Today’s quick review: Invitation to a Gunfighter. In 1865, Confederate soldier Matt Weaver (George Segal) returns to his farm in New Mexico, only to find that local businessman Sam Brewster (Pat Hingle) has auctioned it off in his absence. When Weaver kills a man while trying to reclaim his farm, Brewster hires Jules Gaspard d’Estaing (Yul Brynner), an imposing gunfighter, to kill Weaver without a trial.
Invitation to a Gunfighter is a Western drama starring Yul Brynner. The story follows a tragic sequence of events as a returning Confederate soldier is ostracized from his Union-aligned town. Weaver’s reappearance strains the relationship between Ruth Adams (Janice Rule), his former fiance, and Crane (Clifford Davis), her alcoholic husband. It also leaves the fate of the town in the hands of Jules, a taciturn gunman with an unusual sense of justice.
The greatest strength of Invitation to a Gunfighter is its lead. Yul Brynner has a dominating presence that carries the early parts of the film. Jules effortlessly takes command of any situation he decides to get involved in, and the question of who he is and where he came from provides the film’s best hook. Invitation to a Gunfighter also scores points with a tangled cast of characters who are all flawed in believable ways.
However, Invitation to a Gunfighter has a hard time capitalizing on its strengths. The movie does not have a clear trajectory in mind, so it loses momentum around the halfway mark. Jules vacillates between hero and villain once or twice too often, and the best parts of his character are not fully explored. And while the finale does tie the various plot threads together, it does so by fiat, rather than as a result of careful planning.
Invitation to a Gunfighter is a Western with snatches of effective drama, but it ultimately does not live up to its potential. Viewers interested in small-town conflicts and morally ambiguous leads will find that Invitation to a Gunfighter has something to offer. But its story is neither as neat nor as compelling as it could have been, leaving the movie outclassed by Westerns that are better able to manage their tension.
For a more modern story about a veteran who finds himself at odds with the residents of a small town, try First Blood. For a sci-fi Western starring Yul Brynner, try Westworld. For a classic Western with better plot structure and similar nuance, try A Fistful of Dollars or The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
[6.3 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058238/). I give it a 6.5 for a talented lead, a promising setup, and a muddled ending.