Way of the Gun

The first scene in Winchester '73 (1950) explains the setup: for the Centenial, Dodge City was holding a shooting competition, with the titular rifle as prize. It was not just the finest repeating rifle made, it was a “One of a Thousand”, a rifle that came our just perfect, one of a thousand. We see the rifle and the crowd gathered to check it out, including a bunch of kids and some extras who actually looked native. Sadly, we wouldn’t be seeing much of them.

Also in the crowd are James Stewart and his sidekick High-Spade played by Millard Mitchell. They are looking for Dutch Henry, and expected him to show up for the contest. But first they have to surrender their guns to Will Greer as Sheriff Wyatt Earp - as Ms. Spenser said, derisively, “That’s not Wyat Earp”. Still he was enforcing the West’s famous gun control regulations.

The contest winds up of course with Stewart against Dutch Henry (Stephen McNally). They seem pretty evenly matched, until Steward shoots the face out of a postage stamp glued to a ring tossed high in the air, without touching the ring itself. So he wins the One in a Thousand. Then he goes to the saloon and beats up Dan Duryea as the villainous Waco Johnny Dean. But before he can get out of town, Dutch and his goons steal the rifle and hightail.

Now the movie shifts focus to follow the rifle on its own journey. Dutch and gang go meet up with some traders and try to buy guns, since they left theirs back in Dodge. The traders gouge the heck out of them, refusing to sell them anything, although they’ll give them all guns and $300 cash for the Winchester. Out of options, they take the deal - and then Dutch loses the money playing poker.

The traders are selling arms to the Indians, but you won’t be seeing any of those native extras - instead we get Rock Hudson as the chief. He sees the Winchester and when the trader won’t sell, he kills him and takes it.

Meanwhile, Stewart and High-Spade have been tracking Dutch, and are now worried about the Indians. They run into Shelly Winters and her coward husband, but they might as well not be in this movie, so I’ll skip them. They join up with the cavalry, but they are all green men, expecting to get wiped out when the Indians attack.

It all ends up in a big shoot out, but I was more interested in the way the movie decided to follow the rifle as it went from hand to hand. It was almost like the tailcoat in Tales of Manhattan. It also showed a touch more understanding for the damage a gun can do, even to those who aren’t killed by it.