Although Henry King is primarily known in sound films for his association with Tyrone Power, they did nine films together, King and Gregory Peck did six films and they include some of the best for both. The Gunfighter is the second of six collaborations and some might argue it's one of the best.
Including Gregory Peck himself. In the seventies I happen to know where Gregory Peck was going to be and waylaid him for an autograph. He was very gracious with the four or five of us that were there. He autographed my copy of To Kill a Mockingbird, but I happen to mention that I liked The Gunfighter very much, having just seen it several weeks earlier. I remember he replied that he liked The Gunfighter also and that it was a special favorite of his.
The Gunfighter in fact has some of the same themes the earlier Henry King western classic, Jesse James does. In the very end Tyrone Power as Jesse is as tired and world weary of the outlaw life as Peck's Jimmy Ringo is. Unlike in Jesse, we first meet Jimmy as the veteran gunfighter, constantly on the move.
After killing a young punk in Santa Fe, Peck heads out for the town of Cayenne where his long estranged wife is with their son. They're living under an assumed name and she's never told the boy about Peck. He's also got three brothers of the dead man on his trail and runs into a whole lot of his past in that trip to Cayenne.
Thirty years after meeting Gregory Peck and telling him how much I enjoyed his work in that film, my enthusiasm for The Gunfighter hasn't slackened off one bit. It's definitely one of the top three or four films of his for me.
Other performances to enjoy in this film are Millard Mitchell as the marshal of Cayenne and Skip Homeier and Richard Jaeckel as a pair of young punks. In fact the best scene in the film doesn't involve Peck at all, it's a confrontation between Mitchell and Homeier and you won't forget it when you see it.
Henry King, though not known primarily as a director of westerns, did one of the very best in The Gunfighter. Even if you're not a western fan, don't miss this one.
Including Gregory Peck himself. In the seventies I happen to know where Gregory Peck was going to be and waylaid him for an autograph. He was very gracious with the four or five of us that were there. He autographed my copy of To Kill a Mockingbird, but I happen to mention that I liked The Gunfighter very much, having just seen it several weeks earlier. I remember he replied that he liked The Gunfighter also and that it was a special favorite of his.
The Gunfighter in fact has some of the same themes the earlier Henry King western classic, Jesse James does. In the very end Tyrone Power as Jesse is as tired and world weary of the outlaw life as Peck's Jimmy Ringo is. Unlike in Jesse, we first meet Jimmy as the veteran gunfighter, constantly on the move.
After killing a young punk in Santa Fe, Peck heads out for the town of Cayenne where his long estranged wife is with their son. They're living under an assumed name and she's never told the boy about Peck. He's also got three brothers of the dead man on his trail and runs into a whole lot of his past in that trip to Cayenne.
Thirty years after meeting Gregory Peck and telling him how much I enjoyed his work in that film, my enthusiasm for The Gunfighter hasn't slackened off one bit. It's definitely one of the top three or four films of his for me.
Other performances to enjoy in this film are Millard Mitchell as the marshal of Cayenne and Skip Homeier and Richard Jaeckel as a pair of young punks. In fact the best scene in the film doesn't involve Peck at all, it's a confrontation between Mitchell and Homeier and you won't forget it when you see it.
Henry King, though not known primarily as a director of westerns, did one of the very best in The Gunfighter. Even if you're not a western fan, don't miss this one.