Winchester '73 [G]

The Winchester ’73 is a rifle that men of the west would sell their souls for. Upon arriving in Dodge City, revenge-driven cowboy Lin McAdam wins one such rifle in a shooting contest against the very man he’s devoted his life to hunting down. But all does not end well when the gun’s stolen from Lin and then, through many misadventures in the west, changes hands repeatedly from the crook, to a mixed-race Indian traitor, to an Indian chief, to a cowardly ranch owner, to a gun-crazy slinger, and finally back to the man who stole it from Lin. Will it find its way in its rightful owner’s hands? 

The first of eight collaborations made between James Stewart and Anthony Mann, Winchester ’73 is not a bad movie, but a mediocre one. For me, the Western is all about the rollicking chases, the fantastic music, the fast-paced action, and the suspense so thick you could slice through it with a knife. Alas, whilst there is some very fine acting, some unexpected twists of the plot, and the odd bit of rollicking action and shoot-outs, there is nothing seriously exciting about this movie and it fails to stimulate that rush of adrenaline that comes with a good Western. 

The Winchester ’73 is a rifle that men of the west would sell their souls for. Upon arriving in Dodge City, revenge-driven cowboy Lin McAdam wins one such rifle in a shooting contest against the very man he’s devoted his life to hunting down. But all does not end well when the gun’s stolen from Lin and then, through many misadventures in the west, changes hands repeatedly from the crook, to a mixed-race Indian traitor, to an Indian chief, to a cowardly ranch owner, to a gun-crazy slinger, and finally back to the man who stole it from Lin. Will it find its way in its rightful owner’s hands? 

There just needed to be a little more to this, a little salt so to speak. The story itself is actually quite good: it’s simple and travels about in circles, which successfully creates great feelings of frustration and outbursts of “look down, grab the gun!” and there are some great performances to admire such as Stewart’s leading-man. I can’t quite put my finger on what let this movie down, which is all the more frustrating really. It’s a movie that ticked all the boxes but lacked this wow-factor and that’s really the only criticism that I have about it. You want a movie that compels and excites you, but Winchester ’73 just doesn’t despite its very fine direction, performance, and narrative flow. 

It’s almost like the writers got to a certain point and then just lost their footing or creative vibe. A real disappointment is the anticlimactic final shoot-out, which is the one thing that we’re all looking forward to as the tension and the drama is quite successfully built up along the road. All the techniques and the make-up of this movie is spot-on, it’s just lacking that flavour that could make it really memorable. 

Starring James Stewart, Shelly Winters, Dan Duryea, Stephen McNally, Millard Mitchell, Charles Drake, John McIntire, Will Geer, Jay C. Flippen, Rock Hudson, John Alexander, Steve Brodie, James Millican, Abner Biberman, and Tony Curtis in one of his first screen performances, Winchester ’73 is a fun but flavourless Western filled with drama, tension, action, multiple stories, and comedy. It’s not bad per se it’s just not memorable, which is a real shame because it’s a movie that could have been really rollicking.