorial Reviews:
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Numerous films have used The Gunfighter as a title, but if you're looking for the film classic of that name, this is the one. Gregory Peck followed his powerful performance in Twelve O'Clock High (also for director Henry King) with an arguably even stronger portrayal: Jimmy Ringo, celebrated shootist just stepping into middle age and mortally weary of having to defend his legend every time he turns around. His trail takes him to a small town where an old comrade, Mark Strett (the great Millard Mitchell), now serves as marshal, and where Ringo's estranged wife and the son he has never seen also reside, under an assumed name. Over one night and one day, hoping against hope, he dares to dream of a normal life. But there are avengers not far behind, and other threats yet to be counted. Although critically praised, The Gunfighter was a box-office disappointment. Darryl F. Zanuck blamed the soup-strainer mustache Henry King had Peck grow for the role, but perhaps the film's virtues of intelligence and restraint weighed against it. The Gunfighter properly deserves the credit (awarded to High Noon two years later) for ushering in the "adult Western," that '50s subgenre that emphasized psychological intensity over action and spectacle. (Most of The Gunfighter unfolds at the Palace Bar where Ringo waits for his family to be brought to him.) In any event, latter-day audiences should have no trouble appreciating the solid performances, literate writing, and impeccable Fox craftsmanship, including the final studio assignment for ace cinematographer Arthur Miller. --Richard T. Jameson
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Jaw Dropper of an Ending
Comment: I'm really surprised this isn't on DVD and more accessible to the public. Gregory Peck is first rate in his role as Ringo, the aging gun-fighter who's taking a hard look at life and wanting to change his ways. And Millard Mitchell was impressive in his supporting role. I loved the foreshadowing all through the picture and I was left stunned by the ending. Wasn't expecting that from a 1950's movie. I'm not a great fan of the western genre (although I'm learning to appreciate it) but this movie is beyond genre; it's a good, solid story with a great leading man.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Adult Western - Gregory Peck Shines!
Comment: Having recently watched The Gunfighter, starring Gregory Peck, I found myself disappointed that there isn't a DVD release of this fantastic western yet.
The Gunfighter is a tightly scripted, intelligent western that really raised the bar in a lot of ways when it came to character development in the genre. Gregory Peck plays Jimmy Ringo, a gunfighter whose reputation is such an exaggeration of reality that he has to constantly look over his shoulder and be wary of everyone he meets as a potential adversary trying to make a name for himself by killing a legend. The weight of such a burden has worn down Ringo to the point where he wants to start over and leave his legend behind.
Events unfold in the movie, however, that make that dream almost impossible. Ringo has the best intentions and genuinely seems like a good man who was caught up in a whirlwind when he was younger, and now that he's older and wiser he wants out.
The Gunfighter is top notch, from the direction, to the script, to the acting - it's all great.
And the movie deserves to be released on DVD, but as of January, 2008, that release has not yet been announced. Hopefully it will see the light of day this Spring, when many studios annually release classic western titles on DVD for the first time.
If it is released, you can bet I'll buy a copy. Maybe two (one for my dad).
Customer Rating:
Summary: One of the great westerns
Comment: There have been a few westerns that are better than The Gunfighter, but there are no westerns as flawless. It doesn't put a foot wrong in all of its 84 minutes. Its downbeat story and anti-climatic ending did not endear it to audiences at the time, but over fifty years later it stands out as one of the masterpieces of the genre. And it was hugely influential: its theme of an aging gunslinger desperate to hang up his guns and accept domesticity, but pursued relentlessly by his reputation, became a staple of many westerns. Only three shots are fired in the film, but, unlike so many westerns, it treats violence as a serious moral issue, not just entertainment, with personal and social implications for those who wield it.
It came from a story developed by Andre De Toth (himself the director of many fine westerns). De Toth was a friend of Errol Flynn and the boxer Joe Louis. He noticed how often when he was drinking with them some drunken fool would want to challenge for a fight. De Toth's idea was polished by screenwriters William Bowers and William Sellers (with, perhaps, some help from the producer, Nunnaly Johnson) into a stark, laconic tragedy. Only the first few minutes of the film are set outside, the film then moves indoors, into saloons, hotels and bars, where Arthur Miller's shadowed cinematography comes into its own. The film is almost stagey for long periods, but this only adds to the feeling of imprisoning fate, claustrophobia and psychological tension.
