Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . during this strange story, and the McAdam brothers each have two turns handling it. If the star of WINCHESTER '73 actually was a "perfect" or "one-in-a-thousand" or "1-in-10,000" or "1-in-20,000" rifle when it rolled off Winchester's assembly line (all of which claims are made here), it certainly was NOT by the time it got bent in a wrestling match, used for a ski pole by a losing contestant falling off a horse in a rifle joust, left in a burning house, and flung off Lover's Leap by a fratricide victim. About all this shooting iron would be good for by the time Jimmy Stewart reclaims it would be to keep the stuffed animals dangling from a Crooked Carnie's shooting gallery booth. As if Rock Hudson sporting war paint isn't bizarre enough, how about Mr. Stewart's "a-boy-named-Lynne" character allowing Dutch's gang to ride off with BOTH the hijacked gold shipment AND the Tascosa Wells Fargo Bank depositors' life savings just so that he could engage in brotherly (tough) love? I'd re-watch HIGH NOON or even STAGECOACH (John Wayne's Dagwood Bumstead buttons and all) rather than view WINCHESTER '73 again.

spelvini It's said that James Stewart's deal for a profit percentage over Screen Actors Guild salary to perform in Winchester '73 was the only way director Anthony Mann's movie could have been made. Given Stewart's low popularity rating after a stint in the Army and the lack of viewer interest in the Western genre the venture was a long shot at best.That it set a precedence for James Stewart, and the "working actor", something that remains today as stars (actually their agents) negotiate their talent for appearances in features, the deal Stewart struck with director Anthony Mann paved the way for a revival of the Western genre as well as reestablishing the actor as a palpable talent.A shooting contest in Dodge City attracts Lin McAdam (James Stewart) as the prize is a "one of a thousand" Winchester circa 1873, a special edition repeater rifle. When Lin bumps into Dutch Henry Brown (Stephen McNally) an old grudge is rekindled and is aggravated by the two being the finalist in the shooting match for the treasured Winchester rifle. Lin wins, barely, but Dutch steals the rifle and flees across the desert as Lin peruses as the real reason for their hatred of each other emerges. Lin and his partner High-Spade (Millard Mitchell) stop to help Lola Manners (Shelley Winters), and realize that the rifle has slipped into the hands of killer Waco Johnny Dean (Dan Duryea), and back again into the hands of Dutch. Good confronts evil as Lin and Dutch face off in a fiery revenge match with only one man sure to emerge triumphant.Aesthetically Winchester '73 as a revenge tale has a few flaws that limit its accessibility for the average viewer. The plot is couched in a story of mystery that is only revealed obliquely through characters talking to each other with the viewer learning simultaneously why the conflict between Lin and Dutch is so intense. This way of telling the story allows Mann to dwell on the "competitive" nature between the lead characters in the shooting contest for the famed Winchester rifle and allows the gun to serve double duty as a central metaphoric element in the movie.Cinematographer William Daniels shot the film in a high-contrast black and white, and the jagged western terrain serves as a hearty counterpoint to underline the emotions of the characters. Daniels was nominated for an Oscar for a few films including the one in which he photographed Greta Garbo, Flesh and the Devil. He finally won his Oscar in 1949 for his work on Jules Dassin's noir classic The Naked City in 1948. Daniels captures the world of the film in ways that stick with you long after the screen fades.To call Winchester '73 a landmark film is an understatement. The overwhelming success of the revisionist view of the Western initiated four more collaborations from Mann with his alter ego Stewart in the lead, including The Naked Spur in 1953. Robert L. Richards and Borden Chase adapted a story by Stuart N. Lake into a script that allows director Anthony Mann to utilize the exterior camera setups to reflect James Stewart's inner angst as he attempts to avenge a past injustice of Stephen McNally.The ultimate hook in the film is how the prized rifle keeps falling into the hands of first one, then another character with James Stewart's character just missing. It's the kind of thing that keeps us on the edge of our seat- we feel cheated that the gun has been stolen from its rightful owner, and then we feel frustrated as again and again the thing is scooped up by another admirer.The ending may leave you with ambivalence regarding the motivations of those deemed as good in the movie, and the ultimate future of the community they help to found, and this seems as vital to audience today looking at a film from the brink of the Cold War. It's still a rough ride, and thrilling to boot.

