The Gunfighter

The Gunfighter is a perfectly calibrated anti-Western, with only three shots fired throughout the entire film. Gregory Peck looks convincing wearing a handlebar mustache as a famous Texan gunslinger. One of the masterpieces directed by Henry King, the film excelled in an impressive mise-en-scene, great acting, and a phenomenal script structured around a classic Greek tragedy. The film tells the story of Jimmy Ringo, “the fastest gun in the West”, who hungers to change his life and desperately tries to avoid problems and conflicts. He wishes to overcome his bloody past, yet he is doomed to fail. Commonly described as an “adult” Western, the King picture unfolds in a chronological span of a couple of hours with fine tension built throughout, accompanied by the musical score by Alfred Newman, which surprisingly is only included in the main, opening, theme, and the closing moments. The Gunfighter is a psychological Western with no stagecoach raids or prowling gangsters; it might prove a great discovery of Hollywood’s best quality to admirers of the classic Western. Peck’s fine performance in the film, perhaps the finest in his career, makes it also a must-see recommendation for those who do not typically enjoy this film genre.