Synopsis
In the turn-of-the century Texas town of Cottownwood 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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Cast
- Richard WidmarkMarshal Frank Patch
- Lena HorneClaire Quintana
- Carroll O'ConnorLester Locke
- David OpatoshuEdward Rosenbloom
- Kent SmithAndrew Oxley
- Jacqueline ScottLaurie Mills
- Morgan WoodwardIvan Stanek
- Larry GatesMayor Chester Sayre
- Dub TaylorDoc Adams
- John SaxonLou Trinidad
Recommendations
- 88
Chicago Sun-Times
Death of a Gunfighter is quite an extraordinary western. It's one of those rare attempts (the last was Will Penny) to populate the West with real people living in real historical time. - 80
Screen Rant
Surprisingly solid Western that bears the distinction being the first film ever credited to "Allen Smithee," a long-time pseudonym used by directors who wish to distance themselves from a project. - 70
The Observer (UK)
Sharp small-scale western set in a nasty frontier community that finds its incorruptible old-style sheriff (Richard Widmark) a barrier to its joining the 20th century. Widmark is excellent, as is Lena Horne as the handsome saloon-keeper he marries. [17 Apr 2011, p.52] - 60
The New York Times
The general tone, and point — festering hatred — is simply not enough to make the picture matter, although Mr. Widmark almost single-handedly does. Tough, laconic, squinty-eyed and moving around deceptively like a tired, middle-aged panther, he gives this characterization a scorching vibrancy. - 60
Variety
Widmark elicits certain sympathy for his actions in his hardboiled interpretation. - 60
Time Out
A fringe Siegel Western (he spent two weeks finishing it off). The theme of a law and order marshal who has tamed a frontier town, only to become an embarrassment to the 'civilised' community, is sufficiently interesting for one to wonder what it would have been like if Siegel had done the whole thing. - 50
TV Guide Magazine
Siegel develops some interesting themes that he would later explore in John Wayne's outstanding final film, The Shootist.
