Death of a Gunfighter

"Death of a gunfighter" belongs to the crepuscular western genre which would become prominent in the seventies with such works as "the shootist" .The hero (masterfully played by Richard Widmark as brilliant as ever) is definitely a man of the past ;twenty years go ,when he began his job of a marshal ,the street was not safe and the way of the gun was the only one .Now,the town longs for respectability,for a "modern" Police .The unsung hero has not realized that history is a jet plane : there are photographs in the rooms and the first automobiles (like in Sam Peckinpah's " ballad of Cable Hogue") will pretty soon leave the horse-drawn carriages far behind .

The title speaks for itself :the marshal's fate is sealed as soon the movie begins .The old people are blasé or tired .there are two young lads ,one of them an orphan is excited by his employer's daughter ,and although she throws him a line twice,he can't make up his mind to go all the way;the other one ,after a tragic loss,thinks he can take laws in his hands and become a gunfighter like his enemy.

The atmosphere of the movie is gloomy : it begins with a woman in mourning and ends the same way.A priest is saying prayers in the saloon as a man is dying.A wedding is to take place after a funeral.This is not your average action-packed western ,it looks like a dirge

Death of a Gunfighter is directed by Don Siegel and Robert Totten under the pseudonym of Alan Smithee. It's adapted to screenplay by Joseph Calvelli from the novel written by Lewis B. Patten. it stars Richard Widmark, Lena Horne and Carroll O'Connor. A Technicolor production it sees music is by Oliver Nelson and cinematography by Andrew Jackson. Plot sees Widmark as Patch, an old style lawman in the town of Cottonwood Springs, a town that the community elders want to see move with the times. When Patch kills a drunk in self defence, the town denizens see it as the ideal opportunity to oust him from office. But Patch isn't that keen to leave his post....

It carries with it some historical cinematic value in that it was the first time the name Alan Smithee was seen on the directing credits. A name that come to be associated with films where the director who worked on it wanted his name off of the credits. Here it was Don Siegel, who only came in for the last two weeks of filming after Widmark and Totten fell out. The finished product, whilst no duffer, is still a lukewarm experience, not helped by the fact that the theme at its core has been done considerably better in other Western offerings. On the plus side there is Widmark stoically giving his anachronism role some real emotional depth, and the finale does not want for dramatic impact. But it plays out like a TV movie, with no visual flourishes, and the cosmopolitan make up of the townsfolk is not utilised to aid the story. 6/10

This revisionist western talks about the inevitable unfolding after many years. About 20 years, of the accumulation of injustice, immorality in Cottownwood Springs, Texas, at the turn of the 19th and 20th century! There is almost no positive characters in the described events and main characters. Among the worst, in addition to the violent, marshal Frank Patch (convincingly played by Richard Widmark), is the vile Lester Locke (played by Carroll O'Connor), one of the initiators of the conspiracy against Marshal F. Patch. Marshal Patch has mostly fallen into a hopeless life trap with his reckless actions. Illegally, in delicate situations he decides how he "thinks" it is right. So he once let, the killer from behind, Andrew Oxley (played solidly by Kent Smith), go unpunished in order for the latter to raise the victim's son Will Oxley. BTW , marshal F. Patch was a gunfighter until he was hired 20 years ago by the leaders of Cottownwood Springs. In principle the gunfighter is badly character, who often resolve ordinary conflicts outside the law or per wild west law - by showdown. Ordinary people rightly despised them. Most of the leaders of the place have their dishonorable secrets that marshal Patch mostly knows about.

Although for some it is an unusual ending that marshal Patch experienced (for some, the very scene of the clay pigeon in which Patch found himself is debatable), it did not surprise me. I think the intention of the main authors of the film was to show that local cowardly leaders are capable of organizing illegally the brutal removal of marshals.

Famous directors Robert Totten and Don Siegel as well as sciwriters: Joseph Calvelli (screenplay), Lewis B. Patten (novel) deserve praise for this above-average film.

Cinematography by Andrew Jackson) i Art Direction by Alexander Golitzen, Howard E. Johnson and Set Decoration by Sandy Grace, John McCarthy Jr. are well done - although there is one visible mistake: decorated barn through which local leaders pass!

Music by Oliver Nelson is satisfying.

R. Widmark, with his characteristic cynical, repulsive style, played very well the character of the antipathetic, arrogant, self-confident, bad marshal F. Patch. This role suited him like the ace on ten!

There's the solid acting of Lena Horne, once a famous African-American entertainer, in the role of Claire Quintan. She is the girl F. Patch in the film. Both the girl from the brothel and hers owner.

Carroll O'Connor (as Lester Locke) convincingly plays the character of a cunning conspirator against F. Patch.

Of the other famous actors, John Saxon stands out, albeit less on screen, as Lou Trinidad - convincing as a marshal in a nearby town. He is an acquaintance of F. Patch and who correctly advises him to leave Cottownwood Springs - to give up position of the marshal. Seeing that things have gone too far - unfavorably, he makes a correct proposal. Patch has no other way out if he wants to save his head!

A Western that shows how the "West growed itself up and got itself civilized".Richard Widmark gives what is probably his last great performance as a Sheriff whose way a doing things don't sit right with the "powers-that-be" personified by town merchant Carrol O Conner.This movie ,like Invitaion to a Gunfighter made some years before it reveals just how gutless and desperate the power-brokers are when there's no one to do their bidding.The film still holds up (even with the much mentioned two directors)though it has that "back-lot"look to most of it.John Saxon has a brief but memorable piece of work in this must see film for western fans or good movie fans.

Started by Robert Totten, then taken over by Don Siegel at the insistence of Richard Widmark (Totten and the star "clashed," as they say), "Death of a Gunfighter" wound up credited to the fictitious and now somewhat famous Alan Smithee. This intriguing Western remains the elusive director's best work, thanks, no doubt, to the proven skills of Siegel and another terrific Widmark performance (the director and star had previously collaborated on "Madigan" a year earlier). As sheriff Widmark's love interest, Lena Horne hasn't much to do, but she looks good doing it.