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My vote has always been that of all the great stars identified as western heroes, none was more upright than Joel McCrea. In fact whenever he tried to vary that character, the results usually weren't that good. Even in comedy parts like his films with Preston Sturges, he's still an honorable man, albeit caught up in some lunacy.

McCrea never crossed the line into making himself look ridiculous like Dudley Doo-Right and The Gunfight at Dodge City is a case in point. Here he's playing Bat Masterson who has come into Dodge City after a killing in another town and buys an interest in the Lady Gay Saloon owned by widow Nancy Gates. Brother Ed Masterson, played by Harry Lauter is the town marshal and he's keeping company with preacher's daughter played by Julie Adams.

Brother Ed is shot in the back during a cowboy hurrahing of Dodge City and Bat steps in to take his place. He brings some law and order back to Dodge City and makes both friends and enemies in the process. And he's got both the women mentioned before interested in him.

Fate would have it, a friend from another town comes back in his life. He wants him to bust his brother, who's mentally retarded, out of custody. The brother has killed a man who was making fun of him. He owes this guy big time and he has a responsibility to his badge in Dodge City.

I won't say anything, but Joel McCrea never took the less honorable route in his cinematic career. And as for which woman he winds up with? See the film.

Also look for an unusual performance against type from Richard Anderson. Anderson usually plays nice guys and he's best known for being Lee Majors boss in the Six Million Dollar Man. He's a serpentine villain here and a good one.

I saw this when I was 12 years old when it was the second feature of a double bill. That's what McCrea westerns were relegated to at that time. But Joel McCrea was a real cowboy hero to this 12 year old.

Still is.

I enjoyed this. It provides everything one expects from a Western: good plot, revenge, love, conflict between law and personal conscience, plenty of gun-play, and mood. And a few excellent quotes. Try: "The distance between here and that street is the distance between a rabbit and a man." The beginning is refreshing too. Before the title and opening credits, a world-weary McCrea is telling a simple teenage boy who admires his prowess with a gun what it really is like. How scared one is, how little it has to do with heroics, and how awfully wretched one feels afterwards. In this film, the gunfights are fast, and mostly in the dark. That's probably more accurate than so many more overblown sequences in other films. The performances on everyone's part, even the baddies', are in many ways unexpectedly subtle. Take Regan, the bad Sheriff. Look at his strange, tormented eyes. None of it's overplayed. If it's raining outside, get out the popcorn and curl up with this.

It deals with the gun-down that cracked the West wide open , as Bat Masterson (Joel McCrea) doesn't look for problems , but he doesn't walk away from it . When an army sergeant in Hays City attempts to shot Bat and dies for this attack , Bat heads for Dodge City where Ed , his brother , is city marshal and a candidate for county sheriff running against the nasty Regan (Don Haggerty) . While Masterson buys a share in a local saloon called ¨Lady gay¨ , partnering with the widow Lily (Nancy Gates) . Then , after an ambush carried out by the corrupt Dave Rudabaugh (Richard Anderson) , Bat , helped by a fine Doctor (John McIntire) , finds himself a candidate for sheriff and the heir to Ed's intentions toward Pauline (Julie Adams) , a minister's daughter . As Bat Masterson is elected to the job and is determined to find the killer and to maintain law and order and make Dodge City safe.

