Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

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.

The basic message that being a celebrity gunfighter makes you the target of every young gunfighter who wants to make a name for themself, and the object of bothersome curiosity seekers is stated several times in the early going then, in case your short term memory is deficient, stated again as Gregory Peck(Jimmy Ringo)lays dying. I couldn't wait for the film to end, it was so boring, with minimal gunplay or humor. Mostly, Peck waited around in the saloon for his estranged wife to show up to talk to and to see his boy. I will say the climax wasn't what I expected. Helen Westcott played Ringo's schoolteacher wife: not a very pleasant woman from what I could tell... The name Jimmy Ringo is derived from the real life gunslinger Johnny Ringo: an enemy of Wyatt Earp in Tombstone.See it, if you dare, on You Tube or DVD. For me, the much less celebrated "Shoot Out", also starring Peck, was a much more worthwhile experience.

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.

A Proud Movie that could Side with the Films of Budd Boetticher and Anthony Mann, this Early Psychological Study is one of the Best of the Loaded Western Genre. its Simplistic Style and Sombre Tone is Handled with Finesse by Director Henry King with a Mature, Classy Script by William Bowers.Tense, Tight, and Taut at 85 Minutes the Film is a Character Study, in Fact it is All About Character with no Reference to Society or Towns, Settling the West, or any such Large Notions. This is Personal. Personal Choices and Consequences. Gregory Peck at His Brooding and Suffering Best. Smoldering Regret with One Last Try to Reunite His Family and Hide Far, Far Away, "...where nobody ever heard of me." A Fine Cast Lends Support with an Outstanding and Believable Millard Mitchell as a Former Friend.This of Course is a Predetermined Self-Delusion, not Only because He can Never Outrun His Past, but the Motion Picture Code of the Time, would not have it. Utilizing Divine Intervention and Controlling the Fate of Anyone who Dare Sin on Screen.If there is one Minor Quibble, it is the Very Final Scene where we get Corny Closing Lines that may make some Cringe, it is at the Church......"I am Mrs. Jimmy Ringo"…..."and his boy".