Le mercenaire de minuit

"Invitation to a Gunfighter" is a film searching for a consistent tone. By turns it's stilted, silly and melodramatic, and the result is mostly just confusing. The kernels of a very good movie are present, but often left "unpopped." For example, the town is initially portrayed as morally upright, and Brynner's character as amoral, and the film tries to flip this on its head. The trouble is, we rarely see anything to prove this; instead, we're forced to fill in the blanks ourselves from sparse pieces of (vague) dialogue. The story is so buried in subtext and so much is not shown that scenes like Yul Brynner's drunken rampage is robbed of its dramatic potential because we haven't seen anything that would seem to justify it. On it's own, that could have been a powerful idea, since Brynner's character is given a back-story like nothing these townsfolk have ever known, but in that case, the movie devotes far too much time to the troubles of the townsfolk instead of focusing on Brynner's inner turmoil.

The acting is all over the board in this one, as well. Brynner's performance can't be faulted; he's his usual simmering, silent presence, but seems miscast in a role which could have been quite interesting if it weren't so poorly-written. Janice Rule seems confused in her role as Ruth Adams (and well she should be, forced to serve as the love interest between--count them--three men, all trying to kill each other at some point or another), and spends most of it looking vaguely sad and disinterested, and Pat Hingle is neither evil enough nor serious enough to make a compelling villain. Clifford David fares better as the perpetually angry Crane, and George Segal, as the unfortunate Matt Weaver, is just about the only member of the cast that seems to have any idea what he's doing. The rest of the townsfolk are a mixture of clichés and stereotypes that make it seem as though Yul Brynner mistakenly wandered onto the set of "Blazing Saddles." Brynner's presence, and the multi-layered, operatic scale of the plot might warrant repeat viewings, and the film should be credited for trying to tackle weighty issues of morality and racism, but ultimately "Gunfighter" misses its mark. The classic mantra in storytelling is "show, don't tell," and this film doesn't do that, rendering what should have been a very good movie into a very mediocre one.

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.

This is an underrated western with a great moral lesson about both racism and judging too quickly from appearances. The townspeople led by Pat Hingle in this northern leaning western town hire Yul Brynner to gun down George Segal who has returned from the Civil War after fighting for the Confederacy. George Segal has come back to claim his land and his woman, each of which has been taken by another.

AS the movie progresses it's slowly revealed that the Union leaning town is not what it seems to be. Pat Hingle plays a politician very common for 30 years after the Civil War, adept at what they called "waving the bloody shirt." Just demagogue away at who did what and where during the war and ignore the current issues both social and economic.

During the course of The Magnificent Seven, Yul Brynner's Chris Adams is referred to as a Cajun. Here he's given a proper Cajun name of Jules D'Estaing and when his secret is revealed, a whole lot of people in that town have to confront their own prejudices.

Makes for worthwhile viewing.

A very underrated western! Superb performances from Yul Brynner and Janice Rule. Arguably their best. Director Richard Wilson had worked with Orson Welles on his theater projects and that influence is evident in the adapted screenplay he wrote with his wife. The film questions the moral superiority of the Unionists over the Confederates. It asks, more importantly, if racism in USA is merely related to a white versus black confrontation or to white versus all non-whites (Mexicans, mulattos, cajuns, Native Indians, etc.). More than the action, the film is lifted by the spoken word (e.g., how an average American thinks Jules and Jewel are the same!) and misplaced morality. Needs to be more widely seen and appreciated.

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.