Better than average Western with Joel McCrea as the famous gunman and gambler Bat Masterson . As it stars Joel MacCrea who performed lots of Westers as ¨Unión Pacific¨, ¨Buffalo Bill¨ , ¨the Virginian¨, ¨Ramrod¨, ¨South of St Louis¨ , ¨4 faces West¨ , ¨The Oklahoman¨ and his final classic ¨Ride the high county¨ along with Randolph Scott . It contains a good cast as John MacIntire as a good Doctor , Richard Anderson , Don Haggerty , Timothy Carey , James Westerfield as reverend and two gorgeous girls : Julia Adams and Nancy Gates who previously played opposite a different Bat , George Montgomery , in the Western ¨Masterson of Kansas¨ . The movie is inspired on true events . Thus , Bartholomew ¨Bat¨ Masterson (1853-1921) spent the last twenty years of his life as a popular sports writer on New York newspaper . Previously he had taken part in the battle of Adobe Walls in 1874 in which a small party of hunters beat off a fierce attack by hundreds of Indians , events narrated in the meeting between Bat and the old man at the beginning of the film . In 1878 the marshal of Dodge City was shot by two cowboys , Bat rushed to the scene and gunned down the killer . Bat was appointed as deputy U.S. marshal by the Mayor and shortly after captured noted outlaw . Along with Bat were hired to keep the peace as lawman Wyatt Earp and Bill Tilghman . In 1902 he settled in N.Y.City and became a successful sports writer on the Morning Telegraph and he died at his desk from a heart attack . Masterson said he has not killed as many men as was popularly supposed though he had experienced a great many difficulties . The picture is set in Dodge City , Kansas , the most celebrated of the cowboy cattle towns , became a major railhead cowtown for the cattle driven up from Texas over the long trails , during the cattle boom Dodge shipped more than 250.ooo head a year . The free-spending cowboys attracted professional gamblers , badmen , saloon and brothel keepers and became a rough town in the best traditions of the wild west . Dodge City reigned as ¨Queen of the Cowtowns¨ until final XIX century when the free range cattle industry came to an end .

The film is an enjoyable western and well written by Martin Goldsmith based on a story by Daniel Ullman . Agreeable and evocative musical score by Hans J. Salter . Colorful and glimmer cinematography by Carl E. Guthrie . Production is in charge of Walter Mirish , an usual western producer: the Magnificent Seven saga . The motion picture was rightly directed by Joseph M. Newman . Joseph made all kinds of genres : drama , thrillers as ¨King of the roaring¨, ¨The story of Arnold Rothstein¨, ¨Love nest¨, ¨Great Dan Patch¨ , ¨Jungle Patrol¨ and a classic Sci-Fi : ¨The Island Earth¨. The flick will appeal to western moviegoers.

The Gunfight at Dodge City is directed by Joseph M.Newman (This Island Earth/Fort Massacre) and jointly written by Martin Goldsmith and Daniel B. Ullman. It stars Joel McCrea, Julie Adams, John McIntire, Nancy Gates, Richard Anderson, Don Haggerty and James Westerfield. Hans J. Salter scores the music and Carl Guthrie is the cinematographer, with the production being in CinemaScope with colour by DeLuxe. Primary location shoot is Melody Ranch, Newhall, California, USA.

McCrea stars as Bat Masterson, we find him originally in Hays City, Kansas, where he has set up shop, but after killing a man in self defence he heads to Dodge City to stay with his brother, Ed (Harry Lauter), who is the City Marshall. But upon arriving he finds that Dodge City is not a nice place, beset with lawlessness and run by corrupt sheriff Jim Reagan (Haggerty). After befriending the town doctor, Sam Tremaine (McIntire), and meeting Ed's fiancée Pauline (Adams), Bat buys a half share in the ailing Lady Gay Saloon run by Lily (Gates), herself struggling because of Reagan's interference. Bat sets about earning an honest living, but sheriff Reagan has no intention of letting either of the Masterson's flourish in Dodge: and just why is Dave Rudabaugh (Anderson) in town?

Sometimes referred to as The Bat Masterson Story, The Gunfight at Dodge City is not a biography of the frontier lawman who once worked alongside Wyatt Earp. It does have some semblance of facts inked into the narrative, but ultimately view it as light telling of Bat Masterson's time in Dodge City. Running at just 81 minutes long, Newman's film has just enough character development, drama and period detail to sustain interest for that length of time. There's no attempt at histrionics or psychological depth, or even a message in the offering. This is a very stream-lined Western dealing in familiar B Western themes. But what it lacks in originality it makes up for with its all round production values.

