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Winchester '73

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This article is about the film. For the rifle, see Winchester rifle § Model 1873.

Winchester '73
Theatrical release poster by Reynold Brown
Directed byAnthony Mann
Screenplay by
Story byStuart N. Lake
Produced byAaron Rosenberg
Starring
CinematographyWilliam H. Daniels
Edited byEdward Curtiss
Music byJoseph Gershenson (musical director)
Color processBlack and white
Production
company
Universal Pictures
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • July 12, 1950 (1950-07-12)
Running time
92 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$2,250,000 (US rentals)[1]

Winchester '73 is a 1950 American Western film noir starring James Stewart, Shelley Winters, Dan Duryea and Stephen McNally. Directed by Anthony Mann and written by Borden Chase and Robert L. Richards, the film is set in 1876 and follows the turbulent passing of a prized rifle from one ill-fated owner to another, as well as a cowboy's search for a murderous fugitive. It is the first of eight films that Mann and Stewart made together, and is also the first film from which an actor received a percentage of the receipts, a practice known as "points", as compensation.

Along with Millard Mitchell and Charles Drake in featured support, Rock Hudson portrays a Native American tribal leader, and Tony Curtis appears as a besieged cavalry trooper, both in minor roles at the beginning of their careers.

The film received a Writers Guild of America Award nomination for Best Written American Western. In 2015, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry, finding it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[2]

Plot

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Lin McAdam and his pal “High-Spade” arrive in Dodge City, Kansas, just as a man is forcing a comely saloon pianist onto an out-of-town stage. Lin intervenes, but backs down when he learns the man is not only the local Marshal but Wyatt Earp. Lin is on the trail of Dutch Henry Brown, to settle a personal score. They meet in a saloon but cannot draw on one-another thanks to Earp's policy of confiscating all strangers’ guns while they are visiting the town.

Both Lin and Dutch enter the community's Centennial shooting contest for a prized “One in One Thousand” Winchester 1873 repeating rifle. Lin and Dutch shoot rings around the locals, with Lin winning in a shoot-off. Learning that Dutch and his pals are leaving, he goes to his room to pack. There, Dutch and his men ambush him, steal the rifle, and ride away before they can retrieve their guns.

Arriving at Riker's inn, the trio finds Indian trader Joe Lamont, who eyes the fancy Winchester and becomes determined to get it. He raises the price of his guns and ammunition so high that the Henry gang cannot afford them. After losing at poker, Dutch is forced to trade the rifle to Lamont for three hundred dollars plus their pick of weapons. Dutch then tries to win the Winchester back by betting the wad in one pot, but is cleaned out by a stacked deck.

Lamont peddles his guns to his buyer, Young Bull, who rejects them as worn out and inferior. Spying the elaborately decorated Winchester, he seizes it and turns on Lamont, who is robbed, killed, and scalped.

Lin McAdam (Jimmy Stewart) shooting in the rifle contest

Meanwhile, the saloon pianist, Lola, and her fiancé Steve, are in a wagon traveling toward a new home. Pursued by Young Bull and his warriors, Steve panics, abandons Lola, and tears off alone on his horse. Discovering a small encampment of cavalry soldiers ahead, he reverses and together they race to the camp. That night, Lin and High-Spade are also chased in and safely join the group.

Lin convinces the ranking sergeant that there will be no attack till morning. Come daylight, he gives Lola his revolver, delicately indicating she should save the last round for herself in case things go poorly. A fierce battle ensues, with Lin shooting Young Bull and spurring a rout. Returning Lin his gun, Lola asks if she can keep the remaining bullet as a souvenir, which he grants. He and High-Spade resume their pursuit of Dutch. A moment after they leave, the coveted Winchester is found by a trooper, which the Sergeant gives to Steve.

Lola Manners (Shelley Winters) accepting Lin McAdam's revolver just before the Indian attack

Steve and Lola reach the Jameson place, their future home. Steve has a rendezvous planned in Tascosa with Waco Johnny Dean, "the fastest gun in Texas", but Waco and his men instead arrive just ahead of a posse that surrounds the house. When Waco sees the Winchester, he too covets it. Provoking Steve into drawing, Waco kills him. In a breakout Waco's men are shot, but he and Lola escape and ride to Dutch's hideout outside Tascosa. Dutch see the rifle and claims that it is his, which Waco yields without a fight, telling Lola he will get it back the same way he got it from Steve; meanwhile, there is a payday to earn.

