Apparently Metro Goldwyn Mayer, while giving the movie a theatrical release overseas, sent this western directly to television in North America. It's pretty easy to see why MGM wasn't totally confident that the movie would attract domestic audiences. The script is the main problem. The story is made up of many elements and plot turns you will have seen in countless westerns before; I bet even audiences in 1967 found the story clichéd. Not only that, the script insults the audience by taking more than half of the movie to set everything up; there's no reason why it should have taken so long for this creaky story to define everything. Also, that first half of the movie is pretty dull, with almost no action or anything else that might be considered lively. The second half of the movie is a bit more energetic, but it's too little and too late. Why the present owners of the movie thought it was worth a DVD release through their on demand video line, I cannot say.

Return of the Gunfighter" was not Robert Taylor's last film. He did a couple of B productions in Europe, working into 1968. In October of 1968 he had a lung removed and did not work again. Nonetheless, "Gunfighter" is a suitable farewell. Taylor plays a reformed gunfighter, recently released from prison after serving 5 years for a bogus murder conviction. The character, Ben Wyatt, seeks only to live in peace but events make this impossible. When a friend and his wife are murdered, Wyatt must see that justice prevails.The meat of the story is the relationship between Wyatt and young gunslinger Lee Sutton, played by Chad Everett. A secondary motif is Wyatt's love for his "niece," Anisa, played by Ana Martin. It isn't a love triangle at all but a passing of the flame to the younger generation. Everett, a happy-go-lucky young man, learns to be a responsible adult by confronting the villain, Clay Sutton (Lyle Bettger), his older brother. Under Wyatt's influence, he faces evil and wins the young girl's love.Everett is charming and handsome as Lee Sutton. His self-centered playfulness is gradually replaced by a sense of morality and accountability. Ana Martin's acceptance of him as a suitor comes only as he matures. Martin had a better role than women usually do in westerns and handles it satisfactorily although not memorably. The supporting cast is uniformly professional and effective.The picture, however, belongs to Taylor. He is still handsome and his lined face conveys emotion with quiet authority. As others have said, no one rode a horse the way he did--his straight yet graceful posture, his easy control, his oneness with the animal. The pretty boy of the thirties has become a superb actor without ever being showy or "going Hollywood." It is disturbing, however, to watch his labored breathing, knowing what caused it. The last scene, where he walks away from the camera, alone in the street, is very moving.

I like this movie, but I'm a Robert Taylor fan and this is a good solid role for him. If you don't like Robert Taylor, this is pretty cookie cutter.Here's what I liked:Nice job building the mystique about pistolero Ben Wyatt.Robert Taylor does his usual excellent work replaying the Jimmy Ringo character from the original "Gunfighter". I won't criticize this for "ripping off" the 1950 film, since they pay tribute to the original film in their title. I liked the main henchman Sundance, played by John David Chandler. He had a real Steve Buscemi kind of look to him. He was also one of the four weird Hammond brothers in "Ride the High Country". He was also the bounty hunter at the end of "The Outlaw Josey Wales" whom Josey tells, "Dyin' ain't much of a livin' boy", before shooting him down.Nice use of Mexico and Mexicans.Here's what I didn't like:Weak heavy.No comic reliefNothing new added to clichéd plot.Riddled with plot holes and implausibilities, not worth detailing.

I'm sorry, but I just couldn't get over seeing Chad Everett in this western film. Now I don't think he did a bad job, but seeing this handsome actor who is most closely associated with playing a TV doctor as a gunfighter took me by surprise--as I grew up watching him on "Medical Center".The film is one of Robert Taylor's last films. As he was older and more haggard, the writers did a good job in dealing with this instead of pretending he still was the man with matinée idol good looks. Here, he plays an aging gunfighter who is sick and tired of the violence--and he actually tried NOT to fight and would back down if possible. I liked this aspect of the film and it kept me watching--as well as my wife, who is NOT a fan of the genre.However, aside from both Taylor and Everitt doing a god job, the rest of the film is very, very standard. It's the usual big nasty guy with money versus the innocent farmers/ranchers. While I don't give the film super-high marks, it is well acted and interest interesting and a decent late appearance for Taylor.