Sun 22 Jul 2018
A Western Movie Review: DEATH OF A GUNFIGHTER (1969).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Western movies[7] Comments
DEATH OF A GUNFIGHTER. Universal Pictures, 1969. Richard Widmark, Lena Horne, Carroll O’Connor, David Opatoshu, Kent Smith, Jacqueline Scott, Morgan Woodward, Larry Gates, Dub Taylor, John Saxon. Based on the novel by Lewis B. Patten. Director: Allen Smithee (Robert Totten & Don Siegel).
Creative differences between Richard Widmark, the star of the film, and Robert Totten, the original director assigned to it, resulted in Don Siegel being hired to finish up this rather uninspired western film. The pseudonymous “Allen Smithee” ended up being credited for as its director when neither of the two men who did the job wanted his name to be associated with it.
Besides a noticeable lack of continuity to the story, it’s a old one to boot, that of a sheriff who was hired by a town many years ago,with considerable success, but as times have changed, Marshal Frank Patch’s continued usefulness has diminished considerably. What’s worse, as far as the town elders are concerned, he refuses to leave.
And that’s the only story there is, the only one that matters. There is only one note to this movie, and it’s played over and over again. Patch (overplayed by Richard Widmark) is a both a bully and bull-headed enough to never say good-bye, and he knows enough about the past of each of the town’s merchants to get away with it.
I think that in movies — the better ones anyway, and including westerns — somebody has to change because of events that take place as the story goes on, especially the main protagonist, and Patch is the same man at the end of the movie as he was at the beginning, except that he’s dead. Hence the title.
July 22nd, 2018 at 11:28 am
Saw this at a scrofulous grind house when it first came out. I wasn’t expecting much, but as I recall, I kinda liked it. I’ll watch it again & report back.
July 22nd, 2018 at 2:10 pm
The movie does have its fans, including Roger Ebert, who gave it 3 1/2 stars out of four, and calling it “quite an extraordinary western.”
The production values are high and the photography is excellent. The buildings in town are as solid-looking as I’ve ever seen in a western.
And the beginning of the film is very promising. I was reminded of some of the stories on GUNSMOKE as it began to play out. This turned out not to be very surprising when I learned later on that Robert Totten directed something like 25 episodes of that show.
July 22nd, 2018 at 7:41 pm
It is supposed to be a tragedy about a man incapable of changing with the times, but the film meanders around and doesn’t find enough good in Widmark’s character for us to care much when he dies.
Widmark was known to be difficult when he felt the material wasn’t as good as it should be, you have to wonder if his take would have been better than this or just sabotaged what little was there.
I’m a fan of Patten, but haven’t read this one, still I will venture the book is better and clearer and more entertaining and probably should have been filmed.
July 22nd, 2018 at 10:11 pm
Just back from looking up Roger Ebert’s 3.5 star review of Requiem For A Gunfighter; what follows is from memory of that time.
Ebert lauded the work of “Allen Smithee”, of whom he’d never heard.
A few days afterward, he wrote a follow-up in which he told how he’d learned that “Smithee” was a pseudonym, half-belonging to Don Siegel – and making no mention of Robert Totten.
Ebert then proceeded to re-praise Requiem to the skies, giving all credit to Siegel in the great auteur tradition (Totten, whose credits were mainly in TV, apparently didn’t exist to Roger).
In subsequent interviews, Don Siegel always made a point of praising Totten’s work as a director, and of minimizing his own work on Requiem; the change of director was always laid to Widmark.
Just thought I’d mention it …
July 22nd, 2018 at 10:30 pm
This adds a few things I didn’t know, Mike. Thanks for following up on this!
July 22nd, 2018 at 11:19 pm
Mike Doran, just excellent perspective, and a reinforcement of my personal view relative to the auteur in filmmaking.
July 23rd, 2018 at 8:09 am
Prompted by Steve’s review and all the commentary, I watched this again last night.
(Parenthetical note: How wonderful to live in a time where you can do that!)
While it does meander a bit, there’s some good stuff here. Action scenes well-handled as you would expect with Siegel, Fine acting in the smaller parts, and the scene where Widmark and Michael MCGreevey sit on the bank and talk about sex bears comparison with the similar scene in TWO RODE TOGETHER
As you say Steve, it’s not a film to champion, but I see it as a decent precursor of Siegel’s THE SHOOTIST.