The gang goes to Tascosa to rob its bank and stagecoach. Lin and High-Spade arrive just ahead of the stage. Waco attempts to shoot Lin but is overpowered in a scrap, then dropped by Lin‘s rifle. In the chaos the heist goes sideways, and Lola is accidentally wounded. Dutch escapes on horseback, with Lin in hot pursuit. High-Spade reveals to Lola that Dutch is Lin's brother, who’d robbed a bank and stagecoach and returned home, then shot their father in the back when he'd refused to harbor him.

Lin tears after Dutch, who still manages to scramble up a rocky bluff, giving him the high ground. They shoot it out, trading ricochets till one makes a fatal mistake.

Lin’s vendetta complete, he returns to Tascosa with the Winchester and reunites emotionally with High-Spade and Lola, accepting her embrace and not letting go.

Cast

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Stewart during the Native American attack

Production

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James Stewart and Jay C. Flippen

The film was originally intended to have been directed by Fritz Lang, but Universal did not want Lang to also produce it through his own company, Diana Productions.[3][4] Lang's idea was for the rifle to be Stewart's character's only source of strength and his only excuse for living, making the quest for his rifle a matter of life and death.[5]

With Lang out of the picture, Universal produced the film with up-and-coming Anthony Mann, Stewart's choice (he had admired The Furies), directing. Mann had Borden Chase rewrite the script [6] to instead make the rifle a bone of contention, showing it passing contentiously through the hands of various people.

Mann said, "I didn't like the property; I didn't like Winchester at all. This was Lang's version. I was working at Metro and everybody was pressuring me to make the film and I said, 'I'd like to make the film, if you let me rewrite it completely. I want a new writer, new everything; I don't want the property the way it is.' Finally, after a lot of haranguing, they agreed that I could do that and I brought in Borden Chase and we started from scratch on the script and it developed day by day."[7]

Stewart had wished to make Harvey for Universal-International, but the studio could not afford his $200,000 salary ($2.01 million in today's dollars),[8] so studio head William Goetz offered to allow Stewart to make both Harvey and Winchester '73 for a percentage of the profits, spread over some time and at a lower capital gain tax rate than a single payment to Stewart would be.[9][10] Stewart's agent Lew Wasserman was able to get his client 50 percent of the profits, eventually amounting to $600,000 from the film's unexpected success.[11][12] Stewart's deal also gave him control of the director and co-stars.[clarify][13] It is acknowledged as the first confirmed time in the sound era that a film actor received some of the movie's receipts as compensation, a practice acquiring the term "points".[14]

Casting

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Stewart was already cast in the part of Lin McAdam and spent a lot of time practicing with the rifle so that he would look like an authentic Westerner. As Mann later related, "[Stewart] was magnificent walking down a street with a Winchester rifle cradled in his arm. And he was great too actually firing the gun. He studied hard at it. His knuckles were raw with practicing... It was those sorts of things that helped make the film look so authentic, gave it its sense of reality." An expert marksman from the Winchester company, Herb Parsons, did the trick shooting required for the film and assisted Stewart with his training.

Shelley Winters was cast as a saloon pianist. Winters did not understand the film, nor think much of her part in it, saying, "Here you've got all these men... running around to get their hands on this goddamn rifle instead of going after a beautiful blonde like me. What does that tell you about the values of that picture? If I hadn't been in it, would anybody have noticed?"[15]

The part of Wyatt Earp was given to Will Geer, who was not alone by feeling that he was miscast for the role.[citation needed] Millard Mitchell was cast as High-Spade Frankie Wilson. That same year, Mitchell appeared in The Gunfighter starring Gregory Peck. He would appear in another Stewart-Mann Western The Naked Spur (1953) as a grizzled old prospector.

Jay C. Flippen appears as cavalry sergeant Wilkes. He would also appear in the second Stewart-Mann Western Bend of the River (1952) with Rock Hudson, who appears in Winchester '73 as a Native American.

