By the early seventies, even the most die-hard Western fans began to grow bored with all the standard ingredients of the genre: The Good Guy, the Bad Guy, the Saloon Girl, the inevitable showdown. But in A Gunfight (1971), audiences were treated to a storyline that was decidedly different from the usual sagebrush saga. Closer in form to a three-act play than your typical Hollywood Western, A Gunfight was part Greek tragedy, part carny hustle (the surprise ending), with a dash of existential angst. It also worked quite well as a commentary on the fickle nature of celebrity.

At the opening of A Gunfight, down and out gunfighter Johnny Cash finds himself stranded in a small town when his horse dies on him. After he strikes up a quick friendship at the local saloon with Kirk Douglas, who is the town's gun-slinging "celebrity," the townspeople begin making bets on who would win if the two were to shoot it out. Since both gunmen realize they are near the end of their careers, they agree to stage a showdown, with the proceeds going to the winner. As the gunfight grows nearer, the town is brought to a fevered pitch, leading to an outcome which questions the whole concept of "winning."

In his autobiography, The Ragman's Son, Kirk Douglas recalled the making of A Gunfight: "Johnny Cash was very hot at the time. I called him up and pitched the part of the other gunfighter to him, and he agreed to do it. Jane Alexander played my wife. My son Eric made his debut playing my son in the picture, and he was quite good...One day, a horse stepped on my hand. Eric came running up. "Quick, Daddy! Bite a bullet!" But I had conflicting emotions. I didn't want Eric - or any of my sons - to become actors."

Even before production began on A Gunfight, the Hollywood trades were talking about the offbeat nature of the film, not only because of its plot but its unusual financing. The entire $2 million budget was put up by the Jacarilla Apache tribe of New Mexico, who agreed to back a bank loan for the picture. Wealthy from investments in oil, natural gas, and timber interests, the 1,800-member tribe looked to expand their financial interests into motion pictures and agreed to back the movie, reportedly due to their appreciation of Johnny Cash (who was one quarter Cherokee). The first film ever to be financed by an Indian tribe, the contract entitled the Jacarillas to a full recoupment of their investment, plus 25% of the accrued proceeds from the picture, evidence that the tribe financed A Gunfight purely for profit and not as propaganda as some people suspected.

While A Gunfight didn't qualify as a box office smash, the Jacarillas eventually got their money back and the film received mostly positive reviews. Featuring exemplary performances from Cash and Douglas, and a highly publicized twist ending, A Gunfight was called "a welcome surprise" and the "hit of the year" by some reviewers. Director Lamont Johnson, in particular, was praised for showing both the dynamics of "mob psychology" and the fickle nature of fans, without alienating audiences who might have felt they were the real villains. The only negative press was reserved for Paramount for not properly marketing the film during its summer release, a time traditionally reserved for less challenging fare.

But the film's controversial "dream sequence" ending continues to divide viewers over their interpretation of A Gunfight. Regardless of your verdict, it was the intention of screenwriter Harold Jack Bloom to "suggest that the town forced two good men into a fight neither wanted; that their need for money [and fame] made them accept their fate and that no matter which man survived, both were losers."

Producer: A. Ronald Lubin, Harold Jack Bloom
Director: Lamont Johnson
Screenplay: Harold Jack Bloom
Production Design: Tambi Larsen
Cinematography: David M. Walsh
Costume Design: Mickey Sherrard
Film Editing: Bill Mosher
Original Music: Laurence Rosenthal
Principal Cast: Kirk Douglas (Will Tenneray), Johnny Cash (Abe Cross), Jane Alexander (Nora Tenneray), Karen Black (Jenny), Keith Carradine (Cowboy), Dana Elcar (Marv Green).
C-89m.

by Bill Goodman