A Gunfight
6.6 /10 1 Votes
Director Lamont Johnson Duration Screenplay Harold Jack Bloom Writer Harold Jack Bloom Language English | 6.4/10 IMDb Genre Western Music director Laurence Rosenthal Cinematography David M. Walsh Country United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Release date August 25, 1971 (1971-08-25) Cast Johnny Cash (Abe Cross), Kirk Douglas (Will Tenneray), Jane Alexander (Nora Tenneray), Karen Black (Jenny Simms), Dana Elcar (Marv Green), Robert J. Wilke (Marshal Tom Cater)Similar movies Blackhat , Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith , Survivor , Salt , Once Upon a Time in the West , Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me Tagline In Bajo Rio, they pay to see a man kill a bull. Today, they'll pay to see a man kill another man. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A Gunfight is a Western movie from 1971 directed by Lamont Johnson, starring Kirk Douglas and Johnny Cash.
Contents
The film was financed by the Jicarilla Apache Tribe, although there are no leading Native American characters in the story.
Plot
Will Tenneray and Abe Cross are two aging, famous gunfighters, both in need of money. Cross rides into town, having failed as a gold prospector. His reputation is such that everyone expects him to shoot it out with Tenneray, who capitalizes on his legend by working at the saloon to "sucker fools into buying drinks." To the town's surprise, Tenneray and Cross take a liking to one another. There is no hostility between them whatsoever.
Tenneray is desperate for money, however. He comes up with the idea to stage a duel to the death in a bullfight arena, with the ticket proceeds going to the winner. Unfortunately, by killing Cross, he reasons to Nora, his wife, "I could lose my best friend." The actual gunfight is shot in a low-key and unromanticised fashion, and is over in a couple of seconds, Cross killing Tenneray with the first bullet. (This defies conventions with the "man in black" winning.)
There is an extended fantasy sequence near the end, where we see what might have happened if Tenneray had won, which may have confused some viewers. It may be open to interpretation if this is Cross's fantasy or Tenneray's widow's fantasy.
Cast
References
A Gunfight WikipediaA Gunfight IMDb A Gunfight themoviedb.org