A Gunfight

• Directed by Lamont Johnson
• August 25, 1971

Two aging gunfighters desperate for money decide to stage a showdown to the death between them and sell tickets to the locals.

I’m generally game for any Kirk Douglas movie. He always had that old-school Hollywood charm mixed with a touch of more modern cynicism even before that cynicism came to be. When I heard he was paired with Johnny Cash in A Gunfight how could I say no?

Johnny Cash was one of the all-time great country musicians. A talented singer and one of those people who was genuinely tough. Not a fake tough. As an actor in this performance he is outshined by Kirk Douglas. Not calling him terrible but you can tell the difference in ability. This was Cash’s fourth film and his third where he actually acted so that may be the reason.

The story is about two gunfighters living off of the of the reputations of their respective heydays. One has settled down in a small town while the other is failing miserably at gold prospecting. Will Tenneray (Kirk Douglas) has a wife and son and is using his fame to draw in patrons at a local saloon. Abe Cross (Johnny Cash) for reasons never alluded to has since moved on to the Gold Rush craze and coming up empty.

When it comes down to it the story is about two men who miss their glory days and have lost that something that makes them feel full and complete. They are going through the motions while living only a facsimile of a life by doing what they should. Tenneray and Cross are warriors with no battles to fight. After meeting and against local expectations they strike up a bit of a friendship before deciding to stage a gunfight for profit with full knowledge it is to the death.

Tenneray is desperate for money (perhaps more so than Cross) and comes up with the idea. He wants to provide for his family. Cross is game because he’s failed as a prospector. Interesting aspect of the whole idea is that there’s no animosity between either of them. Tenneray is bothered by the idea because he will be killing a friend. Cross looks to be of almost a similar mind.

Like honorable soldiers they are very gentlemanly about the whole thing. Both know this is not only their last chance to have something but to prove they are still what they once were. They will die a legend or make enough money to start a better life.

Despite the foundation the story was a bit on the tepid side. It’s a drama leading up to the climax and that’s fine. A few fisticuffs here or there and an attempted monkey wrench in things feels close to milquetoast. The point is it gets kind of boring. You have two icons on screen together and just feels like there just isn’t enough.

Maybe that’s the problem. They are both seeking to prove something to themselves and to everyone else but at no point does it feel like there is no offramp for them. They look like they could both walk away and feel good while not having lost anything or gained anything. Their status quo would be maintained perhaps even improved by not engaging in a gunfight.

Cross begins a romance with local prostitute Jenny Sims (Karen Black) that allows the character to expound upon the situation and a little bit on himself but never feels like there is anything going on between them. Make it more obvious whether they share some kind of love or he is just renting her yet they are friendly.

A Gunfight has many good ideas while nothing pulls it all together. Without a sense of no way out or the leads having strong love for their, well, loves the stakes are quite low. The locals never act disdainfully towards either so there is not much to prove for them. Tenneray’s ‘boss’ at the saloon Marv (Dana Elcar) may haggle with him over a temporary bump in pay but there is no disrespect or anything to push him into what he does. A few more moments of both getting levels of disrespect were needed to better show character motivations.

When the gunfight occurs it is never extended or stylized. Rather it ends in moments like a real one would. To further subvert the expectations of moviegoers the man in black played by The Man in Black wins though he is not happy. Cash looks sad.

There’s an extended fantasy sequence at the end. It is an imaging of what would have occurred if Tenneray had won. What is left open to interpretation is if the fantasy is on the part of Tenneray’s widow or on Cross giving an artistic flare at the end.

I can’t say A Gunfight completely disappointed me but given the cast and premise it didn’t quite measure up to what it could’ve been. It’s interesting and not terrible but not a little-known gem from the filmography of Kirk Douglas or Johnny Cash.