Death of a Gunfighter (1969)

Spoiler

Richard Widmark is the gunfighter.

End of spoiler

This seems to be quite highly rated, and although it certainly isn't bad, I'm not sure I rate it that highly. The story concerns a town at the turn of the 20th century trying to modernise but being frustrated by the anachronistic Sheriff (Widmark). After he's forced to shoot a drunk, the town council decide they want to get rid off him. They apply increasing amounts of pressure for him to step down, before eventually they (and other town's-people) decide to force him out violently.

Richard Widmark his an actor that I usually enjoy in Westerns – he's always good as a gruff, cynical hero and this is no exception. The rest of the cast is acceptable, if slightly forgettable. The plot is an engaging look at the close of the Western era, and has an effective tragic feel of inevitability. It's slightly marred by two things. First, some teenage angst that is essential to the plot but seems unconvincingly motivated to me (on of the characters is a bit overly upset at his father's failure to stand up to the Sheriff). Second, the need to make the town council "bad", for example by some slightly forced in racist stereotypes and obvious hypocrisy. I sort of felt that it would be more effective if they were slightly more sympathetic (it would help highlight the flaws in the Sheriff and how they contribute towards his end).

The primary issue in my mind is the feel of the film though: it doesn't really have the old-west ambience that some of the other "end of an era" films (The Shootist and Ride the High Country, for example) have. It all feels very much like a TV drama, being shot on a small (even the railway station feels cramped, like they could barely fit it on the set), and worrying pristine set. It's quite a good TV drama, but still a TV drama.

[There's obviously some historical interest in the use of Alan Smithee as an anonymous name for two directors. Find that elsewhere though...]