Frank Patch - Deine Stunden sind gezählt

Many times western movies are concerned with battles against Indians, duels between gunfighter or just pure adventure centered in heroes like Zorro or Durango Kid.

That's not the case with 'Death of a Gunfighter'. This little and forgotten movie tell a story based on the life - or, to be exact, the last days of a life - of a Marshall called Frank (Widmark) in a little town at the end of Nineteen century, a town where the 'new times' are coming faster and faster and the way of life of a man like Frank is not anymore well accepted.

Like some other western like 'The Shootist' (the last movie of John Wayne) and the more recent TV movie 'Monte Walsh', this one is a movie about loneliness, full of sadness and at the same time with violence, a harsh cruelty that falls upon the men and the women that are not prepared to live in another time and another way of life.

Richard Widmark gives a strong performance, all the time blending sadness, disappointment and angriness with a compassionate composition of the Marshall Frank Persh. Lena Horne is a bit dislocated but the support cast is very good, especially Carrol O'Connor and John Saxon.

'Death of a Gunfighter' is a movie that made all of us think about our lives and how we deal with the challenges put in front of us every day, especially in a world always changing. It's not a movie about heroes and courage - like almost other western movies are - but a movie about fragility.

7 out of 10

Good Western with usual ingredients : Western drama , fast draw , street shootout and surprise ending . In the turn-of-the century Texas town of Cottownwood Springs , sheriff Frank Patch (Richard Widmark) in a Western town determined to become modern , and where there are cars and contemporary stores as post office , saloon , livery stable , undertaking , hardware , publishing print ... When Frank murders drunken Luke Mills (Jimmy Lydon) in self-defense , the town authorities decide it's time for a change . The city fathers (Kent Smith , Morgan Woodward , Larry Gates , Royal Dano , Carroll O'Connor , David Opatoshu) ask for Patch's resignation , but he rejects on the basis that the town on contracting him had promised him the job for as long as he wanted it . Afraid for the city's future and even more afraid of the fact that sheriff Frank seeks revenge , Eastern investors and bankers call another deputy (John Saxon) and ultimately find out a way to kill their gunslinger marshal . Then , all of them decide that old-style violence is the only way to rid themselves of the angry lawman . As Patch has to take a stand when the powerful people take over his town . What happens in the ending makes one of the most dramatic climaxes of any story you've ever seen! .

This acceptable , meaty Western contains interesting plot , intrigue , thrills , shootouts and results to be quite entertaining . Well-paced as well as rare Western balances action , suspense and drama . It's a classical recounting about a veteran as well as unwanted sheriff , a peace-loving who is really an expert shooter and surrounded by cowards and frightening people ; being probably one of the strangest Western of the sixties . This is an atypical but thought-provoking western with a lot of reflection , distinguished moments and dramatical attitudes , in addition a multitude of enjoyable situations . The picture profits from Richard Widmark's portentous interpretation , he gives a top-drawer performance , he is an awesome expert in the art of conjuring sensational , terrific acting . Interesting screenplay from the novel "Death of a Gunfighter" by Lewis B. Patten . The traditional story and exciting script was well screen-written by Joseph Calvelli though clichés run through-out , the agreeable tale is enhanced for interesting moments developed among main characters and especially on the relationship between Richard Widmark and Lena Horne . The highlights of the film are the climatic showdowns , the love story among protagonists , and , of course , the final gundown . The casting is frankly nice . Very good acting by Richard Widmark as an old-style lawman who knows all the town's dark secrets . Here are reunited a top-notch plethora of secondary actors , many of them playing vicious citizens who take advantage of the frightened townspeople such as Carroll O'Connor , David Opatoshu , Kent Smith , Morgan Woodward , Larry Gates , Dub Taylor , John Saxon and Royal Dano . Atmospheric cinematography in Technicolor is superbly caught by cameraman Howard Jackson , though being necessary a perfect remastering . Thrilling as well as atmospheric musical score .

The motion picture was rightly produced by Richard Lyons and well directed by Donald Siegel and also uncredited Robert Totten . However , star Richard Widmark and original director Robert Totten had "artistic differences," and Totten was replaced by Don Siegel . When the film was completed, Siegel, saying that Totten directed more of the film than he did, refused to take screen credit for it, but Widmark didn't want Totten's name on it . A compromise was reached whereby the film was credited to the fictitious "Alan Smithee" , thereby setting a precedent for directors who , for one reason or another, did not want their name on a film they made . Siegel first feature as a director was 1946's The Verdict (1946) . He made his reputation in the early and mid-'50s with a series of tightly made , expertly crafted , tough but intelligent "B" pictures , among them : The Lineup (1958), Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954) , then graduated to major "A" films in the 1960s and early 1970s . Director Siegel brought an entirely new approach to the Sci-Fi field Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) . He made several "side trips" to television, mostly as a producer . Siegel directed what is generally considered to be Elvis Presley's best picture , Flamingo Star (1960). All of Eastwood's later Western and his ¨Dirty Harry¨ movies owe a considerable debt to Sergio Leone and Donald Siegel . As Donald directed Eastwood in various films , such as : ¨Coogan's bluff , The beguiled , Dirty Harry , Escape from Alcatraz and Two mules and sister Sara¨. He had a long professional relationship and personal friendship with Clint Eastwood , who has often said that everything he knows about filmmaking he learned from Don Siegel .

