Winchester '73 (1950)
Director: Anthony Mann
Honors:
A hero, bad guys, and a fabled rifle all set in the
legendary wild west are the ingredients of the 1950s Universal western Winchester
’73. The film with its classic tropes was a partnership of studio and star
by way of a professional favor that paid off handsomely, redefined the star’s
career, laid the groundwork of restructuring talent-studio relations, and began
a string of new success for star, director, and studio. Later to be considered
one of the defining westerns of the day, it carried Jimmy Stewart to new line
of work in westerns, historically aligning him up there with Wayne, Eastwood,
and the other greats that define the genre. It all starts here with a rifle.
Winchester ’73 is a western about a sharpshooting
gunman who roams the West in search of the man that stole his prized rifle. Lin
McAdam (James Stewart) enters Dodge City’s shooting contest overseen by legendary
Sheriff Wyatt Earp (Will Geer), narrowly defeating an equally skilled gunman
Dutch Henry Brown (Stephen McNally), with who Lin has an unsaid score to settle
with. Lin’s prize for the contest is a “one in one thousand” Winchester rifle
greatly admired as one of the finest guns in all the world which Dutch swiftly makes
off with. Lin with his accomplice High-Spade (Millard Mitchell) unwaveringly
pursue after the villainous man with intention of reuniting with his invaluable
prized firearm. In a side plot Lin grows a relationship with a saloon girl,
Lola (Shelly Winters), that sems to ever finds herself mixed within Lin’s
dealings. Coveted for its value, the Winchester finds itself passed among
thieves, cheats, native warriors, among others until Dutch once again claims
the rifle in time for a show down with Lin. Here is it is revealed in the
picture at a moment of revelation that Dutch is Lin’s brother who turned to
crime and killed their father making for a very personal confrontation between
the two on a desert rocky hill setting.
With a story that relatively simple, focusing primarily on a
rivalry between two gunmen, this feature keeps plots rather clean and straight
forward outside of the climactic revelation. Stewart delivers a somewhat
complicated, yet virtuous antagonist that does not reveal all about himself to
us until the story want us to know. The prized rifle, the Winchester’73, too
plays a main character within the story. Despite being an inanimate object, we
watch as the valued gun changes hands coming full circle to the big culmination,
as it serves as a object of desire that distracts from the hidden plot that overtakes
the picture in its final act. Shot beautifully in black and white using
locations in Arizona mixed within the Universal western backlot sets it makes
for a western that is well-rounded and not overly complicated, focusing purely
on the drama of the plot.
In looking to produce the western Universal recruited Jimmy
Stewart for its star hero. Experiencing a recent downturn in his career with a
series of films with poor box office turn out since WWII Universal was looking
to cast Stewart in the upcoming film Harvey, and to do so Stewart
requested that he be signed to a two-picture deal with Winchester ’73
being the second picture. Stewart was convinced to take on the new direction of
starring in a western despite his lanky frame being far from the perceived
visual of a strong, handsome, rugged hero. Universal being of the more
financially strapped major Hollywood studios were unable to afford Stewart's
usual salary, so Stewart’s agent worked out a unique deal that afforded
universal to pay the star at a far smaller price. The contract would allow
Stewart to claim a rather good chunk of his films’ profits, a deal that saved
Universal upfront, but eventually paid Stewart handsomely in the end.
Originally Fritz Lang was brought in to direct the picture,
but creative differences and wanting avoid Lang attaching his company to the
project saw the parting of filmmaker and studio with the project. Because of
this Stewart was able to jockey for friend and up and coming director Anthony
Mann to take the helm of the film as a more economical choice. It would be the
beginning of a filmmaking partnership that would see a series of successful
Mann-Stewart westerns over the years.
Mann would help reshape the acting style and perception of
Stewart as a film star. Once viewed as a meeker man of intelligence rather of
brawn it was hesitant for audiences to think of old stuttering Jimmy Stewart as
a tough cowboy type that could brawl or win a gunfight. That all changed with
Stewart's performance that presented a rugged masculine confidence that was
accentuated even more so when he smashes the head of Hollywood tough guy actor
Dan Duryea’s head into a bar during an on-screen fight. Stewart found a new
direction in his career, revitalizing his stardom for a new generation and
helped usher in the rise of westerns in the American 1950s popular culture.
Much of the supporting cast consisted of the typical
Hollywood character tough guys or western actors in this economical Universal
picture. Stephen McNally portrays his usual villainous role as a frontier tough
guy that is the contrast to Stewart’s good guy persona. His performance aides
in the twist reveal of rivaling brothers that took on different sides of
justice. Dan Duryea portrays his common shrewd, womanizing bad guy, a character
that is very opposite of the man in real life, but found it successful in
Hollywood. Will Geer appears as the legendary Wyatt Earp, a role Greer felt he
was miscast in. John McIntire makes a brief appearance an opportunistic Indian
trader in a low-key manner. Keen eyes will spot a young Tony Curtis and Rock
Hudson in minor roles respectfully as a cavalryman and native warrior early in careers.
Sadly, Shelly Winters, who has second billing in the
picture, is somewhat pushed aside both professionally and story wise. Winters
was struggling to find solid footing as Universal believed her to be a blonde
bombshell type for their studio and was shaping her up as such. Here Winters
plays the damsel in distress, but she does give Lola just a little edge,
however even she knew she had little to add to the rather flat character in
this picture. Recalling her experience years later as Lola, Winters knew her
performance was but a sub note to the macho duel between to gunmen through the
picture. Winters would be praised by critics for her performance, and with her
appearance in Paramount’s A Place in the Sun later in the year she would
see her a launch in her career.
With the great filmmaking of Anthony Mann and rejuvenating
James Stewart this western found great success at the box office for a
Universal picture. With Stewart’s contractual deal seeing him rewarded with a
portion of the film’s profits he turned what would usually be a $200,000 salary
job into a profit-sharing opportunity that rewarded him with an estimated $600,000.
With the success of Winchester ’73 and later on Harvey Stewart would
quickly become the highest paid actor of the year. Winchester ‘73 was
success with critics and audiences alike, gradually earning reputation as one
of the best westerns of all time, even seeing in 2015 its election to the
National Film Registry as a culturally significant. Its staying power witnessed
a television movie remake in 1967 while the original remains one of the great pictures
of the genre as it rose into the American popular culture of the 50s. Stewart
is a gem of a actor and this feature provides us with turning point in his
career as he revitalizes his on screen persona as one of the industry’s great
stars.
.jpg)
Comments
Post a Comment