Editing Death of a Gunfighter

{{short description|1969 film}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2021}}
{{Use American English|date=October 2021}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Death of a Gunfighter
| image          = Death of a gunfighter.jpg
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Robert Totten]]<br>[[Don Siegel]]<br>(credited to [[Alan Smithee|Allen Smithee]])
| producer       = Richard E. Lyons
| screenplay     = Joseph Calvelli
| based_on       = {{based on|''Death of a Gunfighter''<br>1968 novel|[[Lewis B. Patten]]}}
| starring       = [[Richard Widmark]]<br>[[Lena Horne]]
| music          = [[Oliver Nelson]]
| cinematography = Andrew Jackson
| editing        = Robert F. Shugrue
| color_process  = [[Technicolor]]
| studio         = Universal Pictures 
| distributor    = [[Universal Pictures]]
| released       = {{Film date|1969|5|8|}}
| runtime        = 94 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
}}
'''''Death of a Gunfighter''''' is a 1969 American [[Western (genre)|Western]] film directed by [[Robert Totten]] and [[Don Siegel]]. It stars [[Richard Widmark]] and [[Lena Horne]] and features an original score by [[Oliver Nelson]]. The theme of the film is the "passing" of the West, the clash between a traditional character and the politics and demands of modern society. The film direction is credited to [[Alan Smithee|Allen Smithee]], a pseudonym that has subsequently been used by directors who do not wish to be credited for their film.

==Plot==
In the town of Cottonwood Springs, Texas at the turn of the century, Marshal Frank Patch is an [[Old West]] style lawman in a community determined to move beyond its rough past into the 20th century. When Patch kills drunken Luke Mills in self-defense, the town council decides it is time for the marshal to retire so that a modern police force can be established in the town. Patch refuses, reminding the citizens that when he took the job, the agreement was he could have it as long as he wanted- and he still wanted the job.  Afraid of Patch because of his violent nature and his knowledge of their misdeeds in the town's wilder days, the city fathers then enlist the aid of the county sheriff (a Patch protege and friend) to oust him. Patch rebuffs this attempt and the sheriff backs off, bowing out of the dispute.  This leads some of the more outspoken councilmen to consider having Patch murdered.

Patch had humiliated one of the town's councilmen, Andrew Oxley, (a cowardly lawyer) at the ad hoc "firing-notice meeting" by slapping him in disgust.  Knowing that the incident had deeply embarrassed his grown son, the man resolved to ambush and kill Patch, but when Patch trapped him in a room, he turned the gun on himself rather than face the marshal. The man's son vowed revenge, egged on by some of the councilmen, who saw this as a convenient way of ridding themselves of the problematic town marshal.  They plot to ambush Patch. Aware that he will probably be killed, Patch marries his long-time girlfriend Claire, the local brothel madame. The marriage is on the same day as Luke Mill's funeral, after which Patch's murder is planned by the councilmen. The dead man's son Will breaks with the plan and attempts to kill Patch on his own, but is mortally wounded by Patch. Patch explains to the dying youth that his late "father" had shot a man in the back many years ago, killing him. Patch covered it up because the murderer agreed to raise the dead man's young son as his own. Patch then pursued one of the instigators of the plot to kill him, a cynical saloon owner named Locke. He wounds, captures, and jails Locke, but then insists on going back out after the councilmen, probably aware that he may be gunned down. After stopping by the church, he is shot down on the town's main street by several riflemen on the rooftops. Claire is seen leaving town that night on a train.

==Cast==
* [[Richard Widmark]] as Marshal Frank Patch
* [[Lena Horne]] as Claire Quintana
* [[Carroll O'Connor]] as Lester Locke 
* [[David Opatoshu]] as Edward Rosenbloom 
* [[Kent Smith]] as Andrew Oxley
* [[Jacqueline Scott]] as Laurie Mills
* [[Morgan Woodward]] as Ivan Stanek
* [[Larry Gates]] as Mayor Chester Sayre
* [[Dub Taylor]] as Doc Adams
* [[John Saxon]] as Sheriff Lou Trinidad
* [[Darleen Carr]] as Hilda Jorgenson
* [[Michael McGreevey]] as Dan Joslin
* [[Royal Dano]] as Arch Brandt
* [[Jimmy Lydon]] as Luke Mills (as James Lydon)
* [[Kathleen Freeman]] as Mary Elizabeth
* [[Harry Carey Jr.]] as Rev. Rork
* Amy Thomson as Angela
* Mercer Harris as Will Oxley 
* [[James O'Hara (actor)|James O'Hara]] as Father Sweeney 
* [[Walter Sande]] as Paul Hammond
* [[Victor French]] as Phil Miller
* [[Robert Sorrells]] as Chris Hogg
* [[Charles Kuenstle]] as Roy Brandt
* Sara Taft as Mexican Woman

==Alan Smithee credit==
The film began under the direction of [[Robert Totten]], an experienced television director (''[[Gunsmoke]]'', ''[[The Legend of Jesse James (TV series)|The Legend of Jesse James]]''). After clashes with star Widmark, and almost a year of work, he was dropped and replaced by [[Don Siegel]], who'd recently directed Widmark in ''[[Madigan]]''. When the film was finished Siegel did not want his name to replace Totten's. Widmark protested and an agreement was made with the [[Directors Guild of America]] for the pseudonym [[Alan Smithee]] to be used.

Despite the dispute, critics praised the film and its "new" director. ''[[The New York Times]]'' commented that the film was "sharply directed by Allen Smithee who has an adroit facility for scanning faces and extracting sharp background detail,"<ref>Thompson, Howard (May 10, 1969). "Screen: Tough Western: 'Death of a Gunfighter' Stars Widmark" ''New York Times'' [http://movies2.nytimes.com/mem/movies/review.html?_r=2&title1=Death%20of%20a%20Gunfighter%20%28Movie%29&title2=&reviewer=HOWARD%20THOMPSON&pdate=19690510&v_id=12954&oref=slogin&oref=login] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160302021255/http://movies2.nytimes.com/mem/movies/review.html?_r=2&title1=Death%20of%20a%20Gunfighter%20(Movie)&title2=&reviewer=HOWARD%20THOMPSON&pdate=19690510&v_id=12954&oref=slogin&oref=login|date=2016-03-02}}</ref> [[Roger Ebert]] called the film "an extraordinary western ... director Allen Smithee, a name I'm not familiar with, allows his story to unfold naturally."<ref>[https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/death-of-a-gunfighter-1969 Roger Ebert's review of ''Death of a Gunfighter'']</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of American films of 1969]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|id=0064217|title=Death of a Gunfighter}}
* {{AFI film|id=23503|title=Death of a Gunfighter}}
* {{TCMDb title|id=72635|title=Death of a Gunfighter}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes|title=Death of a Gunfighter}}

{{Alan Smithee}}
{{Don Siegel}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Death Of A Gunfighter}}
[[Category:1969 films]]
[[Category:1960s English-language films]]
[[Category:Films credited to Alan Smithee]]
[[Category:1969 Western (genre) films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Robert Totten]]
[[Category:Films directed by Don Siegel]]
[[Category:Films set in the 1890s]]
[[Category:American Western (genre) films]]
[[Category:Revisionist Western (genre) films]]
[[Category:1960s American films]]
[[Category:English-language Western (genre) films]]