Death of a Gunfighter (1969) on Netflix
Cottonwood Springs, Texas, is turning toward a new century, but Marshal Frank Patch still polices it the old way. After he kills a drunken man, the town council wants him out.
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- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb6.3/101,916 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes83%
Trailer
Plot summary
Frank Patch is the marshal of Cottonwood Springs, Texas, a lawman of the old style in a town that means to leave its rough past behind. When he shoots a drunken man, Luke Mills, in self-defense, the councilmen ask him to resign so a modern police force can be formed. Patch refuses. He reminds them that when he took the post they agreed he could hold it for as long as he chose, and he still chooses to. The councilmen have two reasons to want him gone: his readiness with a gun, and the secrets he knows about how they behaved in the town's wilder days. They ask the county sheriff, once a friend and protege of Patch, to push him out, and he declines. Some of them begin to talk about having the marshal killed.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Death of a Gunfighter (1969)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- After both Don Siegel and Robert Totten refused the director's credit on Death of a Gunfighter, Richard Widmark protested and the Directors Guild of America agreed to credit the film to the pseudonym Alan Smithee, which the Guild later used again on other films with a disputed director credit.
- Death of a Gunfighter began under director Robert Totten, who was dropped after clashes with star Richard Widmark and almost a year of work, and was replaced by Don Siegel, who had recently directed Widmark in Madigan.
