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The Gunfighter

The Gunfighter

Western · 1950

The fastest gun in the West tries to escape his reputation.

Movie details

The Gunfighter

“His only friend was his gun... His only refuge - a woman's heart!”

1950 Western 1h 25m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

7.4 / 10

Community rating

The fastest gun in the West tries to escape his reputation.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Gunfighter?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Western · 1962

Questions arise when Senator Stoddard attends the funeral of a local man named Tom Doniphon in a small Western town. Flashing back, we learn Doniphon saved Stoddard, then a lawyer, when he was roughed up by a crew of outlaws terrorizing the town, led by Liberty Valance. As the territory's safety hung in the balance, Doniphon and Stoddard, two of the only people standing up to him, proved to be very important, but different, foes to Valance.

Open Range

Open Range

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A former gunslinger is forced to take up arms again when he and his cattle crew are threatened by a corrupt lawman.

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

Western · 1957

Lawman Wyatt Earp and outlaw Doc Holliday form an unlikely alliance which culminates in their participation in the legendary Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

Day of the Outlaw

Day of the Outlaw

Western · 1959

Blaise Starrett is a rancher at odds with homesteaders when outlaws hold up the small town. The outlaws are held in check only by their notorious leader, but he is diagnosed with a fatal wound and the town is a powder keg waiting to blow.

Rio Bravo

Rio Bravo

Western · 1959

A small-town sheriff in the American West enlists the help of a disabled man, a drunk, and a young gunfighter in his efforts to hold in jail the brother of the local bad guy.

El Dorado

El Dorado

Western · 1966

Cole Thornton, a gunfighter for hire, joins forces with an old friend, Sheriff J.P. Harrah. Together with a fighter and a gambler, they help a rancher and his family fight a rival rancher that is trying to steal their water.

Tall in the Saddle

Tall in the Saddle

Western · 1944

When Rocklin arrives in a western town he finds that the rancher who hired him as a foreman has been murdered. He is out to solve the murder and thwart the scheming to take the ranch from its rightful owner.

Wyatt Earp

Wyatt Earp

Western · 1994

From Wichita to Dodge City, to the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Wyatt Earp is taught that nothing matters more than family and the law. Joined by his brothers and Doc Holliday, Earp wages war on the dreaded Clanton and McLaury gangs.

Rancho Notorious

Rancho Notorious

Drama · 1952

A man in search of revenge infiltrates a ranch, hidden in an inhospitable region, where its owner, Altar Keane, gives shelter to outlaws fleeing from the law in exchange for a price.

Death of a Gunfighter

Death of a Gunfighter

Western · 1969

In the turn-of-the century Texas town of Cottonwood Springs, marshal Frank Patch is an old-style lawman in a town determined to become modern. When he kills drunken Luke Mills in self-defense, the town leaders decide it's time for a change. That ask for Patch's resignation, but he refuses on the basis that the town, on hiring him, had promised him the job for as long as he wanted it. Afraid for the town's future and even more afraid of the fact that Marshal Patch knows all the town's dark secrets, the city fathers decide that old-style violence is the only way to rid themselves of the unwanted lawman.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Henry King

Written by

William Bowers · André de Toth · William Sellers

Gregory Peck

Gregory Peck

Jimmy Ringo

Helen Westcott

Helen Westcott

Peggy Walsh

Millard Mitchell

Millard Mitchell

Marshal Mark Strett

Jean Parker

Jean Parker

Molly

Karl Malden

Karl Malden

Mac

Skip Homeier

Skip Homeier

Hunt Bromley

Anthony Ross

Anthony Ross

Deputy Charlie Norris

Court is in session

Put The Gunfighter on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Auteur Devotee

“Ambition earns the room.”

The film reaches for consequence and scale, accepting the risk of seriousness instead of shrinking from it.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Importance has entered the chat.”

The production keeps announcing its significance, as though awards-season posture were proof of insight.