Invitation to a Gunfighter

I have always like westerns and would consider this one a must-see. It's quite dated in places with many of it's attitudes rooted in the 1950s and some really laughable dialog. But it's moral stance and it comments on society's treatment of it's poor, it's minorities, it's women, hits you like a slap to the face. It's always a pleasure to watch Yul Brenner at work and he really carries this movie. George Segal is okay as his presumed antagonist but the real bad guy(s) in this movie are not so easily identified. I was stunned to see how much of the plot of this movie influenced one of my favorite Westerns of all time - High Plains Drifter. The resemblance is uncanny - of course HPD does it better but still I have to recommend this to anyone who likes Westerns.

This is an underrated western with a great moral lesson about both racism and judging too quickly from appearances. The townspeople led by Pat Hingle in this northern leaning western town hire Yul Brynner to gun down George Segal who has returned from the Civil War after fighting for the Confederacy. George Segal has come back to claim his land and his woman, each of which has been taken by another.

AS the movie progresses it's slowly revealed that the Union leaning town is not what it seems to be. Pat Hingle plays a politician very common for 30 years after the Civil War, adept at what they called "waving the bloody shirt." Just demagogue away at who did what and where during the war and ignore the current issues both social and economic.

During the course of The Magnificent Seven, Yul Brynner's Chris Adams is referred to as a Cajun. Here he's given a proper Cajun name of Jules D'Estaing and when his secret is revealed, a whole lot of people in that town have to confront their own prejudices.

Makes for worthwhile viewing.

Co-star George Segal gives a creditable performance as Matt Weaver, the one Reb soldier in a Union town who returns home from the war to find his house and woman taken away from him. When he is later thought to have killed homesteader John Medford (an unbilled Russell "The Professor" Johnson), the townspeople agree to hire a gunslinger to eliminate Matt. The man they hire is a smooth Creole with the fancy name of Jules Gaspard D'Estaing (Yul Brynner). Jules doesn't really like the place, or the people, but he hangs around long enough to take their money, and ultimately go to war with his own conscience.

What this viewer appreciated about "Invitation to a Gunfighter" was the fact that it didn't play out in an obvious, formulaic way. It's definitely a Western with a social conscience, taking place in a supposedly enlightened town where racism can still be revealed in modest ways. The screenplay is by producer / director Richard Wilson ("Man with the Gun") and his wife Elizabeth, working from an adaptation (by future 'Night Gallery' veteran Alvin Sapinsley) of a story by Hal Goodman & Larry Klein. There is a fair amount of nuance here, and not just gun fighting. Most unexpected was the drunken rampage that our hired killer goes on in the final third of the picture. What we learn from the evolving storyline is how things are not always the way that they appear to be.

Brynner, as always, has a very commanding screen presence. If other viewers overall don't care much for the film, they can at least agree that it delivers for fans of the star. Janice Rule has definite appeal as the wife of the local storekeeper (Clifford David); other familiar faces appearing throughout include Strother Martin, Clifton James, Brad Dexter (one of Brynners' co-stars in "The Magnificent Seven"), Mike Kellin, Bert Freed, and William Hickey. Pat Hingle is excellent as the town boss who knows just how to keep his citizens riled up and passionate. Future big-time cinematographer John A. Alonzo (who'd also acted in "The Magnificent Seven") plays Manuel here.

In general, "Invitation to a Gunfighter" makes for reasonably interesting viewing, and is paced quite efficiently, clocking in at a little over an hour and a half.

Seven out of 10.

I loved Yul Brynner in this movie, and Janice Rule did a good job as the frustrated wife of the crippled, hard-drinking, ex-Civil War fighter. Yul Brynner is excellent as the brooding, cold, mercenary who has a job to do, but falls for the lady whose house he's decided to stay in while doing it. I was in my "Yul Brynner" phase when this one came out, and I can still see it over and over--much as I feel about The Magnificent Seven, the Return of the Seven, The Journey, or The King and I. I couldn't help but wonder if he actually played that harpsichord. He obviously couldn't sing, and only spoke the song while he played the tune on the lady's harpsichord.

Yul Brynner was a smoker, and the cigar is ever present. I met him in 1972 out in Malibu, and I asked him if he could quit smoking for his health's sake. He said, "Nope. Too hooked." He was, and sadly for his fans, it was his undoing. He signed a photo for me for my birthday that year, which I still cherish. The world lost a great actor when he passed. He was the best in a Western, wearing black and walking that walk...a man of few words.

A modest little matinée western with little in way of style with its methodical direction, but leading the way are the strikingly prominent performances from Yul Brynner, George Segal, Pat Hingle, Janice Rule and backing it up is a lyrically well-oiled script stringed to a customary, but accessibly gripping premise that patiently builds upon its unfolding situations.

A confederate solider Matt Weaver returns back to his small town after the civil war to find out his home has been sold by the dominating town boss Sam Brewster. Causing a ruckus, Brewster hires the interestingly mysterious gunfighter Jules Gaspard d'Estaing to take care of Brewster; however Jules gets caught up in the devious shades of a town run by corrupt figures.

The way the story pans out is thoughtfully projected and the framework delivers it in an unconventional manner with some psychological interplays. The way the steely protagonist uses the situation to gain what he wants and hand out much needed justice within the shameful town simply holds you there. It's literally chatty, but never does it outstay its welcome. A sternly defined Brynner is outstanding (as the camera magnetically follows him around) and likewise is a booming Hingle. When the action/shoot outs occur they're rather sparse, but toughly staged despite its obvious studio bound sets.