Death of a Gunfighter (1969)

Richard Widmark is Frank Patch, a tough town marshal who cleaned up his town and has spent 20 years on the job.

But progress is coming. In the form of automobiles. In the form of Eastern investors.

And as they look to turn their town into a thriving center of commerce, town leaders are tiring of a marshal who’s out of touch with the times.

When Luke Mills gets drunk one night, he tries to ambush Patch. An old acquaintance of the sheriff — they loved the same woman at one point — he winds up fatally wounded.

The shooting is the excuse the anti-Patch faction needs to act. They prod the mayor to fire him. But Patch refuses to be fired.

So they start looking for ways to force him out of his job. That includes bringing in county sheriff Lou Trinidad (John Saxon), a man Patch endorsed for the job, to arrest the sheriff on a complaint so he can be replaced.

Patch is a stubborn man. And he isn’t about to be shoved out of a job he was promised he could have for as long as he wanted.

Review:

Widmark turns in a splendid performance as an aging lawman who’s been around town so long that he knows everyone’s dirty secrets.

And a humorous subplot features young Dan Joslin (Michel McGreevy) looking up to Patch and asking him for advice on how to handle the flirting from pretty Hilda Jorgenson.

But not everything in the film works, especially when the town leaders resort to the same type of violence they supposedly despise to rid themselves of Patch.

Lena Horne plays Widmark’s love. The town leaders include Larry Gates, Kent Smith, Morgan Woodward and Carroll O’Connor.

Direction of the film is credited to Alan Smithee. That’s because Robert Totten left the project after differences with Widmark; Don Seigel took over, but didn’t want credit for the film because Totten had filmed most of it.

Directed by:
Don Siegel
Robert Totten

Cast:
Richard Widmark … Frank Patch
Lena Horne … Claire Quintana
Carroll O’Connor … Lester Locke
David Opatoshu … Edward Rosenblum
Kent Smith … Andrew Oxley
Larry Gates … Mayor Chester Sayre
Dub Taylor … Doc Adams
John Saxon … Lou Trinidad
Jacqueline Scott … Laurie Mills
Morgan Woodward … Ivan Stanek
Darleen Carr … Hilda Jorgenson
Michael McGreevey … Dan Joslin
Royal Dano … Arch Brandt
Jimmy Lydon … Luke Mills
Kathleen Freeman … Mary Elizabeth
Harry Carey Jr. .. The Rev. Rock
Amy Thomson … Angela
Mercer Harris … Will Oxley
James O’Hara … Father Sweeney
Walter Sande … Paul Hammond
Victor French … Phil Miller
Robert Sorrells … Chris Hogg
Charles Kuenstle … Roy Brandt

Runtime: 94 min.

Title tune: “Sweet Apple Wine”
by Lena Horne

Memorable lines:

Frank Patch to a young admirer: “You want to know something, Dan?’
Dan: “What?”
Frank: “You’re a bad liar. If you want to succeed in this world, you gotta learn to be a good liar.”

Luke Mills: “You’re scared of killing me, ain’t ya. Come get me, Frank. Come blow my head off like ya did all the rest of the squirming pigs that got in your way. One more killing, and they’ll run you out of town.”

Dan: “Marshal, do you know anything about sex?”
Frank Patch: “Some, I guess. Hilda?”
Dan: “Yeah, she’s driving me right out of my stupid mind. I mean out. I know it’s hard to understand, but it’s hard to understand with all that softness and heat in her face and everything. I haven’t done anything to her. You know that?”
Frank: “You haven’t?”
Dan: “No!”
Frank: “Well, that’s good.”
Dan: “Not that I wouldn’t like to though, you understand?”
Frank: “Sure. I understand that all right.”
Dan: “But how do you stay easy. How’s a man supposed to stay easy.”
Frank: “Well, you ever try sticking your head under a pump and letting the cold water run down your back?”
Dan: “No. Does it help?”
Frank, laughing: “Never helped me.”

Lester Locke: “There’s the mayor over there drummin’ up a meetin’ with all them rich and proper jackasses, hollering and shouting around, quotin’ some stupid law or bylaw. Then they’ll all go stompin’ down to the jailhouse to take a look at god almighty (Frank Patch). He’ll take one good look back at ’em and they’ll all wet their britches and go back home.”

Mayor: “Look out that window. That’s our town marshal, old Patch. Probably slept in those clothes. Look at him. Reminds you of a cover on a dime novel, rootin’ tootin’ cowboy with guns blazing. Can you see that man in this picture? This is a new town. He’s all used up.”

Sheriff Trinidad, after hearing the town council discuss killing Marshal Frank Patch: “Civilization is a wonderful thing, ain’t it doc?”