Peck, as Jimmy Ringo, has never been better. His soft voice and dark eyes are full of memories of the men he has killed and the wandering, rootless life he has led. But when Richard Jaeckel taunts him into action in the opening of the film ('He don't look so tough') there can be only one result. Jaeckel's brothers pursue Ringo to Cayenne, where he holds up in the town bar. The bar is polished by Karl Malden, clearly pleased at the fame that Ringo will bring his establishment, but, like all the townspeople, worried at the mayhem he may also attract. The town's sheriff, Mark Strett (played wonderfully by Millard Mitchell) is an old compatriot of Ringo from their bandit days, but is clearly desperate for him to leave town. The local kids play hooky from school to get a sight of the famous gunman. The equivalent of Cayenne's Women's Institute lead a moral crusade to get him out. The father of one of Ringo's victims wants to kill him.
But Ringo's estranged wife and child live in the town and he wants to see them before he leaves and make one last attempt at leading a normal life. Ringo manages to meet his wife and son (although his son never knows who Ringo really is). He persuades his wife to give him a year more on the run before he returns and takes her and the boy away to start a settled life. However, he has fled from domesticity once before, and the likelihood must be that he will do it again. Ringo's dream of a normal life can never be reality.
The only Cayenne citizen who wants Ringo to stay is the town punk, Hunt Bromley (Skip Homeier, looking like Lee Marvin's reckless younger brother). Hunt is desperate to wield his guns and take Ringo down.
What has been a great film is turned into a brilliant one by the ending. You are expecting a contrived face-to-face gun battle between Ringo and Bromley. But Bromley simply shoots Ringo in the back, almost gratuitously, as Ringo is riding out of town. The law wants to hang him, but Ringo's dying words condemn Bromley to a lingering death: he says the punk was acting only in self-defence. Bromley will now have to wander the west, like Ringo once did, waiting for the young pretender who will want to gun down 'the man who killed Jimmy Ringo'.
King's direction is austere and masterly. There is such a strong sense of fate in the film that you almost expect Fritz Lang's name to appear as director. Most westerns, even some of the best, have rhetorical moments: images which, although beautiful, really add nothing to the story. The Gunfighter is totally free of these. The starkness of theme and imagery is relieved occasionally by some real flashes of humour. Astonishingly, King and Peck produced another masterpiece in 1950: Twelve O'Clock High, one of the definitive war films. But they worked together on only one other western, The Bravados (a great influence on Sergio Leone and the Italian westerns).
Though nominated for several Oscars, the film won none. Studio head Daryl Zanuck seriously attributed its failure at the box office to Peck's moustache and down-at-heel clothing (which King and Peck had devised to add the film's historical authenticity). However, the critics loved it. The influence of The Gunfighter can be seen in several fine westerns from every decade: Warlock (1959), The Wild Bunch (1969), The Shootist (1976), Tom Horn (1980) and The Unforgiven (1992). It was a clear influence on High Noon (Peck was even slated at one time to play the Gary Cooper part) but it is an immeasurably superior film.
The credits of the film make much of its historical accuracy. But the real John Ringo was, by many accounts, a ruthless killer and survivor of the gunfight at the OK Corral. He did visit his estranged family in California in July 1882, but suffered such a severe bout of melancholy that he then went on an alcoholic binge for several days before committing suicide. Ironically, a film that did much to deconstruct the myth of the west was guilty of mythologising.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Peck's Best Western
Comment: Gregory Peck, with his natural, spare acting style, and his folksy, plain demeanor, was a natural for Westerns, and his greatness in this genre was never more evident in this 1950 film, which was one of the earlier psychological Westerns.
Peck plays Jimmie Ringo, the most notorious gunfighter in the West, is running from the brothers of a man he killed. He shows up in a town where his ex-wife lives with their young son. Ringo holds up in the town saloon as a favor to the town marshal, who an old friend, while he waits for an opportunity to see his wife.
Meanwhile, the town is taken over with the nervous enthusiasm of people wanting to see a celebrity, a shootout, or a dead celebrity. At the same time, a young punk, would-be gunfighter has heard that Ringo is in town, and is itching to make his reputation off of killing Ringo.
Everyone delivers excellent performances, and the movie has a lot to say about voyeurism, celebrity, longing, and regret. This is a fantastic movie, and without question, one of the best Westerns ever made.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Gunfighter
Comment: Great flick. Gregory Peck was outstanding as an aging gunfighter. Lots of other fine actors in it.
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