The Gunfighter

Plot synopsis:
In the opening scene, aging gunslinger Jimmy Ringo (Gregory Peck) rides out of the desert night into a small Southwestern town and strides wearily into a saloon. The bartender recognizes Ringo from earlier days in El Paso and greets him. At a nearby table, a group of ranch hands overhears the bartender and speaks in hushed tones about the feared gunfighter and his deadly reputation. One of the men, a brash young buck named Eddie (Richard Jaeckel) resents the respectful attention given to Ringo and decides to test him. He makes several insulting, challenging comments to Ringo, which the gunfighter does his best to ignore. Finally, realizing that the young man is determined to pick a fight, Ringo squares off with him and shoots him dead. It is Ringo's twelfth kill.The bartender explains that the dead man has three brothers in town who will be looking for revenge. Ringo mounts up and moves on, keeping one eye over his shoulder. Sure enough, the brothers follow, but Ringo gets the drop on them a few miles outside of town. He slightly wounds one of them before disarming the group and scattering their horses. The men are forced to pursue Ringo on foot.Ringo rides on to the small town of Cayenne and stops by the Palace Bar, where he is once again recognized by the bartender, Mac (Karl Malden). Mac explains that he and Ringo had crossed paths years ago in Dodge City. Ringo orders breakfast and goes out back to wash up. Mac sends a boy to alert Marshal Mark Strett (Millard Mitchell) that Ringo is in town. Strett gets three men to accompany him to the saloon, where he surprises Ringo. It turns out that Ringo and Strett had ridden together before Strett went straight and became a lawman. The Marshal makes it clear that he wants Ringo to leave town before trouble follows. Ringo admits that some men are after him, but explains that they are still hours away, and he tells Strett that he has come to Cayenne to see his old girlfriend and the son they had together before they became estranged. Strett fiercely protects the privacy of the woman, Peggy Walsh (Helen Westcott), but he agrees to approach her and see if she is open to a meeting with Ringo. Strett also sends a deputy to deliver a warning to young, hotheaded, local gunhand Hunt Bromley (Skip Homeier), hoping to head off another needless shooting. In the meantime, Ringo finds out that Bromley had once tried unsuccessfully to move in on Peggy.Bromley soon rides into town and hears that Ringo is at the Palace Saloon. The young gun hand walks into the saloon and loudly orders a whiskey. He immediately complains about the "watered down" whiskey and demands a round for the whole house to prove his point. He carries a bottle over to Ringo's table and aggressively insists that Ringo try the whiskey. When Ringo demurs, Bromley presses the point. Ringo dismissively insults the cocky young man and advises him to leave while he still can. When Bromley tries to push the issue further, Ringo coolly informs him that he is holding a revolver under the table, pointed directly at the young man. He orders Bromley to turn around and walk out, humiliating him.Meanwhile, the three brothers who are after Ringo have made it on foot to a relay station where fresh horses and guns are available for them. They saddle up and head for Cayenne, with the horses allowing them to arrive hours earlier than Ringo had anticipated.When a girlfriend tells Peggy that Ringo came to town expressly to see her and the boy, she is still hesitant. The friend further explains that Ringo has matured and mellowed, but Peggy isn't ready to believe it. She can't abide returning to a life of sudden violence and insecurity.The Marshal now orders Hunt Bromley out of town in hopes of avoiding another confrontation and also sends his deputy to the saloon to keep an eye on things. The situation becomes even more complicated thanks to an angry citizen who mistakenly believes that Ringo killed his son. Rooming at the hotel across the street from the saloon, the man keeps watch from a window and waits on his chance to get even. When Ringo and the deputy step through the saloon door, the man aims a rifle at Ringo, who fortunately sees the sun glint on the barrel. He quickly retreats into the saloon, sneaks out the back door, and climbs the rear stairs of the hotel. He gets the drop on the man and takes him to the marshal's office to lock him up. Finding no one present at the jail, Ringo locates the keys and does the honors himself.A comedic interlude ensues when a delegation of proper townswomen arrives at the marshal's office, led by elderly Mrs. August Pennyfeather. Mistaking Ringo for a jailer, they announce their demand that the Marshal and his deputies arrest the "murderous" gunfighter immediately. Flummoxed, Ringo politely plays along, identifying himself as a friend of Marshal Strett. As the women stridently denounce Ringo's violent history, Ringo stays in his jailer character and tries to defend his own past as if he were just an unbiased advocate for a presumably innocent stranger. He chalks many of the killings up to a "misunderstanding." When Mrs. Pennyfeather sarcastically decries Ringo's "fifty" misunderstandings, Ringo protests and corrects the record down to fifteen or so. They then accuse him of unfairly taking up for the murderous gunman. In response, Ringo lamely concedes that a case could perhaps be made for having the gunslinger arrested or run out of town. Another woman then demands that the killer be hung, with Ringo growing more and more uncomfortable by the minute. Just in the nick of time, Marshal Strett arrives. He answers the ladies' fervent demands for action by saying that Ringo will soon be on his way out of town without any bloodletting required. Mrs. Pennyfeather says she is satisfied to wait for another hour or so, after which time Ringo should be "shot down like a dog." They thank Marshal Strett for his reasonable attitude before he gestures toward "Mr. Ringo" and suggests they thank him instead. Horrified, the chastened women quickly shuffle out of the jail.Strett now procures a fresh horse for Ringo and prepares to hustle him out of town. Just as Ringo saddles up, Peggy finally arrives to meet with him and delays his departure. He begs her to give him a second chance at settling down with her and the boy and she finally agrees to consider it if he is still alive in another year. Elated, Ringo asks to see his son before he leaves. While he waits, the three vengeful brothers arrive; one covers the saloon's front entrance while the others prepare an ambush from a hayloft behind the saloon, where Ringo's saddled horse is waiting. Ringo has a brief meeting with the boy and establishes some tentative ties. Finally saying his goodbyes, Ringo and Strett exit the rear of the saloon. Just as two of the three brothers prepare to ambush Ringo, Strett's deputy sights them from down below and aims his shotgun at them. They surrender and it appears that all is clear for Ringo's escape. He mounts up and starts to ride off. Just then, Hunt Bromley steps out from behind a wagon and shoots Ringo twice in the back. Mortally wounded, Ringo is helped out of the stirrups and stretched out in the alleyway. The smirking Bromley is dragged over to view his cowardly handiwork, and Ringo surprises everyone by saying that he drew first on Bromley, and that Bromley had beaten him. Strett objects to the obvious lie, but Ringo looks Bromley squarely in the eye and explains that by doing it this way he has condemned the young man to an uncertain, dangerous future as the man who got the infamous Jimmy Ringo, fair and square. Every young gun within reach will be out to earn a reputation by killing him. Ringo closes his eyes for the last time as Strett drags Bromley into a barn, administering a savage beating before running him out of town. Ringo's funeral, at which Peggy uses the name Mrs. Ringo for the first time, closes the movie.

Tags: revenge, murder

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