A series of Writings on Films that I feel are essential for film lovers, coupled with films that are personal to me. Spoilers for those who haven’t seem the film.
Henry King's western The Gunfighter is one of the quietist films about violence I've ever seen. The Gunfighter could've been the title of a hundred different traditional action-driven westerns but King’s film concerns a man who doesn't want to be a gunfighter and is burdened by his own legend, which gives the title a melancholic and tragic quality. I would argue the film is an anti-western in how it refuses to fulfill the audiences' desire for violence and when it does there's no glamour, triumph or thrilling-ness to it. The film is largely about trying to outrun your own reputation.
Jimmy Ringo (Gregory Peck) is known as the fastest gun in the west. After he kills a young man named Eddie (Richard Jaeckel)- who wanted to become the man who killed Ringo- in self-defence, Ringo heads to the town of Cayenne. He waits to speak to his wife Peggy (Helen Westcott), with whom he has a son he's never met, while Eddie's brothers are in pursuit. Ringo's arrival also brings unwanted attention. Like High Noon (1952) the film takes place in a short amount of time and has a sense of intimacy in regards to the town. We become acquainted with several members of the town, most importantly the town's Marshal, Mark Strett (Millard Mitchell), an old friend of Ringo's and whom was in a gang with Ringo. In Strett we see a man who never became cursed by legend and was able to start over as a lawman. And Peggy has changed her surname, to conceal her marriage to Ringo.
I said the film was an anti-western but it's also a film-noir in its themes and visual style. Many noir films deal with men and women wanting to escape their past but are caught in the web of fate. I also mentioned High Noon, which sees Gary Cooper's Marshal Will Kane walk around town in an attempt to gather people to help him fight outlaws who have targeted Will for revenge. In The Gunfighter Ringo is in a saloon for long stretches of the film. He has no interest in fighting Eddie's brothers. High Noon, despite being an unconventional western, still has the hero facing down the villains at the climax. There is no climatic showdown in this film. And Ringo isn’t portrayed as a hero. Like many film noir protagonists, he’s morally grey.
John Bowers and Andre De Toth originally wrote the story for John Wayne. Wayne loved the story and offered Bowers 10,000 for it. Bowers thought it was worth more and eventually sold it to to Columbia for 70,000. Wayne refused to work for Columbia's President Harry Cohn, who had treated Wayne poorly earlier in his career. 20th Century Fox ultimately bought the story and Peck was cast. Peck wasn't associated with westerns the way Wayne obviously was. On the Criterion Collection Blu-Ray/DVD, filmmaker Gina Telaroli remarks how the film visually changes Peck's onscreen image, giving him a period accurate mustache and clothes that don't completely fit, also a period accurate detail.
Telaroli adds that Peck was considered too intellectual an actor for the part but argues- and I agree- Peck's intellectualism suits the more psychological quality the film has. I feel the humility and pragmatism Peck radiates as an actor is perfect for Ringo's approach to his own legend and to killing. For Ringo killing is a matter or "him or me." He doesn't view it as glamorous or exciting. When Ringo kills Eddie at the beginning the film's editor Barbara McLean doesn't show Ringo fire the shot. We see Eddi gunned down and then a shot of Ringo with his gun drawn, punctuating Eddie's death. By not showing Ringo fire, cutting the scene in a more matter of fact matter, the audience is made to look at the situation more objectively, the way Ringo does.
I mentioned the film's noir inspired visual style earlier and never got around to talking about it. Cinematographer Arthur C. Miller's use of shadows is obviously very noir-ish. Keeping the story indoors allows Miller to create a claustrophobic atmosphere in regards to the framing. The film keeps Ringo very isolated at his table, with Miller's deep-focus photography allowing us to see the other people in the saloon watching Ringo. This emphasizes the separation between Ringo and the townspeople. Despite its minimalist plot, King and Miller make the film visually interesting striking.
At the end of the film it's not Eddie's brothers who get Ringo. It’s Hunt Bromley (Skit Homeier), another young man like Eddie who wants to be Ringo’s killer. Ringo says he drew first, saving Bromley from hanging. Ringo does this in order to have Bromley live the rest of his life with the reputation Ringo had, the curse which will bring challengers against Bromley. The curse of reputation and myth is passed down, and will continue to be passed down from killer to killer.
The Gunfighter is a gem of a film. It's not always the first film mentioned when talking about the great westerns but it deserves more consideration. It sets itself apart from other westerns in its intimacy and seemingly anti-drama elements. But in its simplicity it harbors complex ideas concerning the challenge in separating yourself from your reputation, and the question you are vs. what you've been built up to be. And ultimately I believe Jimmy Ringo doesn't want to be more than his reputation; he just wants to be less.
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