MonsterPerfect Good idea lost in the noise

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Billie Morin This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Robert J. Maxwell Average inexpensive Western.Joel McCrae is Bat Masterson, saloon owner and now sheriff, newly elected to put an end to the cowboys who come to town on weekends to hoorah the place and frighten the dickens out of the good folk, like Doc John McIntire and Julie Adams, the purty preacher's daughter.It resembles so many other routine Westerns of the period that they're all jumbled together in my head so I think I'll skip the details of the plot. They're not important anyway. You'll have no trouble distinguishing the good guys from the bad guys after the first few minutes. This isn't the kind of movie that humanizes either the hero or his enemies. Ambiguity? Streng Verboten! As for that titular "shoot out", McCrae has just been "called out" by his evil rival for the sheriff's office. Julie Adams begs him not to go. "I don't want to go," he replies, "but I've got to. That's the difference between an animal and a man." Something like that anyhow. Maybe it was, "A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do," or, "Some things a man can't ride around." He confesses to being scared but I don't know why. The two rivals walk towards each other down the dusty and deserted street. "You call it," one of them says. And BANG and you-know-who is lying on the ground. It's all over with in about two minutes.The real Bat Masterson had nothing to be afraid of. Maybe he didn't wind up with the breathtaking Julie Adams under the same blanket, which is too bad for him, but he did act, I think, as Time Keeper at some heavyweight championship boxing match, didn't he? I believe there is a photo of him at ringside. He's wearing a derby.Joel McCrae didn't do badly either. He made his exit after a splendid early Pekinpah movie and spent his adult life married to the estimable Frances Dee. He seemed like a nice guy too and deserved his decent career.

Spikeopath The Gunfight at Dodge City is directed by Joseph M.Newman (This Island Earth/Fort Massacre) and jointly written by Martin Goldsmith and Daniel B. Ullman. It stars Joel McCrea, Julie Adams, John McIntire, Nancy Gates, Richard Anderson, Don Haggerty and James Westerfield. Hans J. Salter scores the music and Carl Guthrie is the cinematographer, with the production being in CinemaScope with colour by DeLuxe. Primary location shoot is Melody Ranch, Newhall, California, USA.McCrea stars as Bat Masterson, we find him originally in Hays City, Kansas, where he has set up shop, but after killing a man in self defence he heads to Dodge City to stay with his brother, Ed (Harry Lauter), who is the City Marshall. But upon arriving he finds that Dodge City is not a nice place, beset with lawlessness and run by corrupt sheriff Jim Reagan (Haggerty). After befriending the town doctor, Sam Tremaine (McIntire), and meeting Ed's fiancée Pauline (Adams), Bat buys a half share in the ailing Lady Gay Saloon run by Lily (Gates), herself struggling because of Reagan's interference. Bat sets about earning an honest living, but sheriff Reagan has no intention of letting either of the Masterson's flourish in Dodge: and just why is Dave Rudabaugh (Anderson) in town?Sometimes referred to as The Bat Masterson Story, The Gunfight at Dodge City is not a biography of the frontier lawman who once worked alongside Wyatt Earp. It does have some semblance of facts inked into the narrative, but ultimately view it as light telling of Bat Masterson's time in Dodge City. Running at just 81 minutes long, Newman's film has just enough character development, drama and period detail to sustain interest for that length of time. There's no attempt at histrionics or psychological depth, or even a message in the offering. This is a very stream-lined Western dealing in familiar B Western themes. But what it lacks in originality it makes up for with its all round production values.Although the CinemaScope is not used to the full (not enough exterior panoramas here, sadly), the film boasts some fine performances, wonderful colour lensing (night time shots are gorgeous) and that under valued asset of the Western, costuming (check out Lily's purple frock). McCrea obviously doesn't have the iconography that Randy Scott, James Stewart and The Duke have, but he quite often cuts an imposing, straight backed figure of note. Such as he does here, giving Masterson a rugged noble elegance in the process. Adams is beautiful and proves adept during the more tender moments and Gates, likewise, is hugely effective in portraying the nagging pangs of yearning. McIntire is nearly always good value, especially in official roles, and he adds a touch of quality here as the Doc who likes a drink and stoically stands by Bat's side when he needs support. Haggerty is a touch weak, not really exuding menace, but that's offset quite some by Anderson's suspicious and sneaky portrayal of Rudabaugh. All told it's just a real safe B Western with good production value into the bargain. 7/10

Patricia Hammond I enjoyed this. It provides everything one expects from a Western: good plot, revenge, love, conflict between law and personal conscience, plenty of gun-play, and mood. And a few excellent quotes. Try: "The distance between here and that street is the distance between a rabbit and a man." The beginning is refreshing too. Before the title and opening credits, a world-weary McCrea is telling a simple teenage boy who admires his prowess with a gun what it really is like. How scared one is, how little it has to do with heroics, and how awfully wretched one feels afterwards. In this film, the gunfights are fast, and mostly in the dark. That's probably more accurate than so many more overblown sequences in other films. The performances on everyone's part, even the baddies', are in many ways unexpectedly subtle. Take Regan, the bad Sheriff. Look at his strange, tormented eyes. None of it's overplayed. If it's raining outside, get out the popcorn and curl up with this.

alexandre michel liberman (tmwest) Somehow this western did not come out right. It is not the fault of the actors, McCrea is as good as always and Julie Adams is better than in any film I have seen her. No problem with the story either. I did not like the action scenes, except when there is a fistfight between McCrea and Don Haggerty. The shootouts were too quick, no strategy whatsoever,and not dramatic enough. The director can be blamed for that. Comparing this film with "Colorado Territory" made in 1949, a great western with McCrea you get to the conclusion that instead of evolving, in some cases the westerns regressed. This was to be the final film made by McCrea in his career. Good thing, Peckinpah saved him from this sad goodbye.