When I started watching this one, the beginning seemed very much like the typical Western of the 19050's. It was in a bar and some young punk decided he wanted to take on Ringo, the man reputed to have the fastest gun. He takes him on, and he loses. Then Ringo has to take it on the run as 3 brothers wanted to avenge the death of their youngest, even though he had created his own demise. That is where this movie changes. Ringo (Gregory Peck) has a place to go and a purpose to go there. He sets the 3 brothers after him on foot and heads for that place. It is a town, where his wife and son live, only he does not know where in town they are, or their names. Peck is absolutely brilliant as Ringo, and his character raises this way above the usual Western. Ringo is a character who wants to escape his reputation, but he can't. It seems he has a lot of help with a top notch support cast. Millard Mitchell is great as his friend, the Sheriff of the town Ringo's wife live in. He does everything he can do to protect Ringo but urgently try to get him to leave his town.Karl Malden is brilliant as the saloon keeper who gives him shelter and food and tries to help him leave too. Henry King who directs this had recently finished 12 O'Clock High which was also great with Peck. This next movie may not be as famous as the former, but it is every bit as good. Helen Westcott is Ringo's wife, though her role becomes more profound in the later part of this one. For anyone who likes Peck, this is above the average western, way above. The ending is a bit predictable, yet it is done so well and with a couple of extra twists, that the viewer is totally pulled into the story long before it ends.

If you are looking for a shoot-em-up western, this film is NOT it. Instead you get a gripping drama with a lot of dialogue and emotions. Gregory Peck plays Jimmy Ringo, an ace gunfighter with a fearsome reputation, but is tired of it all and wants to reunite with his wife who he left many years ago and his young son who he has never met. However his reputation is also the cause of his downfall. That's because every young squirt wants to pick up a fight with the great Jimmy Ringo to enhance his own reputation, as he himself had once been. This film is about life comes a full circle and your deeds eventually catch up to you.Peck's style, as always, is about a man who does not feel the need to vigorously assert his manhood or toughness. He goes about it in a calm and collected way with a quiet confidence. The town marshal (who was Ringo's buddy back in the day) is played beautifully by Millard Mitchell. As Ringo remarks in one scene, Marshal did not need to carry a gun to intimidate the bad guys.Ringo's wife Peggy is played by Helen Westcott who is torn between having nothing to do with Ringo and going away with the hopefully reformed Ringo. She still clearly loves him but is afraid to trust both her and her's son life with a man who lives so dangerously.All in all, this is a very fulfilling movie with lots of clear lessons to learn from it.

THE GUNFIGHTER is an unusual western. The film begins with a duel between the two gunmen as usual for many westerns. However, the story later processed extremely interesting topics, but retains the atypical hero (the gunman) at its center.Tension grows at the very end of the film, what is tested and almost always successful recipe. However, in this case is somewhat predictable. The director has managed to combine in one character two incompatible facts. Top gunman (top gun of the West) who hates to shoot. A very clever move that changes the experience of this film. The main character is actually a man who runs away from trouble, but trouble persistently follows him. The infamous killer, who is actually quite a positive phenomenon trying to avoid the fate of remembering the past and looking for a better future. The centerpiece of the film is in fact a rough drama that we briefly shows the extremes of the Wild West. It is extremely important when you first pulled ....Gregory Peck as Jimmy Ringo He is probably the right choice for the role of the main hero. One lonely, isolated and withdrawn character who sees the future in a peaceful family life. Understanding of course there is, but what it represents and what in fact he wants to have are two completely different meaning. Millard Mitchell as Marshal Mark Strett in a real friendly role. He is notorious gunslinger closed immediately or drive him away from the city. However, a friend is something that in this film really exists.The incidents are part of daily life. They are also part of the dramatic, humorous and sentimental atmosphere.

See it – This is easily one of Gregory Peck's best movies, let alone best westerns. Let me set the mood for you. It's the story of a famous gunfighter who drifts from town to town, not looking for any trouble. But eventually some cocky young buck will try to see if he can "take him", and when the young buck gets himself shot, the gunfighter is run out of town. But he's tired of running, and there's one last stop he needs to make. Only this town is different…are you feeling the vibe yet? Alright, I'll stop. This is one of those tragic psychological westerns that doesn't have many showdowns, but the tension just builds and builds until the ending you know is coming still hits you upside the head. It won't score very high on the action scale, but this must-see classic was an early pioneer for dozens of similar westerns that would soon follow.