Le justicier de l'Arizona

I'm sorry, but I just couldn't get over seeing Chad Everett in this western film. Now I don't think he did a bad job, but seeing this handsome actor who is most closely associated with playing a TV doctor as a gunfighter took me by surprise--as I grew up watching him on "Medical Center".

The film is one of Robert Taylor's last films. As he was older and more haggard, the writers did a good job in dealing with this instead of pretending he still was the man with matinée idol good looks. Here, he plays an aging gunfighter who is sick and tired of the violence--and he actually tried NOT to fight and would back down if possible. I liked this aspect of the film and it kept me watching--as well as my wife, who is NOT a fan of the genre.

However, aside from both Taylor and Everitt doing a god job, the rest of the film is very, very standard. It's the usual big nasty guy with money versus the innocent farmers/ranchers. While I don't give the film super-high marks, it is well acted and interest interesting and a decent late appearance for Taylor.

Miss Mexico at only 16 years old? Why hasn't this been brought up? Maybe no Oscars, but we'll worth mentioning...😊

Return of the Gunfighter is directed by James Neilson and adapted to screenplay by Robert Buckner from a story by Burt Kennedy. It stars Robert Taylor, Chad Everett, Ana Martín, Mort Mills, Lyle Bettger, John Davis Chandler and Michael Pate. Music is by Hans Salter and the Metrocolor cinematography is by Ellsworth Fredericks.

Aging gunfighter Ben Wyatt (Taylor) receives a request to go aid an old friend who's in trouble. Upon arrival at the family ranch he finds that both his friend and his wife have been killed. Locating the surviving daughter, he teams up with hot headed drifter Lee Sutton (Everett) and sets about avenging the murder of his friend and the girls parents.

By this time Robert Taylor was winding down his career and his life, 1967 would see him depart from the Western genre of film, how splendid to find he doesn't in the slightest disgrace himself here.

His character is weather worn, a gunfighter tired of all the killing, of looking over his shoulder all the time. This proves to be perfect for Taylor, who gives the role a believable sense of pathos, the passing of time and that fate will not leave him alone hangs heavy. Breaking it down it's a straight forward narrative, where the one time bad guy is called on to use his deadly skills for some good, to rid the plains of some nasty sorts. The relationship with the young upstart (Everett the whitest teeth in the west) builds nicely, leading to a finale that attacks the emotions of the major players.

There's a healthy quotient of action, decently staged by the tech crew, the Old Tuscon locations are nicely photographed, while support players impact with credit on the story. It's not all plain sailing, Salter's score is sometimes well in keeping with the era, but at other times it comes off like a Sccoby-Doo piece. Susension of disbelief is of course required, none more so than when Ana Martín goes about the town pretending to be a boy and everyone falls for it - she is simply too pretty to remotely pass as male, and the appearance of Butch and Sundance in the plot is most odd.

Yet it's a lovely Oater this, feeling more like one from the 1950s than the tail end of the 60s. Highly recommended to Taylor fans and fans of traditional Western fare. 8/10

This film begins with a young woman named "Anisa Domingo" (Ana Martin) witnessing the cold-blooded murder of her parents by a ruthless rancher by the name of "Clay Sutton" (Lyle Bettger) and his henchmen. Not knowing what else to do, she seeks help from an old family friend named "Ben Wyatt" (Robert Taylor), who has a reputation for being an extremely fast gunfighter. Given that Anisa's father saved his life during the Mexican Rebellion, Ben feels obligated to help her find those responsible and bring them to justice. The main problem, however, is the fact that the local town marshal, "Will Parker" (Mort Mills), is working for Clay Sutton and doesn't particularly care for Ben Wyatt anyway. Complicating matters even further is the fact that an aspiring gunman named "Lee Sutton" (Chad Everett) has developed an attachment to Anisa, but considering that Clay Sutton is his brother, things may become even more difficult for all concerned. Now, rather than revealing more, I'll just say that, although it had a fairly standard Western feel, this was still an enjoyable movie, largely due to the strong performance by Robert Taylor. Similarly, I also liked the performance of John Davis Chandler as the gunfighter "Sundance" as well. On the other hand, I must admit that I thought Chad Everett was miscast in his role and, along with the rather formulaic plot, I found it difficult to rate this movie any higher than I have. Slightly above average.

Probably the best role Robert Taylor had in the last five years of his life was in this made for television western, Return of the Gunfighter. Though no new dramatic trails are broken here, Taylor is just right for the part of a character very much like Gregory Peck's Jim Ringo in The Gunfighter.

Unlike Peck who's returned to a wife and child he abandoned for the wild ways of his youth, Taylor has no family. We meet him after he cashes out of a poker game after catching one of the players cheating. When the cheat objects and draws on him, Taylor shoots him down and just mutters "why won't they leave me alone."

He's just tired of it all, but it turns out his skill is needed by an old friend Rodolfo Hoyos who's being forced off his land. Taylor is summoned but arrives too late.

He does pick up a traveling companion of sorts in young gun Chad Everett who's got three mean brothers on his trail. Let's say that the two of them help each other in their situations, though for Everett it does cause a crisis of conscience as you'll see if you watch the film.

And watch it you should. Robert Taylor liked doing westerns, you can see it in his performances in them. He made fun of the 'iron jockstrap' parts like Ivanhoe, but he loved going west. Personally I think he should have concentrated on them in the sixties or looked for a big budget television series like his ex-wife Barbara Stanwyck had.

Taylor's chief nemesis is Lyle Bettger the man who killed his friend and others. Bettger once again brings one of his sadistic psychos to the screen and effectively. This one does have a healthy respect for Taylor's reputation and skill as he tries to tell young punk John David Chandler, when Chandler seems to buffalo Taylor in a saloon. The fact that Chandler had several friends with him, kind of stacked the deck. It's a scene very similar to one that John Wayne and George Kennedy did in The Sons of Katie Elder.

This was the second of two films that Chad Everett did with Robert Taylor and he always spoke of Taylor's kindness to him as a young player and his generosity in that he never worried about Everett stealing any scenes.

Taylor was back at MGM for this final film with them, the studio where he held the longest contract in screen history. Had Return of the Gunfighter been made 10 year earlier, it surely would have gotten a theatrical release.