Invitation to a Gunfighter

I loved Yul Brynner in this movie, and Janice Rule did a good job as the frustrated wife of the crippled, hard-drinking, ex-Civil War fighter. Yul Brynner is excellent as the brooding, cold, mercenary who has a job to do, but falls for the lady whose house he's decided to stay in while doing it. I was in my "Yul Brynner" phase when this one came out, and I can still see it over and over--much as I feel about The Magnificent Seven, the Return of the Seven, The Journey, or The King and I. I couldn't help but wonder if he actually played that harpsichord. He obviously couldn't sing, and only spoke the song while he played the tune on the lady's harpsichord.

Yul Brynner was a smoker, and the cigar is ever present. I met him in 1972 out in Malibu, and I asked him if he could quit smoking for his health's sake. He said, "Nope. Too hooked." He was, and sadly for his fans, it was his undoing. He signed a photo for me for my birthday that year, which I still cherish. The world lost a great actor when he passed. He was the best in a Western, wearing black and walking that walk...a man of few words.

Yul Brynner is a commanding presence in Richard Wilson's Invitation to a Gunfighter, a Stanley Kramer production set in New Mexico just at the end of the Civil War. Brynner is Jules Gaspard D'Estaing, a half-Creole, half-black gunfighter, hired by the town boss Sam Brewster (Pat Hingle) to kill Matt Weaver (George Segal), a soldier who has just returned from the war. When Weaver, who fought on the Confederate side, finds that his house and farm had been auctioned by Brewster as "enemy property", he guns down the man who had "acquired" his farm and stole his girlfriend Ruth Adams (Janice Rule). Now the town wants payback and hires a self-appointed dispenser of instant justice.

Nattily dressed in a black suit and a ruffled white shirt, Jules is the strong, silent type, equally adept at playing poker, reciting poetry, and playing the harpsichord as he is engaging in "work and play" with his guns. He is well paid to finish the job but soon discovers that his prospective victim may be more honest than those who are joined against him. Although he makes the statement that he is no longer human, Jules' actions prove otherwise as he develops a sympathy for Weaver, becomes attracted to Ruth, and finds aid and comfort with the Mexicans in the village who have been shunted to the outskirts of town by the corrupt bosses. When Jules, seething with frustration, goes on a drunken rampage and nearly destroys the town single handedly, Sam makes a truce with Matt to get rid of the mysterious stranger and the showdown is set.

Yul Brynner turns in a compelling performance as the son of a slave who wants justice more than another payday. While there is a tendency in many films to glorify murderers for hire, we can relate to Jules more as a flawed human being with a troubled past than as a cold-blooded killer. Unfortunately the other characters are not as well developed and George Segal seems miscast as the vengeful war veteran. Janice Rule is lovely but is given little to do except stand around and look pensive. The less said about the musical score the better. Suffice to say, it did not add to the pleasure of watching this film. Being a Yul Brynner fan, however, I found Invitation to a Gunfighter a satisfying experience, a film whose themes of racism and interracial love were advanced, even for 1964 when consciousness about civil rights was exploding.

A modest little matinée western with little in way of style with its methodical direction, but leading the way are the strikingly prominent performances from Yul Brynner, George Segal, Pat Hingle, Janice Rule and backing it up is a lyrically well-oiled script stringed to a customary, but accessibly gripping premise that patiently builds upon its unfolding situations.

A confederate solider Matt Weaver returns back to his small town after the civil war to find out his home has been sold by the dominating town boss Sam Brewster. Causing a ruckus, Brewster hires the interestingly mysterious gunfighter Jules Gaspard d'Estaing to take care of Brewster; however Jules gets caught up in the devious shades of a town run by corrupt figures.

The way the story pans out is thoughtfully projected and the framework delivers it in an unconventional manner with some psychological interplays. The way the steely protagonist uses the situation to gain what he wants and hand out much needed justice within the shameful town simply holds you there. It's literally chatty, but never does it outstay its welcome. A sternly defined Brynner is outstanding (as the camera magnetically follows him around) and likewise is a booming Hingle. When the action/shoot outs occur they're rather sparse, but toughly staged despite its obvious studio bound sets.

Largely on the strength of 'Al Capone' (1959), director Richard Wilson was considered sufficiently noteworthy during the mid-sixties to rate an entry in the Thames & Hudson 'Encyclopedia of the Arts' (1966).

This talky, awe-inspiringly pretentious 'adult' western (scripted by Wilson and his wife Elizabeth) that a few years earlier would have signalled it's seriousness by being in black & white (like 'High Noon' or '3:10 to Yuma') is instead shot in incongruously pretty colour by veteran cameraman Joe MacDonald on the Universal backlot, where Brynner later trashes the already flimsy-looking sets with suspicious ease.

Based on a 1957 TV play, it was made too early to be influenced by Sergio Leone, but was obviously influenced (as was Leone himself) by the samurai films of Kurosawa.

The cast was largely recruited from TV and the New York stage, some of whom - like George Segal and Strother Martin - became more familiar a few more years later; while David Raksin's woodwind score lingers in the memory.

I have always like westerns and would consider this one a must-see. It's quite dated in places with many of it's attitudes rooted in the 1950s and some really laughable dialog. But it's moral stance and it comments on society's treatment of it's poor, it's minorities, it's women, hits you like a slap to the face. It's always a pleasure to watch Yul Brenner at work and he really carries this movie. George Segal is okay as his presumed antagonist but the real bad guy(s) in this movie are not so easily identified. I was stunned to see how much of the plot of this movie influenced one of my favorite Westerns of all time - High Plains Drifter. The resemblance is uncanny - of course HPD does it better but still I have to recommend this to anyone who likes Westerns.