The gunfighter

Author

Henry King

Call Number

• DVD ACTION (CEN)

Languages

English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing.

Performers

Gregory Peck, Helen Westcott, Millard Mitchell, Jean Parker, Karl Malden, Skip Homeier, Anthony Ross, Verna Felton, Ellen Corby, Richard Jaeckel.

Publication Information

[Irvington, NY] : Criterion Collection, [2020]

Physical Description

1 videodisc (84 minutes) : sound, black and white ; 4 3/4 in. + 1 folded sheet (illustrations ; 19 cm.)

Audience

Not rated.

Summary

A key forerunner of the new breed of dark, brooding westerns that would cast a shadow over America's frontier folklore, this subversive psychological saga sounds a death knell for the myth of the outlaw hero. Gregory Peck stars as Jimmy Ringo, an infamous gunslinger looking to hang up his holsters and start a new life, but whose reputation draws him inexorably into a cycle of violence and revenge from which he cannot escape. Directed with taut efficiency by the versatile studio-era craftsman Henry King, and shot in striking deep-focus style by master cinematographer Arthur C. Miller, The Gunfighter forgoes rough-and-tumble action in favor of an elegiac exploration of guilt and regret that speaks to the anxious soul of postwar America.

Notes

Title from container.

Originally released as a motion picture in 1950.

Special features: New 4K digital restortation ; new interview about director Henry King and The Gunfighter with filmmaker, writer, and archivist Gina Telaroli ; new video essay on editor Barbara McLean by film historian and author J.E. Smyth ; audio excerpts of interviews with King and McLean from 1970 and '71.