Death of a Gunfighter is directed by Don Siegel and Robert Totten under the pseudonym of Alan Smithee. It's adapted to screenplay by Joseph Calvelli from the novel written by Lewis B. Patten. it stars Richard Widmark, Lena Horne and Carroll O'Connor. A Technicolor production it sees music is by Oliver Nelson and cinematography by Andrew Jackson. Plot sees Widmark as Patch, an old style lawman in the town of Cottonwood Springs, a town that the community elders want to see move with the times. When Patch kills a drunk in self defence, the town denizens see it as the ideal opportunity to oust him from office. But Patch isn't that keen to leave his post....

It carries with it some historical cinematic value in that it was the first time the name Alan Smithee was seen on the directing credits. A name that come to be associated with films where the director who worked on it wanted his name off of the credits. Here it was Don Siegel, who only came in for the last two weeks of filming after Widmark and Totten fell out. The finished product, whilst no duffer, is still a lukewarm experience, not helped by the fact that the theme at its core has been done considerably better in other Western offerings. On the plus side there is Widmark stoically giving his anachronism role some real emotional depth, and the finale does not want for dramatic impact. But it plays out like a TV movie, with no visual flourishes, and the cosmopolitan make up of the townsfolk is not utilised to aid the story. 6/10

Someone by the name of Joseph Calvelli is credited with the screenplay of DEATH OF A GUNFIGHTER - I know him not from the proverbial bar of soap, and on the strength of the illogical, awful script, I hope not to see his name again.

Director Alan Smithee is in fact bipolar: he is the name used by Directors Don Siegel - whom I admire very much - and Robert Totten, whose film GUNSMOKE I watched so long ago that I do not have a firm opinion on its merits anymore.

With a bipolar Alan Smithee and a substandard script writer, things inevitavly go south with this production and Andrew Jackson's pedestrian cinematography does not function as Deus Ex Machina either. Sadly, those failures pull the rug from under the feet of the acting ensemble.

Richard Widmark posts his trademark quality performance as the trigger happy Marshall Patch (a fitting name, the unfortunate lawman is going through a bad patch despite his basic decency); capably assisted by main villain Carroll O'Connor (then famous for his comic TV show, ARCHIE BUNKER'S PLACE), suicidal Kent Smith, and David Opatoshu as leader of the city elders trying not just to oust but to actually kill Widmark.

I have always liked Don Siegel for his respet of cause and efffect in the plot, but here he must have allowed the other part of Alan Smithee to smite his ass, and the final scenes of a moribund Widmark marrying Lena Horne and staggering about the town with a shot in the leg and another in his left shoulder just reek of impossibility. 6/10 is actually generous, as I really like Widmark and Siegel.

This revisionist western talks about the inevitable unfolding after many years. About 20 years, of the accumulation of injustice, immorality in Cottownwood Springs, Texas, at the turn of the 19th and 20th century! There is almost no positive characters in the described events and main characters. Among the worst, in addition to the violent, marshal Frank Patch (convincingly played by Richard Widmark), is the vile Lester Locke (played by Carroll O'Connor), one of the initiators of the conspiracy against Marshal F. Patch. Marshal Patch has mostly fallen into a hopeless life trap with his reckless actions. Illegally, in delicate situations he decides how he "thinks" it is right. So he once let, the killer from behind, Andrew Oxley (played solidly by Kent Smith), go unpunished in order for the latter to raise the victim's son Will Oxley. BTW , marshal F. Patch was a gunfighter until he was hired 20 years ago by the leaders of Cottownwood Springs. In principle the gunfighter is badly character, who often resolve ordinary conflicts outside the law or per wild west law - by showdown. Ordinary people rightly despised them. Most of the leaders of the place have their dishonorable secrets that marshal Patch mostly knows about.

Although for some it is an unusual ending that marshal Patch experienced (for some, the very scene of the clay pigeon in which Patch found himself is debatable), it did not surprise me. I think the intention of the main authors of the film was to show that local cowardly leaders are capable of organizing illegally the brutal removal of marshals.

Famous directors Robert Totten and Don Siegel as well as sciwriters: Joseph Calvelli (screenplay), Lewis B. Patten (novel) deserve praise for this above-average film.

Cinematography by Andrew Jackson) i Art Direction by Alexander Golitzen, Howard E. Johnson and Set Decoration by Sandy Grace, John McCarthy Jr. are well done - although there is one visible mistake: decorated barn through which local leaders pass!

Music by Oliver Nelson is satisfying.

R. Widmark, with his characteristic cynical, repulsive style, played very well the character of the antipathetic, arrogant, self-confident, bad marshal F. Patch. This role suited him like the ace on ten!

There's the solid acting of Lena Horne, once a famous African-American entertainer, in the role of Claire Quintan. She is the girl F. Patch in the film. Both the girl from the brothel and hers owner.

Carroll O'Connor (as Lester Locke) convincingly plays the character of a cunning conspirator against F. Patch.

Of the other famous actors, John Saxon stands out, albeit less on screen, as Lou Trinidad - convincing as a marshal in a nearby town. He is an acquaintance of F. Patch and who correctly advises him to leave Cottownwood Springs - to give up position of the marshal. Seeing that things have gone too far - unfavorably, he makes a correct proposal. Patch has no other way out if he wants to save his head!