You won't be disappointed!

Wonderful character development!

the audience applauded

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

TITLE: GUNFIGHT OPENED IN THEATERS IN THE United States on August 25 1971 and it took 90 minutes to watch it. Gunfight starred Kirk Douglas as Wil, Johnny Cash as Abe, and Karen Black as Jenny.SUMMARY: A Gunfight was the first mainstream American film to be produced by an Indian tribe -- specifically, the Jicarilla Apaches of New Mexico. Kirk Douglas and Johnny Cash star as Will and Abe, two long-in... read more -tooth gunfighters with nary a dime between them. Although Will and Abe are fast friends, they agree to a winner-take-all showdown, selling tickets to the momentous event. The townspeople are certain that Will is going to win the shootout, but he knows that it would be a fatal mistake to underestimate Abe. Standing on the sidelines is Will's wife Nora (Jane Alexander), who seems curiously disinterested in the outcome, even though she may become a widow before the day is over. The movie opens with Abe riding through the countryside singing when a rattlesnake bites his horse. Abe cuts the horses leg and sucks the poison of out of the horse. After fixing the horse Abe goes to the nearest town to get him fix. When Abe enters the town, some of the people recognize him as Abe Cross the gunfighter. Also leaving in the town is ex gunfighter Wil Tenneray with his wife and son. Wil works at the local saloon to support his family. While walking around town people start to wonder will Wil and Abe fight each other.QUESTIONS: How did Wil get his reputation? How did Abe get his reputation? Who was Jenny? What part did Jenny play in this movie? Did the gunfight take place? If so where? MY THOUGHTS: This was another movie that had a great build up and only to have fall on its face. This movie had no build up and it was boring right from the start. Sure Kirk Douglas was good in his role as Wil. Johnny Cash was just as good in his role as Abe. Karen Black talents and pretty body was wasted in this movie. She played the role as a bar house cleaner and her talents were missed used in this movie. I would give this movie 0 weasel stars but that not allowed so I have to give it 1 weasel star even if it doesn't deserve it.

A Gunfight is directed by Lamont Johnson and written by Harold Jack Bloom. It stars Kirk Douglas, Johnny Cash, Jane Alexander, Karen Black and Raf Vallone. Music is by Laurence Rosenthal and cinematography by David Walsh. Will Tenneray (Douglas) and Abe Cross (Cash) are two ageing gunfighters who after meeting each other in town hit it of straight away and actually like and respect each other. However, with both men in need of money and the whole town intrigued as to who would win in a gunfight between them, Tenneray hits upon the idea of the two of them having the gunfight and selling tickets to the event, with the winner receiving the ticket proceeds… It was the first mainstream American film to be financed by American Indians—the Jicarilla Apaches—but this in now way was a propaganda move since the narrative has nothing to do with Native Americans. It's a most unusual Western in a lot of ways, off beat and deliberately played for fun at times, yet it pulses with dark thematics involving the human condition. Stripped bare is the fickle value of celebrity status, deftly cloaked with the ignorant blood-lust of a paying public. Director Johnson keeps the pacing smooth as we get to know both men and watch their relationship unfold. All the while we are getting a grasp on the townsfolk in general, while the two ladies of the men's world are impacting greatly due to the sensitive screenplay. All roads lead to the ironic venue of a bullfighting arena across the border, where a full house of paying patrons come to see one of the men die. Whoever that is doesn't really matter, the caustic insertion of a dream sequence at film's end leaves us in no doubt that the winner really hasn't won at all. With great performances from Douglas and Alexander, and good ones from Cash and Black, film also holds up well on the acting front. But the real stars here are Johnson and Bloom, for they have produced a clever picture that doesn't over reach itself by trying to be cerebral. It deserves to be better known and appraised. 7.5/10

Hearing Johnny Cash's tremendous "American Series" albums for the first time last year with a friend,one of the main things which would coming up when we talked about the music,was wondering how Johnny Cash would be in a real Western movie.Feeling one day that I should take a look to see if Cash had actually done a Westen,I was pleasantly surprised to find,that not only had Cash starred in a Western,but he had actually starred in one alongside "Spartacus" himself!:Kirk Douglas. The plot:Slowly heading to the near by town,out law Abe Cross has to make pace when his horses legs suddenly become injured.Taking the struggling horse to a near by vet,Abe tries to pass the time by introducing himself to the local residents.Being standoffish over a stranger having entered "their" town,the residents begin to let their guard down,when sheriff Will Tenneray appears and tells Cross that he will not allow any trouble to occur in this peaceful town.Initially showing a mutual respect towards each other,Will and Abe start to hear whispers around the town over people placing bets for who is the best gunslinger out of the two.Noticing the piles of cash that the betters are gathering,Will and Abe relies the they could get all the cash that they could ever dream of,if they take part in a winner takes all shoot out between each other.View on the film:Featuring in almost every scene of the film,Johnny Cash and Kirk Douglas make Will and Abe into a terrific double act,with Douglas's calculating,calm family man Will being a complete contrast to Cash's rugged,rumbling loner cowboy Abe.Despite the dialogue feeling slightly tied,and lacking the "livly" feel which the two lead actors bring to the movie,screenwriter Harold Jack Bloom cleverly uses the building up of the "main event" to show the worrying effect that hype can have on people.as Will and Abe are almost made obsolete,due to the residents being more focused on bloodsport and money than the personality's of the two individual's.Smartly turning the final shoot out into a blink and you'll miss it boxing KO style match,director Lamont Johnson wonderfully turns the films ending upside down,and leads it into a terrific fantasy area,which allows the movie to end on a mysterious note of "What if ?."

The old shooting times are over, the gunfighters are just a live legend - perhaps only a curiosity - for borrachos and mean people. Unable to fit into the new times, all they can do is killing each other, to feed their own legend or to be buried with it. In this complex, sober, highly undervalued movie, Douglas (the real one, not Michael) and Cash accomplish with their destiny, it does not matter who will be the winner, who will be the loser: both are doomed and they know it. But they are not the worst in town: this role is left to the bloodthirsty people who do not even have the guts to run personally the risk but enjoy the killing. Too late they realize what they have caused and supported, ant silence fall on them. But the'll forget, and next time it will happen again.