Directed by Allan Smithee (Don Siegel & Robert Totten)
Starring Richard Widmark, Lena Horne, Carroll O’Connor, David Opatoshu, Kent Smith, Dub Taylor, John Saxon, Royal Dano, Harry Carey, Jr., John Sande, Victor French
So what the hell happened with Death Of A Gunfighter (1969)? Luckily, whatever it was, it still ended up a pretty good movie — and it’s coming to Blu-Ray from Kino Lorber.
Some say Don Siegel turned it down and it went to TV director Robert Totten, who did most of the picture. Widmark wasn’t happy and used his pull with Universal to have Totten replaced — by Don Siegel, who’d recently directed Widmark in Universal’s terrific Madigan (1968). When it was finished, Widmark didn’t want Totten to get credit, even though he did most of it, and Siegel didn’t want his name on it since it wasn’t his movie.
As a compromise, the guild OK’d a pseudonym, Allen Smithee. The name’s still used for troubled pictures, and Smithee has build a rather varied filmography.
This is one of those “the Old West is over” pictures that were prominent in the late 60s. Widmark plays Frank Patch, a marshal known for his skill with this gun. His working methods don’t go over well with the town council of Cottonwood Springs, a bunch of crooked cowards who want Patch gone.
Death Of A Gunfighter weaves in everything from interracial marriage and bigotry to venereal disease and crooked politicians, with a healthy dose of gossip and slander. There’s a car putting around to make sure we know this is the end of the West.
For a film known for its production difficulties, Death Of A Gunfighter plays fairly seamlessly. It certainly has that Universal backlot look — but more like a TV show than the studio’s theatrical Westerns of the 50s. Robert Totten had directed lots of TV like Bonanza, The Virginian and Gunsmoke — and much of the picture’s shot with TV’s preference for closeups. And since Siegel didn’t direct a huge amount of it, we don’t really notice a shift in style.
Universal’s transfers of their films almost always look perfect, and I’m sure this one will be stunning. Recommended.
50 Westerns From The 50s.