Aldo G
This is one of several movies seeing aging Hollywood stars use the Wild West as a metaphor for their own careers or even the old studio system. Richard Widmark is as good as ever as the aging sheriff being forced out of his job by town council people who are anxious to modernize. Don Siegel directed a portion of the film after Widmark could not get along with the original director, Robert Totten. That's why Alan Smithee gets the directing credit on the film (Smithee is the industry's pseudonym when a director wants his name removed from the credits.)
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
12/18/23
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Death of a Gunfighter was originally directed by Robert Totten, who directed the original The Quick and the Dead, as well as plenty of TV like Gunsmoke and Mystery In Dracula's Castle. Despite a year of work, he couldn't get along with star Richard Widmark and lost that battle, getting replaced by Don Siegel (Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Dirty Harry and John Wayne's last movie, The Shootist).
Siegel had been the original choice to direct, but was overworked, according to the Chicago Tribune. However, in Siegel's memoirs, he wrote that Widmark pushed from day one to get Totten kicked off the film and replaced by the unwilling Siegel. Finally, three and a half weeks into making the movie, Widmark got Universal boss Lew Wasserman to personally get involved.
When Siegel looked at Totten's footage, he thought it was great and even made sure his own footage matched. In fact, he didn't reshoot a single scene, only finishing off the film's opening and closing sequences, as well as some pick-up shots. In the end, he didn't think he had done enough work to take directing credit.
However, Totten wanted nothing to do with the film. Siegel didn't want his name on the film, which upset Widmark even more. Finally, an agreement was made with the Directors Guild of America for the pseudonym Alan Smithee to be used.
In fact, this was the first Alan Smithee-directed film.
Here's where it gets weird: critics loved the film and the new director. The New York Times claimed that it had sharp direction and that Smithee "has an adroit facility for scanning faces and extracting sharp background detail." Roger Ebert said that it was "an extraordinary western by director Allen Smithee, a name I'm not familiar with, allows his story to unfold naturally." I wonder if Ebert was aware what was going on and was having fun with his review. I'd like to think so.
Based on Death of a Gunfighter by Lewis B. Patten, this movie feels like Hollywood realizing that some of the better Westerns were coming from other countries, mostly Italy, at this point. Marshall Frank Patch (Widmark) is an Old West-style lawman in Cottonwood Springs, Texas, a town determined to be modern and, as such, conveniently forget its numerous sins and just whitewash the past.
"What would happen," the mayor says, "if an Eastern businessman came to town and saw old Patch there, wearing that shirt he probably hasn't washed in a week?"
Patch shoots a drunk in self-defense, which the town leaders use as a way to get him out. Knowing that the town is about to murder him with their own gunfighters -- he knows too much -- the old lawman settles his affairs, including marrying brothel owner Claire Quintana (Lena Horne), an interracial relationship that is a fact of life, something bold for 1969.
This is a film rich with character actors that I love -- Carroll O'Connor, Royal Dano, John Saxon -- and a town unlike many other Westerns, one made up of all races, a place where a lone car causes worry, where the trains must get ever closer, where the past -- and Patch -- must die to move progress ever forward, no matter what.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/06/23
Full Review
Audience Member
A film about America changing from the old West to the new West. No more gun toting sherrifs for this town, even though they hired Richard Widmark 20 years ago to protect them in wilder times. This film has grit and plenty of it. You want drama, this film has it!
Roger Ebert called the film "an extraordinary western ...director Allen Smithee*, a name I'm not familiar with, allows his story to unfold naturally."
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9f/Death_of_a_gunfighter.jpg/220px-Death_of_a_gunfighter.jpg[/img]
Now the film really gains traction, ie interest in the last half. Like most films. But like real life, a lifetime of honored service to a community is forgotten. The times were changing and gunslingers were gone so the people felt safe. They had no need for their old sherrif.
[img]https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSGcV2OOK6Gaakny0-yhm8IHx6PU_NxwU1YOWAp4-AB8ThMXMBW[/img] The town tries to kill him as seen here
Richard Widmark plays the role of a sherrif that understands one thing. He makes $75 a month for a thankless job. He was promised the job till he did not want it. But that didn't matter to the mayor and his buddies. There is only one way, to kill him.
Hats off to Leona Horn (a legend singer in reality), Carrol O'conner (of tv legend All in the Family) both play magnificent roles.
Strange, but the town kept critical of our town sherrif for what they called needless killings, but every shoot out was a no choice situation! The problem is that Widmark, the sherrif, was not a smooth talking babysitter of criminals. He wasn't Andy Griffith of Mayberry, who never wore a gun but talked his problem citizens out of every conflict.
