Le justicier de l'Arizona

Ben Wyatt , an ageing gunfighter, reluctantly answers a call for help from his old friend Luis Domingo , whose land is threatened by a greedy cattle baron. Arriving at the ranch to find Domingo and his wife dead and their daughter Anisa gone, Ben sets off in search of Anisa and the killers

Return of the gunfighter is Robert Taylor's last western, a genre he loved starring in, and what a way to bow out. A well-plotted, well-paced western with thoughtful performances, especially from Robert Taylor who imbues a gun weary character, who is fed up of killing, but has to do the right thing, and help his late friend's daughter bring her father's killers to justice. Things get a bit more dramatic when it's revealed that Chad Everett, who has feeling for the girl, is the villain's brother. Lyle Bettger is the main villain, but it's John Davis Chandler as Sundance, his hired thug, who steals the scene in the villainy stakes with his snarling face.

The Return of the gunfighter is an excellent western, with some exciting action, and great location. In my eyes, a western tale of the good guys overcoming the bad hombres never gets old. Seen this film many times on the BBC in my teens.

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.

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.

Obviously a former TV product but eventually put on the big screen, as were DUEL and THE KILLERS (1964), because above average stuff. This typical early sixties western seems to belong to those which were some kind of transition between the John Ford and Han Hathaway era ( forties and fifties) and the new age, the Sam Pecinpah's or Monte Hellman's ones), and not like the Andrew McLaglen's films, made in the sixties and early seventies, and still in the fifties atmosphere. So, this very one could be compared to THE LAST CHALLENGE, with also Chad Everett and co starring this time Glenn Ford, also for MGM, another plot showing the end of the old west and old timers, but in a more interesting and bitter, darker way than this one. Here, Chad Everett is somewhere also the lead character's "sidekick ", but I expected more. That's my own opinion folks, that remains a good western, made by a director who, after a goood start - NIGHT PASSAGE - lost his way thru Disney garbage stuff, before resuming with this one.

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.