150 Word Review: 'Winchester '73' (1950)

Jimmy's got a gun

Photo: Universal Pictures

Westchester 73 is a violent cowboy Cain and Abel story starring James Stewart as an ex-Confederate manhunter and co-starring a one-of-a-kind Winchester 73 repeating rifle. The Wild West was a continental killing spree that lasted over thirty years, and the right weapons made all the difference.

There are two plots in this revisionist western: Stewart's obsession with his father’s murderer and the prized gun, a modern-day Excaliber won at a contest hosted by famed lawman Wyatt Earp that passes from hero to dirtbag to tragic Native American warrior dreaming of victory against untrustworthy white men (this is a 1950 movie so a white man plays this character.)

Dan Duryea is chaotically charismatic as a psycho outlaw, and Shelley Winters glimmers as a weary frontierswoman who knows enough to save the last bullet for herself. Millard Mitchell is wise, laidback Frankie Wilson, the best friend of a man ruined by vengeance.

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Random Rankings

Top 5 Jimmy Stewart Movies

5. ‘Mr. Smith Goes To Washington’ (1939)

4. 'The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance' (1962)

3. 'Harvey' (1950) 

2. 'The Shop Around The Corner' (1940) 

1. 'Rear View Window' (1954)