Although the CinemaScope is not used to the full (not enough exterior panoramas here, sadly), the film boasts some fine performances, wonderful colour lensing (night time shots are gorgeous) and that under valued asset of the Western, costuming (check out Lily's purple frock). McCrea obviously doesn't have the iconography that Randy Scott, James Stewart and The Duke have, but he quite often cuts an imposing, straight backed figure of note. Such as he does here, giving Masterson a rugged noble elegance in the process. Adams is beautiful and proves adept during the more tender moments and Gates, likewise, is hugely effective in portraying the nagging pangs of yearning. McIntire is nearly always good value, especially in official roles, and he adds a touch of quality here as the Doc who likes a drink and stoically stands by Bat's side when he needs support. Haggerty is a touch weak, not really exuding menace, but that's offset quite some by Anderson's suspicious and sneaky portrayal of Rudabaugh.

All told it's just a real safe B Western with good production value into the bargain. 7/10

After a career that stretched back to the silent era that included work with such directors as Alfred Hitchcock, George Stevens, and Preston Sturges, Joel McCrae turned almost exclusively to the western genre in the mid-1940's. Near the end of McCrae's prodigious output of modestly budgeted westerns, he played real life lawman, journalist, and gambler, Bat Masterson, in "The Gunfight at Dodge City." While the story treads familiar territory, McCrae and the movie will likely please most fans of the star in particular and horse-operas in general. As Masterson, a weathered Joel McCrae becomes the town sheriff after his brother, the former sheriff, is killed. Nothing new here; a kindly town doctor played by John McIntire; a lovely widowed saloon keeper, Nancy Gates; a preacher and his prim uptight daughter, James Westerfield and Julie Adams; a friendly townsman and his mentally-challenged brother, Walter Coy and Wright King; and the requisite bad guys, Richard Anderson and Don Haggerty. Besides McCrae, only John McIntire makes much of an impression among the supporting cast.

Director Joseph M. Newman mixes the cliched elements into an entertaining 82 minutes; a few gunfights, a daring rescue, a touch of romance, an attempted rape, fistfights, and the requisite standby, a showdown on the dusty main street of an old western town. "The Gunfight at Dodge City" is no classic of the genre, but rather a routine western that offers all the elements for an afternoon's entertainment, plus the opportunity to watch an iconic western star, Joel McCrae, at work doing what he loved and did exceptionally well.

Absent from this film are Wyatt Earp, Masterson's close friend and colleague in Dodge City, and Masterson's dapper clothing, a lifelong trademark, two major flaws in the film. His avoidance of public office doesn't ring true, either. The plot itself takes considerable liberties with the truth. (The television series "Bat Masterson" was closer to the truth in spirit and sometimes in fact.)

However, McCrea's intelligent and introspective portrayal of Masterson is on the mark. The acting of him and the rest of the cast carry the film, which is saddled with uninspired direction.

I had to laugh. Joel McCrea is in a saloon. An Army sergeant comes in mad at him that his girl use to be Joel's girlfriend. He starts shooting. Shoots his girl Molly who got in the way, wounds Joel before hes shot. But after the soldiers take the guy out, no mention of Molly? No one checks her body on the floor to see if shes alive. No mention of concern at all by Joel of his ex-girlfriend lying on the floor!! You dont see anybody remove her body. What the hell? Later he tells Bat Masterson, a friend, what happened. Again, no mention of poor, assuming dead, Molly. What???? Hahahaha. How the hell could that be so overlooked. Below, a question asks does this review contain spoilers? Should be a "Maybe" switch. Lol

This is a fine western movie that moves along at a fast-pace. The dialog is often embarrassingly funny,as these characters were practical people here ! This is an oddly memorable film with all sorts of interesting details. The nightly,rowdy frontier-town scenes are great,with very dangerous but often very funny drunken behavior that is delivered in spades by the residents and visitors who are seemingly in the bars/casinos 24/7.

