The Gunfighter 1950
I didn't know much, if anything, about this movie, but it showed up on Microsoft's movie store when I had a gift certificate ready to spend. With a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, it was a pretty safe bet for a blind buy. Gregory Peck seems like an unlikely Western hero, but he is outstanding in this role as an infamouse gunfighter tired of having to duel it out with every overconfident upstart in town. He gets great support from Karl Malden as a bar tender and even better from Millard Mitchell, an acquaintance from the old days who is now the town's marshall. In addition to these great characters, there is also some fine writing and some tension as the mostly dialogue driven movie counts down to a big finish. Criterion released a version of this a couple of years ago that I may have to get now. A nice bonus is that one of the three brothers in the movie is played by Alan Hale, Jr., skipper from Gilligan's Island, who I didn't recognize at all.
Written: 15 May 2023
Owned on: Digital