She’s a scene-stealer, Sheriff – quick, put her in cuffs!
Sharing a theme with The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Gunfighter (1950) is a sober exploration of the dingy reality behind the glamour of being a famous person, and, as such, it’s a Western film noir. Jimmy Ringo is reputed to kill men far and wide, so when he trots into Cayenne, he causes an uproar. The fame is a little overwhelming, as he’s really visiting Cayenne to see his estranged wife and son, but he finds one of his former partners is now the sheriff, while another partner and gunslinger who had retired was murdered one night, shot in the back of the head. Then there’s the bartender who knew him back in the day and practically idolizes him now, and when word hits the street that Ringo is in town, the school empties of its rambunctious scholars, eager to see a gunfight and someone die. Even the local group of upright ladies, eager to see him out of town, make an appearance to make their bold observations – fifty murdered men, why he should be hung! – known to the sheriff and, inadvertently, to Ringo, who protests that the number is scarcely more than fifteen.
But Jimmy is fading, no longer the cocky young man eager for a reputation, but now in his thirties and reflecting on the lives he’s been forced to take, and how that has affected his life. What he doesn’t know is that he’s surrounded by the forces he himself has caused to come into being. In front of him is a younger version of himself, gunning for him just for the reputation of having killed Jimmy Ringo. Behind him are the three brothers of the man he last had to kill, all in the name of reputation. Off to the side is a grieving father, angry over the loss of his son, reputedly by the hand of Ringo. And filling in the gaps are the townspeople, eager for blood in their morally upright way, eager to see the Wages of Evil served on the evil-doer, or they’re just eager if they’re the children.
Through the storm beckons his one hope: his estranged wife, who could not stand his wild ways years before, but now he hopes for another chance, because he’s changed and wants to settle down, far, far away. But the forces of evil are too strong, and when she gives him a period of a year to prove that he’s changed, they don’t realize he won’t even see the next sunset.
You see, Reputation wins out.
But Jimmy and the sheriff know the terrible reality behind the dangerously easy grasp for quick fame, and as Jimmy slips from this world to the next, he and the sheriff, in unforgiving vengeance, shift the curse which has afflicted Jimmy onto his killer. No, he won’t die for the murder of Jimmy Ringo, that would be too easy. With his dying breath, Jimmy declares to the sheriff that he drew first but the kid got him. And now the kid, even as the sheriff boots him out of the town, is the next to realize his life is little more than glitter and the next gunslinger; between bouts with death, his life will be as desolate and bleak as a desert.
A quick and easy fame benefits no one.
This is not a major masterpiece, as the lead looks more like a Hollywood 25 year old than a Western 35 year old, but it’s otherwise well done, with a particularly interesting plot. I think this is a minor classic, well worth a look if it pops up as available. I know I enjoyed it quite a lot, not for the action, but for the rich moments in between gun shots.
Recommended.