AaronCapenBanner Director Anthony Mann teamed up with Jimmy Stewart in the first of many westerns they made together, and this is the best, as it tells the story of Lin McAdam(Jimmy Stewart) who wins a shooting contest where the prize is a much sought-after Winchester '73 rifle, which is stolen by evil Dutch Henry Brown(played by Stephen McNally) prompting an enraged Lin to pursue him across the west, as the rifle passes through many different hands, dooming all who possess it. Dan Duryea plays Waco Jimmy Dean, a gunfighter that Lin forces him to tell where Dutch has gone, and whom he will encounter later on. Other people he meets are a newlywed couple(played by Charles Drake & Shelley Winters) who become involved with an Indian attack that they barely survive. All will converge in a final showdown between Lin & Dutch over a rocky mountain range, in battle not only for the stolen Winchester, but an old grudge, since both men know each other from way back...First-rate western with excellent direction and a strong, career changing performance from Jimmy Stewart, who conveys the rage and frustration felt extremely well. Fascinating story and exciting finale all contribute to making this a classic western.

Scarecrow-88 A much desired Winchester rifle is won by Jimmy Stewart in a shooting tournament, stolen by a dirty, no-good thief named Dutch (who shoots people in the back and can never be trusted), and the movie follows the weapon as it exchanges hands, death meeting anyone who comes to claim possession of it. Meanwhile Stewart and trusty pal Millard Mitchell go a hunting for the Winchester, a dogged pursuit that offers plenty of danger. This western, a rightfully heralded classic, is set during the time when Custard lost at Little Big Horn, the news traveling about from town to town. The Winchester rifle symbolizes death because it seems to carry bad luck to anyone who carries it on them. Anthony Mann and Jimmy Stewart. Two names that gave us some damn good westerns. "Winchester '73" was the start of quite a collaboration. I think the intensity Stewart could summon in his lead roles in those great Mann westerns proved that these two were a match made in horse opera heaven. What I loved about this western is that mystery behind everything taking place throughout the movie: why does Lin McAdam (Stewart) want to kill Dutch Henry Brown (Stephen McNally)? The rifle is just a prop really that moves from each situation that involves the characters in the movie. McAdam wins the rifle, has it taken from him by sore-loser Brown, and the hunt for the Winchester is on. Those who "take" the rifle seem to die eventually; it is almost unlucky to acquire the gun. I think that is a cool concept for a western, the gun goes and so does the western, from place to place, person to person, ending as it should between two men, one with a score to settle, over a shot in the back of a father. There's a glass of goat milk that makes little sense at the time it is handed by a bartender to McAdam, at the request of Brown, but it is a little detail with far more significance than you realize, only equating the beauty of the western, how even the most minute moments add to the reasons behind the ill will that exists between two men who hate each other.Other characters enter their world in different ways. Shelley Winters is "dance hall girl" Lola attached to a yellowbelly named Steve (Charles Drake) who almost leaves her to the mercy of Sioux while wagon-training it to a new town…yeah, he was "going to get help". After seeing a Calvary troop up ahead, Steve goes back to get her, and they think there's safety, only to learn this bunch (the soldiers quite young, their leader old and tired but charming and congenial)is undermanned and surrounded. Thank goodness McAdams and long-time friend High Spade (Millard Mitchell) find them, with experience in the Civil War and knowledge of the Sioux. Of course this provides Mann with an opportunity to show how a small group who should have no chance against a large tribe of Sioux warriors do because of smarts and organization. For my money Dan Duryea walks away with the film as Waco Johnnie Dean; he's cocky, smug, confident, and assured, very comfortable with his criminal status. Watch that left hand because Waco is a quick trigger. Steve finds this out all too well. Dean also takes Steve's lady although Lola doesn't seem happy about it. Before you know it, the rifle moves from Dutch to a lowly trader (when you trade rifles to "Indians", there's no lower lifeform in those days according to cowboys and gunslingers) who learns the hard way that trading with Sioux comes with a heavy price, to Steve (because the Calvary troop "doesn't deserve such a fancy rifle"), to Waco, to Dutch, with the fate of its ownership determined in a final showdown with McAdams. Most of my favorite moments have Stewart and Mitchell discussing the journey, their friendship, the reasons to continue to Tascosa, where the mission to retrieve the Winchester and the revenge so important to McAdams supposedly come to a head. Their chemistry and use of cowpoke slang, the camaraderie that exists; you just feel like these two would go to the ends of the earth for each other. It takes loyalty and care to follow a man with one goal that is to kill a man. Both know why and we only learn the whole truth at the very end; it's quite a revelation. Mann doesn't fail to stage quite a shootout between McAdams and Dutch, either, the two (Dutch perched higher on a mountainous cliff, due to the head start, bearing down on McAdams, stuck in the more uncomfortable position yet smarter than his adversary who wastes bullets) engaged in quite a firing session. The compositions (large spaces used to supreme effect to follow action in front of us and far away at a distance) within the setting are impeccably shot and richly presented. Mann knew how to tell a good story and present it in style and grandeur most rewarding on an aesthetic and cerebral level...a master craftsman. To have the quality of an actor like Stewart only enhanced Mann's legend.