The Stewart and Mann collaboration established a new persona for Stewart, more violent and disillusioned than ever before, but still likable.[16]

Locations

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Winchester '73 was filmed at:

Reception

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As part of the publicity campaign for the release of the film, Universal Pictures sponsored a contest, by placing magazine ads, to find some of the rare remaining "One of One Thousand" Model 1873 Winchester rifles.[18] This resulted in many previously unknown original rifles being brought into the spotlight, and drew public interest to the field of antique gun collecting. The winner of the contest received a new Winchester Model 1894 rifle, for the Model 1873 was out of production at that time.[19]

Box office

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The film was a financial success, turning a significant profit.[citation needed] It has since gained a reputation as a classic of the Western genre, and durably helped to redefine the public perception of James Stewart.[citation needed]

Critical response

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Twentyfirst century reviews have been enthusiastic. Writing for Empire in 2000, William Thomas called the film "the marvellously-scripted story of a man and a gun". He awarded five stars out of five.[20]

In 2015 Martin Chilton of the Telegraph also gave the movie five stars out of five, describing it as "the first in a series of Western masterpieces".[15]

The film holds a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 27 reviews, with an average of 8.5/10.[21]

Honors

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The film received a Writers Guild of America Award nomination for Best Written American Western.[citation needed] In 2015, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry, finding it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[2]

Remake

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Winchester '73 was remade as a made-for-TV film in 1967 featuring Tom Tryon, John Saxon, Dan Duryea, John Drew Barrymore, Joan Blondell, John Dehner and Paul Fix.[citation needed]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ 'The Top Box Office Hits of 2006', Variety, January 3, 1951.
  2. ^ a b Mike Barnes (December 16, 2015). "'Ghostbusters,' 'Top Gun,' 'Shawshank' Enter National Film Registry". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  3. ^ Munn, Michael (2007). Jimmy Stewart: The Truth Behind the Legend. Robson, p. 198.
  4. ^ Grant, Barry Keith (2003). Fritz Lang Interviews. University Press of Mississippi. p. 57. ISBN 9781578065776.
  5. ^ Lang 2003, p. 57.
  6. ^ Basinger, Jeanine (2007). Anthony Mann. Wesleyan University Press, p. 79.
  7. ^ Wicking, Christopher; Pattinson, Barrie (July–October 1969). "Interviews with Anthony Mann". Screen. Vol. 10. p. 49.
  8. ^ Johnston, Louis; Williamson, Samuel H. (2023). "What Was the U.S. GDP Then?". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved November 30, 2023. United States Gross Domestic Product deflator figures follow the MeasuringWorth series.
  9. ^ Eyman, Scott (2005). The Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer. Robson, p. 456.
  10. ^ Basinger 2007, p. 79.
  11. ^ McDonald, Paul (2000). The Star System: Hollywood's Production of Popular Identities. Wallflower Press, p. 75.
  12. ^ Philip K. Scheuer (July 24, 1955). "A Town Called Hollywood: Top Stars Now Share in Profits of Major Pictures". Los Angeles Times. p. d2., quotes Goetz putting the figure at $530,000.
  13. ^ Mann, Denise (2008). Hollywood Independents: The Postwar Talent Takeover. University of Minnesota Press, p. 51.
  14. ^ Cones, John (1997). The Feature Film Distribution Deal: A Critical Analysis of the Single Most Important Film Industry Agreement. Carbondale, Illinois, United States: Southern Illinois University Press. pp. 19–21. ISBN 9780809320820. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
  15. ^ a b "Winchester '73, review". www.telegraph.co.uk. March 15, 2015.
  16. ^ Basinger 2007, p. 80.
  17. ^ "Locations for Winchester '73". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
  18. ^ Fjestad, Steve (December 14, 2007). "Winchester Model 1873 Rifle". Guns & Ammo. Retrieved February 10, 2013.
  19. ^ Gordon, James D. Winchester's New Model of 1873: A Tribute. Self-published, 1997, p. 391.
  20. ^ "Winchester 73". Empire. June 25, 2000.
  21. ^ "Winchester '73". Rotten Tomatoes.
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