Return of the Gunfighter (1967)

Return of the Gunfighter is directed by James Neilson and adapted to screenplay by Robert Buckner from a story by Burt Kennedy. It stars Robert Taylor, Chad Everett, Ana Martín, Mort Mills, Lyle Bettger, John Davis Chandler and Michael Pate. Music is by Hans Salter and the Metrocolor cinematography is by Ellsworth Fredericks.Aging gunfighter Ben Wyatt (Taylor) receives a request to go aid an old friend who's in trouble. Upon arrival at the family ranch he finds that both his friend and his wife have been killed. Locating the surviving daughter, he teams up with hot headed drifter Lee Sutton (Everett) and sets about avenging the murder of his friend and the girls parents.By this time Robert Taylor was winding down his career and his life, 1967 would see him depart from the Western genre of film, how splendid to find he doesn't in the slightest disgrace himself here.His character is weather worn, a gunfighter tired of all the killing, of looking over his shoulder all the time. This proves to be perfect for Taylor, who gives the role a believable sense of pathos, the passing of time and that fate will not leave him alone hangs heavy. Breaking it down it's a straight forward narrative, where the one time bad guy is called on to use his deadly skills for some good, to rid the plains of some nasty sorts. The relationship with the young upstart (Everett the whitest teeth in the west) builds nicely, leading to a finale that attacks the emotions of the major players.There's a healthy quotient of action, decently staged by the tech crew, the Old Tuscon locations are nicely photographed, while support players impact with credit on the story. It's not all plain sailing, Salter's score is sometimes well in keeping with the era, but at other times it comes off like a Sccoby-Doo piece. Susension of disbelief is of course required, none more so than when Ana Martín goes about the town pretending to be a boy and everyone falls for it - she is simply too pretty to remotely pass as male, and the appearance of Butch and Sundance in the plot is most odd.Yet it's a lovely Oater this, feeling more like one from the 1950s than the tail end of the 60s. Highly recommended to Taylor fans and fans of traditional Western fare. 8/10

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.

Probably the best role Robert Taylor had in the last five years of his life was in this made for television western, Return of the Gunfighter. Though no new dramatic trails are broken here, Taylor is just right for the part of a character very much like Gregory Peck's Jim Ringo in The Gunfighter.Unlike Peck who's returned to a wife and child he abandoned for the wild ways of his youth, Taylor has no family. We meet him after he cashes out of a poker game after catching one of the players cheating. When the cheat objects and draws on him, Taylor shoots him down and just mutters "why won't they leave me alone." He's just tired of it all, but it turns out his skill is needed by an old friend Rodolfo Hoyos who's being forced off his land. Taylor is summoned but arrives too late.He does pick up a traveling companion of sorts in young gun Chad Everett who's got three mean brothers on his trail. Let's say that the two of them help each other in their situations, though for Everett it does cause a crisis of conscience as you'll see if you watch the film.And watch it you should. Robert Taylor liked doing westerns, you can see it in his performances in them. He made fun of the 'iron jockstrap' parts like Ivanhoe, but he loved going west. Personally I think he should have concentrated on them in the sixties or looked for a big budget television series like his ex-wife Barbara Stanwyck had.Taylor's chief nemesis is Lyle Bettger the man who killed his friend and others. Bettger once again brings one of his sadistic psychos to the screen and effectively. This one does have a healthy respect for Taylor's reputation and skill as he tries to tell young punk John David Chandler, when Chandler seems to buffalo Taylor in a saloon. The fact that Chandler had several friends with him, kind of stacked the deck. It's a scene very similar to one that John Wayne and George Kennedy did in The Sons of Katie Elder.This was the second of two films that Chad Everett did with Robert Taylor and he always spoke of Taylor's kindness to him as a young player and his generosity in that he never worried about Everett stealing any scenes. Taylor was back at MGM for this final film with them, the studio where he held the longest contract in screen history. Had Return of the Gunfighter been made 10 year earlier, it surely would have gotten a theatrical release.

Robert Taylor was always the perfect cowboy, and this role is probably one of the best roles he had in his later years. Ben Wyatt is an aged gunfighter who is just sick and tired of the death and destruction caused by a "reputation." Just out of prison he is called upon to help and old friend, and although he is reluctant, he agrees. Upon his arrival he finds that his friend is dead, the victim of a land grab. The only survivor is his daughter, Annissa. He sets out with the girl to get revenge for the deaths, and along the way meets Lee Sutton, (Chad Everett)a wounded gunslinger, and takes him along begrudgingly. The pursuit of the bad guys leads to the real killers, and ultimately he avenges the friends and helps the girl move on. Watching Taylor, his face lined and worn by age, is truly magnificent. Just the sight of him on a horse, his blue eyes still glowing beneath the Stetson, is worth the watching of a consummate professional. It is a shame that he did not live long enough to do more character roles like this one.