The Master Gunfighter

The kind of film one would expect from the genius behind "Billy Jack Goes to Washington," the movie does distinguish itself in the area of weaponry. Apparently set in the era of old California, the gunfighter blazes away with a remarkable handgun called a LeMat--which didn't exist if the period is prior to the Civil War as it seems to be. Nonetheless, bringing this weapon to light is a nice historical touch. While the Union officers in the Civil War used six-shooter percussion revolvers, they were hard pressed if they came up against a Confederate with a ten-shooter LeMat (nine balls plus a shotgun round). The other milestone in weaponry is the use of swords not a la Zorro but in the fashion of Samuri, a ludicrous touch only Mr. Laughlin could have thought up. If you enjoy odd weapons or the odd use of them, you must see this film,

Tom Laughlin didn't have to stretch much for this role, to be sure, but as the previous poster said, Barbara Carrera alone is worth the price of admission. If you liked the Billy Jack flicks, you'll undoubtedly like this as well. If you like westerns, you'll like this too. It's a pretty solid performance, and Laughlin is surrounded by a good cast. This movie also has considerably higher production values than the first Billy Jack pictures. This is particularly noticeable in the cinematography, as well as the set design. One would suspect this is because by the time this was made, Laughlin was beginning to enjoy some degree of success and fame due to the buzz generated by the two previous Billy Jack installments.

This movie apparently takes place in pre-Civil War California and everybody rides horses instead of Harleys, but other than that it's a typical Laughlin film, except even dumber. Laughlin plays a guy who is trying to save local Indians from being sold into slavery. It's difficult to figure out who exactly the bad guys are, because Laughlin kills whites, blacks, Mexicans, Indians, rich, poor . . . in fact, he blows away just about everybody (in the name of justice and equality, of course). Laughlin's idea of conveying anger (the only kind of emotion he shows in the picture) is to grit his teeth, talk slow and appear to be constipated. He carries an odd kind of shotgun/pistol (which didn't exist at that time, but why quibble...) and a samurai-type sword and proceeds to use both on everyone within eyesight. Fred Williamson, usually a reliable actor, also conveys a lot of anger, but it's probably directed at his agent or whoever got him to agree to do this movie. The story bounces around and goes off into every tangent possible, the "acting" is generally atrocious, the photography at times is so dark it's hard to see anything. Laughlin was apparently trying to make an "anti-Western", but in one respect he falls back on a bit that a lot of B westerns did: he manages to fire a limitless number of rounds from a six-shooter without reloading. Then again, maybe it's supposed to be an early version of a machine gun; that would make about as much sense as anything else in this picture . . .

Educated in the Orient, peaceful pistol-packing Tom Laughlin (as Finley) is also a samurai swordsman. He shoots and slashes people who want to take land away from Native Americans and Mexicans. They've just stolen California from them. A US government shipment of two million dollars in gold is involved. "One Week Later," birds peck at what could be a carcass. Many shots of "The Birds" amount to what could be homage to director Alfred Hitchcock. An entire family is missing. Twitching the flesh around his left eye expertly, best friend or enemy Ron O'Neal (as Paulo) and others are led to believe Mr. Laughlin stole the gold. He's clearly full of himself. Helping pass many dull stretches is beautiful Barbara Carrera (as Eula).

*** The Master Gunfighter (10/3/75) Tom Laughlin ~ Tom Laughlin, Ron O'Neal, Barbara Carrera, Lincoln Kilpatrick

Let me say that I love Westerns and sword-play movies. Then along comes The Master Gunfighter. I'm sure there is a plot in there somewhere. But you owe it to yourself to see one of the worst movies ever. It was not made-for-TV, but a real, live in the theatre experience. People might have actually spent real cash to see this. Sad. The LeMat (pistol) actually existed as a .22 cal,with a .410 shotgun barrel, but was not introduced until the Civil War. A great many men carried Bowie knives at the time that this took place, but I imagine getting an actual Samurai katana would have been very difficult.