I won't tell you that this is a 'masterpiece theater of the west',but it is definitely a pretty good movie and it is a little different from many if not most of the western-themed movies of the era.

I liked it,it gets an easy 90/100 in my book.

The use of the singular in the title is misleading as there's a gunfight every few minutes as Joel McCrea as Bat Masterson cleans up Dodge City.

Richard Anderson is cast against type as a gunfighter in black and Timothy Carey very much to type as the ugliest of the heavies (while an uncredited Kasey Rogers - fleetingly seen early on as a saloon gal named Molly - is unrecognisable without the glasses she wore as Guy's cheating spouse under her former name of 'Laura Elliot' in 'Strangers on a Train').

Joel McCrea, one of my favorite actors ever, especially in Westerns, delivers yet another naturalistic, honest, completely unpretentious and honorable performance in THE GUNFIGHT AT DODGE CITY, playing the famous Bat Masterson, born in Quebec, Canada in 1853 and deceased in NY in 1921, in between doing plenty of different jobs, from sheriff and marshall involved in noteworthy shootouts - mainly in Dodge City - to professional hunter, gambler, journalist, US Army scout, among other occupations.

As Bat not out of, but into the hell of Dodge City, McCrea receives able assistance from John McIntire as the town doctor - very unlike Doc Holiday's relation with Wyatt Earp, no rasping cough for starters - and he dispatches in style duplicitous villain Rudabaugh, portrayed against type by Richard Anderson, better known for roles in TV productions.

Two females interested in McCrea: the extremely beautiful Julie Adams, and the not so conventionally pretty but kindhearted and loving Nancy Gates. Bat has his hands full but makes the right choice!

I do not know much about Director Joseph Newman. I liked his A THUNDER OF DRUMS more than THE GUNFIGHT but enjoyed it despite the poor copy and unremarkable cinematography by Carl Guthrie.

The screenplay by Daniel Ullman rates somewhat patchy. 7/10.

We've seen it all before in so many Westerns, even to the cosy buggy ride out into the country for a bit of romancing. If the tagline was "All The Thundering Might Of The Most Famed Gunfight Of Them All!", then this was hyperbole even by Hollywood standards; when I sat down to watch it it I thought it might be a reworking of the OK Corral shootout, but it wasn't; the inevitable gunfight at the end was quite tame, and its outcome predictable. McCrea was in his latish fifties when the film was made, and it would have been a sad swansong for an usually-watchable actor; thank goodness he went onto make "Ride the High Country".

Just what the audience could expect from director Newman: a routine action-packed western with veteran Joel McCrea as the legendary Bat Masterson. It is not so much the story that makes this film worth watching, but the appearance of Timothy Carey (uncredited-unbelievable!) as one of villain Haggerty's henchmen.

This is old formula Western, which of course is better than the new formula crap that was shoved down our throats from about 1965 till about 2000, whether we liked it or not.

This was made in the days when the characters in the Westerns were written to look like mature grown up people who knew what rugged life was about. Lets face it. The spaghetti westerns ruined the genre for a quarter of a century, because the characters came across like spoiled brats who never walked outside of an arcade room.

This Western is loosely about a fictional part of Bat Masterson's life. It would be better if it wasn't Bat, so we could accept the plausibility of the story, but that doesn't matter. This story is certainly more feasible than the "Tombstone" version of Wyatt Earp.

What sells the story is the characters, the good and the bad guys. The two bad guys are very three dimensional. One is a little loco, so his fate is understandable.

The final gunfight with the more rational bad guy at the end was what weighted this down. At the end, we see a change in the bad guy, not that he's good, but that he's somewhat alert to the changing of the times. I thought the final gunfight was contrived, and it would've been better with a more toned down ending.

Still, it is the characters that make this worth watching.

John McIntire and James Westerfield both played Judge Paker in the John Wayne movies True Grit and Rooster Cogburn.