No, Widmark as town constable was not a talker. He was a doer. For a town that hated the violence of the day, this film ended in pure violence.
[img]https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSjbeoJCAnkUv2lW_PenQp_0BqcmsSDuGDZJ9hby3wJaEMwYo63[/img]
I suppose the moral of this story is that there is a right way, a humane way to settle conflicts.
But it doesn't always end that way, does it?
SEE the entire film here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBb9VHJRDXM
The thought occurred to me that in a lot of ways, this is a film like The Shootist, with John Wayne in his last film with Ron Howard. The times they were a changing. They surely were, in the late 1900's.
[img]http://movies11reviews.blogforcash.biz/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/358406_1020_A1.jpg[/img] Widmark, seated
REVIEWS by the upaid and underappreciated:
60%
"I've got a bad habit of losing my temper" A town informs their long time, old school sheriff that they have decided to modernize and his services are no longer wanted...
NOTES:
1 Lena Horn marries Richard Widmark late in the film. For 1969, this was race relations gone wild. Horn is black and everyone back then NEW it, no doubt. But in this film she marries Widmark. Tremendous!
2 This film, above all others, has the really strange distinction of having the real director(s) remaining uncredited! Instead, they dream up a fictional name, Alan Smithee. How weird is that? Here is the explaination:
* "The film began under the direction of Robert Totten, an experienced television director (Gunsmoke, The Legend of Jesse James). After clashes with star Widmark, and almost a year of work, he was dropped and replaced by Don Siegel. When the film was finished Siegel did not want his name to replace Totten's. Widmark protested and an agreement was made with the Directors Guild of America for the pseudonym Alan Smithee to be used."
[img]http://covers.booktopia.com.au/big/9344256002410/death-of-a-gunfighter.jpg[/img]
Richard Widmark as Frank Patch
Lena Horne as Claire Quintana
Carroll O'Connor as Lester Locke
Jacqueline Scott as Laurie Mills
John Saxon as Trinidad
Dub Taylor as Doc Adams
Darleen Carr as Hilda
[img]https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcStNvk8kd4R4X0ZVIn0chyKNB6WEh0lpPWV0b0t7a8BvQ8kzUzAaQ[/img] The county sherrif comes to get Widmark out.
Directed by
Don Siegel
Robert Totten
both credited as:
Alan Smithee (a made up name for the two real directors)
Produced by
Richard E. Lyons
Written by
Lewis B. Patten
Joseph Calvelli
Music by
Oliver Nelson
Cinematography
Andrew Jackson
Editing by
Robert F. Shugrue
Distributed by
Universal Pictures
Release date(s)
April 1969
Running time
100 minutes
[img]http://www.universalstudiosentertainment.com/assets_c/2011/08/2022_K0018-thumb-497xauto-11201.jpg[/img] God rest in peace Richard Widmark, screen legend, we miss you dearly
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/19/23
Full Review
Audience Member
I Liked Some Of It Before. And I Liked What I Saw Today.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/24/23
Full Review
Audience Member
I've got a bad habit of losing my temper
A town informs their long time, old school sheriff that they have decided to modernize and his services are no longer required. The sheriff feels that there's something fishy going on for him to be mysteriously let go; however, he now has time to settle down and raise a family. Will the sheriff go quietly into the night or will he try to uncover the rationale for the town's decision?
"I am not keeping you from anything important, Frank, like crawling under my sheets with my wife am I?"
Donald Siegel, director of Escape from Alcatraz, Dirty Harry, Two Mules for Sister Sarah, The Beguiled, No Time for Flowers, and The Verdict, delivers Death of a Gunfighter. The storyline for this picture was interesting with a unique spin on a common premise. The action scenes were average and the acting was okay. The cast includes Richard Widmark, Lena Horne, Carroll O'Connor, and Jacqueline Scott.
"You're a bad liar. If you want to succeed in this world, you've got to be a good liar."
My wife DVR'd this film due to its plot and our love affair with westerns. The premise was solid but the film was a bit stale. The execution did not live up to the film's potential and Widmark didn't have the charisma of a Clint Eastwood or Lee Van Cleef. Overall, this is above average but nothing special.
"What's the price of your cheapest funeral?"
Grade: C+
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
01/19/23
Full Review
Audience Member
The theme mirrors other films of the time in representing the death of the western, and whilst Widmark's character is not lovable, he commands a lot of sympathy, especially for the era that is passing.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/06/23
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