Category: Movies → The Gunfighter (1950)

Fred Zinnemann's uneven, preachy High Noon is always mentioned when it comes time to discuss 50s psychological, 'adult' westerns, but Henry King's tale of the unlucky Jimmy Ringo, The Gunfighter, is twice the movie.
It's a puzzle why 1950 audiences didn't go for The Gunfighter, a superior western on every score. Every character is interesting and Henry King whips up a convincing small town atmosphere in which schoolboys, barflies and troublemakers are naturally attracted to the allure of a bad man purported to be the fastest draw in the west. Jimmy Ringo is trapped by his own image and the natural prejudices of the town: he's no longer a man but a wanted poster, a dime novel hero or a sitting target for an ambitious gunslinger. His only friends are a few bartenders, like Karl Malden's Mac. Realizing that Jimmy Ringo's fame will bring crowds of customers into his saloon, Mac offers to cut the gunman in on the proceeds.
The Gunfighter is definitely ahead of its time, a precursor to the 'those days are closing fast' vibe of movies like Man of the West, The Wonderful Country, Ride the High Country and The Wild Bunch. Jimmy Ringo's time is almost up, and not because he's a noir loser or a delusional bandit; he simply made the wrong choice in his wild youth. Being wanted for killing men is bad enough, but being a celebrity for it is like a curse from the Bible.