Lance Henrikson plays Frank Morgan, a notorious gunfighter drawn to the town of Red Pine, Wyoming, by a telegram from a former lover named Linda (Kay Lenz). He thinks she might want him after all these years. What she wants is his gun.
She’s married a shopkeeper named Jordan Yarnell. Problem is, he’s currently doubling as the temporary sheriff after the real one was killed in a bank holdup. Jordan helped intervene and earned a star on his chest in the process. Linda is afraid that star will be his death warrant.
One of the bank robbers, Frank Morris, was wounded and is locked in jail, awaiting a date with a hangman’s noose. One of Frank’s old friends, an outlaw named Walt Shannon, has vowed to bust him out and has two buddies to help fulfill that promise.
Jordan Is convinced the town will stand behind him when trouble comes. Linda is a whole lot less convinced. That’s why she summons Frank, to protect her husband and the happy life she enjoys.
Well, Frank Morgan isn’t interested in protecting something he’s never had himself. At least he isn’t until he meets Linda’s teenager daughter Kristen and learns she’s the daughter he never knew he had.
Review:
Henrikson plays a flawed hero here. He turns his back on a new lover to ride off at the summons of an old one, only to nearly turn his back on her as well. As a gunman, he’s nearly indestructible. He’s also not above killing a defenseless enemy when the opportunity arises.
The result is a decent, if somewhat predictable Western, though it seems doubtful a woman in the position of Linda Yarnell would invite a former love back into her life when she’s been hiding a daughter from his for 16 years.
In fact, she’s told her daughter that her father was a Civil War hero killed at Bull Run. That’s part of the problem now. Jordan Yarnell knows his step-daughter idolizes the idea of her father as a hero. Taking the role of temporary sheriff has given him a chance to show he can do something courageous as well.
Ivan Sergei plays Spud Walker, the young deputy who considers himself quick with a gun and plans to marry the Yarnells’ daughter. Kay Lenz, who plays the part of Linda, was Thursday in the 1976 comedy Western “Great Scout and Cathouse Thursday” starring Lee Marvin. She was also married to former teen idol David Cassidy at one point.
Lance Henriksen as Frank Morgan in Gunfighter’s Moon (1991)
Brent Stait as Walt Shannon in Gunfighter’s Moon (1991)
Directed by:
Larry Ferguson
Cast:
Lance Henriksen … Frank Morgan
Kay Lenz … Linda Yarnell
David McIlwraith … Jordan Yarnell
Nikki Deloach … Kristen Yarnell
Ivan Sergei … Spud Walker
James Victor … Juan Acosta
Brent Stait … Walt Shannon
Yareli Arizmendi … Rosa
Matthew Walker … Doc Debney
Walter Marsh … Old Harry
Kevin McNulty … Mayor Peterson
Runtime: 91 min.
Kay Lenz as Linda Yarnell in Gunfighter’s Moon (1991)
Nikki Deloach as Kristen Yarnell in Gunfighter’s Moon (1991)
Memorable lines:
Frank Morgan to barroom employee: “Do you know a place where I can stay and get some good that doesn’t taste like a gringo cow pissed on it?”
Juan: “He will never forget that I’ve seen him on his knees. And a man on his knees is only half a man.”
Linda Yarnell: “Jesus, Frank, is there any scum in this entire country you haven’t run with?”
Linda Yarnell to Frank Morgan: “I pity you. You’re a dead man already. I can see it in your eyes. You used to be so full of life. But not anymore. You have one thing to look forward to – lying face down in the street. And they’ll be no one there to cry for you.”
Wounded man who shot Morgan from ambush: “You’re going to kill me now?”
Morgan, pointing his gun at the man’s head: “Oh, yeah.”
Doc: “There’s nothing I’d like better than to give you a hand, Jordan. But I take bullets out of people. I don’t think I’ve got the spine to put bullets in them.”
Ivan Segei as Spud Walker in Gunfighter’s Moon (1991)
David McIlwraith as Jordan Yarnell. in Gunfighter’s Moon (1991)
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