Winchester '73 (1950)

Dir.: Anthony Mann
Plot: A tough sharpshooter scours the plains in search of the man who killed his father, with a seemingly random assortment of characters slowly dragged into the quest.

Jimmy Stewart ditches his ever-comforting impersonation of warm molasses to play hard-bitten avenger Lin McAdam, on the trail of Dutch Henry Brown, the man who killed his father. On paper, it sounds like it's been done a hundred times before. However, this is a uniquely clever revenge western, revolving not around a simple pursuit, but rather around the titular rifle. Won in the opening scenes by Lin, stolen by Dutch and passed through a succession of people, all of whom contribute in some way to the bigger picture of Lin's quest, it ties the story together with peerless elegance. Everyone who comes into possession of the rifle seems almost supernaturally to become embroiled in the story as it unfolds.

As well as being a first-rate story, Winchester '73 is also a joy to watch from a technical perspective - Mann's ambitious, confident direction smoothly captures the landscape and its inhabitants from all angles, and the cinematography is arresting without being showy. This same quality also extends to the actors under his command, who give subtle performances which gently add layers of ambiguity to their characters, peeling away the exterior of stock Western figures (the not-quite-respectable saloon gal, the Indian chief etc) to explore the complexity beneath. This character development accompanies the darkening of the story, and carries us from the light, sharpshooting hi-jinks of the opening, to the achingly human ending.

The supporting cast are generally very fine, with the glaring exception of a young Rock Hudson as a painfully unconvincing Indian chief. Shelley Winters makes a pleasingly low-key love interest, Dan Duryea imbues the villainous Waco Johnnie Dean with smirky creepiness and Stephen McNally growls and snarls efficiently as the object of Stewart's pursuit. However, Millard Mitchell was the standout support for me, as Lin's trusty companion High Spade - as burdened by Lin's past as he is, and worried that his friend's quest is chipping away at his sanity.

Stewart is phenomenal breaking away from his pre-war image, alone worth the ticket price. His finest moment is the confrontation with Waco Johnnie Dean - my mouth was left as guppy-fied as the original audience's must have been, seeing the darkness burst out of that aw-shucks exterior like the alien ripping through John Hurt's chest. It is a true testament to the power of the image Stewart carved for himself that throughout this scene, my heart was absolutely pounding.

Smart, thrilling and exceptionally assembled, this is definitely a must-watch for anyone with even a passing interest in the genre.

9/10