- Overview
Will Tenneray and Abe Cross are two aging, famous gunfighters, both in need of money. Tenneray comes up with the idea to stage a duel to the death in a bullfight arena, with the ticket proceeds going to the winner.
- Release Date
25 August 1971
- DirectingLamont Johnson
- Budget
$0.00
- Revenue
$0.00
- Stars
Videos
User Reviews
See moreJohn Chard
16 May 2024
Whoever wins loses. A Gunfight is directed by Lamont Johnson and written by Harold Jack Bloom. It stars Kirk Douglas, Johnny Cash, Jane Alexander, Karen Black and Raf Vallone. Music is by Laurence Rosenthal and cinematography by David Walsh. Will Tenneray (Douglas) and Abe Cross (Cash) are two ageing gunfighters who after meeting each other in town hit it of straight away and actually like and respect each other. However, with both men in need of money and the whole town intrigued as to who would win in a gunfight between them, Tenneray hits upon the idea of the two of them having the gunfight and selling tickets to the event, with the winner receiving the ticket proceeds… It was the first mainstream American film to be financed by American Indians—the Jicarilla Apaches—but this in now way was a propaganda move since the narrative has nothing to do with Native Americans. It's a most unusual Western in a lot of ways, off beat and deliberately played for fun at times, yet it pulses with dark thematics involving the human condition. Stripped bare is the fickle value of celebrity status, deftly cloaked with the ignorant blood-lust of a paying public. Director Johnson keeps the pacing smooth as we get to know both men and watch their relationship unfold. All the while we are getting a grasp on the townsfolk in general, while the two ladies of the men's world are impacting greatly due to the sensitive screenplay. All roads lead to the ironic venue of a bullfighting arena across the border, where a full house of paying patrons come to see one of the men die. Whoever that is doesn't really matter, the caustic insertion of a dream sequence at film's end leaves us in no doubt that the winner really hasn't won at all. With great performances from Douglas and Alexander, and good ones from Cash and Black, film also holds up well on the acting front. But the real stars here are Johnson and Bloom, for they have produced a clever picture that doesn't over reach itself by trying to be cerebral. It deserves to be better known and appraised. 7.5/10
More Like This
Heaven's Gate
Harvard graduate James Averill is the sheriff of prosperous Jackson County, Wyo., when a battle erupts between the area's poverty-stricken...
See more
Pale Rider
A mysterious preacher protects a humble prospector village from a greedy mining company trying to encroach on their land.
See more
The Outlaw Josey Wales
After avenging his family's brutal murder, Wales is pursued by a pack of soldiers. He prefers to travel alone, but ragtag outcasts are drawn to him...
See more
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Questions arise when Senator Stoddard (James Stewart) attends the funeral of a local man named Tom Doniphon (John Wayne) in a small Western town...
See more
The Shootist
Afflicted with a terminal illness John Bernard Books, the last of the legendary gunfighters, quietly returns to Carson City for medical attention...
See more
Top Gun
A gunslinger returns to his hometown to warn of an impending outlaw gang attack, but he's met with hatred and fear for his previous killings.
See more
Shane
A weary gunfighter attempts to settle down with a homestead family, but a smouldering settler and rancher conflict forces him to act.
See more
The Gambler from Natchez
A discharged army Captain returns home to New Orleans to take revenge on the men who murdered his father.
See more
Duel at Diablo
In Apache territory, a supply Army column heads for the next fort, an ex-scout searches for the killer of his Native wife, and a housewife abandons...
See more
Gunfighter's Moon
A notorious gunfighter returns to his ex-wife, who only wants him to save her sheriff husband from being killed by gunmen out to free his condemned...
See more
High Noon
Will Kane, the sheriff of a small town in New Mexico, learns a notorious outlaw he put in jail has been freed, and will be arriving on the noon...
See more
Rio Bravo
A small-town sheriff in the American West enlists the help of a disabled man, a drunk, and a young gunfighter in his efforts to hold in jail the...
See more
Tombstone
Legendary marshal Wyatt Earp, now a weary gunfighter, joins his brothers Morgan and Virgil to pursue their collective fortune in the thriving...
See more
The Slowest Gun in the West
The town of Primrose, Arizona is beset by outlaws, so the towns people hire Fletcher Bissell III (A.K.A. The Silver Dollar Kid) as their new...
See more
Stories of the Argentine West
At a tabern in the argentine interior, xenophobia among gauchos is in charge of blurring the line between the law and the trap.
See more
The Return of Jesse James
Frank James resents and tries to stop a ruthless drifter who has adopted the name of his dead brother in order to duplicate his crimes.
See more
Hannie Caulder
Hannie enlists the aid of bounty hunter Tom Price to teach her how to be a gunfighter so she can hunt down the 3 men who killed her husband and...
See more
The Mark of the Renegade
An agent of Mexico poses as a pirate to foil a would-be emperor in 1820s California.
See more
The Legend of the Golden Gun
In Kansas during the middle of the Civil War, John Golden is left for dead and his family has been killed by the ruthless Confederate outlaw...
See more
The Fastest Gun Alive
Whenever it becomes known how good he is with guns, ex-gunman George and his wife Dora have to flee the town, in fear of all the gunmen who might...
See more