Return of the Gunfighter (1967)

Robert Taylor is Ben Wyatt, an aging gunfighter fresh off serving five years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.

He’d like to hang up his guns and the reputation that goes with it, until he’s summoned to help an old friend named Domingo.

Turns out Domingo and his wife have been killed by a cattleman (Lyle Bettger) out to claim their land.

Their daughter Anisa (Ana Martin) survives and wants the killers brought to justice.

Wyatt, who’s known Anisa since she was very young, agrees to do just that.

So they head off to Lordsburg, not certain who they’re searching for and with a young man named Lee Sutton (Chad Everett) in tow.

Wyatt found him wounded and helped him elude a posse.

What none of them know is that the man responsible for the death of Anisa’s parents is Lee Sutton’s brother.

Robert Taylor as Ben Wyatt, searching for the killers of an old friend in Return of the Gunfighter (1967)

Ana Martin as Anisa Domingo, asking for one more day to find her parents’ killers in Return of the Gunfighter (1967)

Review:

A solid final Western for Robert Taylor, who made just two more films and would die in 1969 of lung cancer at age 57.

He gets big assist from pretty Ana Martin as Anisa in a rare U.S. film role and from Chad Everett as a young man who somehow grew a conscious his brother is lacking.

Anisa spends much of the film strolling Lordsburg dressed like a young boy, studying faces, knowing she’ll recognize her parents’ killers if she sees them again.

And once the truth is revealed, Lee Sutton finds himself torn between allegiance to his brother and his growing friendship with Wyatt and his growing fondness for the pretty young Mexican girl.

Bettger was an old hand at playing slimy villains by this point in his career. John David Chandler is also memorable as a young gunman under his hire, one who thinks he’s tougher than he really is.

As for our co-stars, Martin would go on to a long career on Mexican TV. Everett would soon become a star thanks to the hit TV series “Medical Center.”

Chad Everett as Lee Sutton, coming face to face with Ben Wyatt for the first time in Return of the Gunfighter (1967)

Lyle Bettger as Lee Sutton, realizing a witness to his murders survived in Return of the Gunfighter (1967)

Directed by:
James Neilson

Cast:
Robert Taylor … Ben Wyatt
Ana Martin … Anisa
Chad Everett … Lee Sutton
Mort Mills … Will Parker
Lyle Bettger … Clay Sutton
John Davis Chandler … Sundance
Michael Pate … Frank Boone
Barry Atwater … Lomas
John Crawford … Butch Cassidy
Willis Bouchey … Judge Ellis
Rodolfo Hoyos Jr. … Luis Domingo
Boyd “Red” Morgan … Wid Boone
Henry Wills … Sam Boone
Loretta Miller … Dance hall girl

Runtime: 100 min.

Willis Bouchey as Judge Ellis, a man Ben Wyatt turns to for help in Return of the Gunfighter (1967)

John Crawford as Cassidy and John Davis Chandler as Sundance, two of Clay Sutton’s hired guns in Return of the Gunfighter (1967)

Memorable lines:

Ben Wyatt, a tired, aging gunman: “Why won’t they leave me alone?”

Lee Sutton: “Why didn’t you tell them I was in that loft?”
Ben Wyatt: “Because you had that Winchester in the back of my head.”
Lee Sutton: “How’d you know?”
Ben Wyatt: “I felt it.”

Ben Wyatt, asking about the men who killed the Domingos: “Did they have names?”
Anisa Domingo, the surviving daughter: “Not for us. They only had guns. And whips.”

Barry Atwater as Lomas, the newspaperman who helps Ben Wyatt hide his key witness in Return of the Gunfighter (1967)

Mort Mills as Will Parker, the sheriff under Clay Sutton’s thumb in Return of the Gunfighter (1967)

Ben Wyatt, about Lee Sutton: “Put him out of your mind, Anissa, while it’s still easy to do.”

Sheriff Parker, when Wyatt balks at the idea of leaving Lordsburg: “You must be tired of life.”
Ben Wyatt: “I’m tired of death. It keeps on following me.”
Parker: “Maybe it’s finally caught up with you.”

Lee Sutton, after his brother has killed a man: “The old man didn’t even have a gun.
Clay Sutton: “No, but he had a big mouth and he lost his guts. Don’t you lose yours, Lee.”

Chad Everett as Lee Sutton, ready to confront the Boone brothers in Return of the Gunfighter (1967)

Ana Martin as Anisa Domingo, meeting Lee Sutton in Return of the Gunfighter (1967)

Rodolfo Hoyos Jr. as Luis Domingo, standing up for his right to remain on his land in Return of the Gunfighter (1967)

Michael Pate as Frank Boone, one of a trio of brothers trying to even a score with Lee Sutton in Return of the Gunfighter (1967)

Chad Everett as Lee Sutton, Lyle Bettger as brother Clay and two of Clay’s men in Return of the Gunfighter (1967)

Robert Taylor as Ben Wyatt, watching Anisa interact with Clay Sutton’s men in Return of the Gunfighter (1967)