Noir Westerns, dark, brooding stories featuring deeply flawed characters with something gnawing at their souls and set in the wide expanses and big skies of the Old West, began showing up in the late ‘40s and into the ‘50s. Films like THE OX-BOW INCIDENT, PURSUED, BLOOD ON THE MOON and THE GUNFIGHTER. For this evening’s Western Night, David Morrell brought one of the best noir Westerns: WINCHESTER ’73, released in 1950.
A new Winchester repeating rifle, called “One in One Thousand,” is offered as a prize in a shooting contest in Dodge City, Kansas. The rifle is won by Lin McAdam (James Stewart). Another contestant, Dutch Henry Brown (Stephen McNally), isn’t happy about that. It’s clear these two men don’t like each other, and Dutch Henry ambushes Lin and steals the rifle. In the chase that follows, much is revealed about Lin and Dutch Henry and their hate that runs so deep.
The economy of the script by Richard L. Richards and Borden Chase combined with the immediacy of director Anthony Mann’s (DEVIL’S DOORWAY, EL CID, THE NAKED SPUR) superb cinematic storytelling quickly draw the viewer in.
But perhaps the most astonishing thing is the performance by James Stewart. Prior to World War II, he’d been cast in films playing mostly decent, upstanding guys, films like DESTRY RIDES AGAIN, MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON and THE PHILADELPHIA STORY. Stewart joined the war effort and became a bomber pilot, flying missions over Europe. Those war-time experiences changed him and, reports say, left him suffering from PTSD. On his return after the war, he sought other roles, different characters than he’d been playing. The driven, angry, revenge-seeking Lin McAdam was one of those. In the moment when he slams Waco Johnny Dean’s head into the saloon bar, the rage in Lin’s eyes repels as much as it surprises. And you cannot look away.
The cast also includes Shelley Winters, Dan Duryea, Millard Mitchell, John McIntire, Will Geer (as a memorable Wyatt Earp), Tony Curtis (credited as Anthony Curtis), and Rock Hudson (playing an Indian chief, but that misstep was typical in Hollywood back then).
With a running time of 92 minutes, WINCHESTER ’73 is available on Blu-ray, 4K, and Amazon Prime.
Along with David, award-winning author and New York Times best-selling author of FIRST BLOOD that introduced the character Rambo, our group includes Johnny D. Boggs, record ten-time Spur Award-winning author and Owen Wister Award winner whose work includes his latest BLOODY NEWTON, Kirk Ellis, Emmy winning screenwriter and producer, as well as author of the upcoming book THEY KILL PEOPLE about the making of BONNIE AND CLYDE due out in February, Kirk’s wife, Sheila, and Robert Nott, award-winning journalist and author of several books on Western films, including his most recent RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY that examines the production, themes and legacy of the film that launched Sam Peckinpah’s career.
WATCH WINCHESTER ’73
