Yul Brynner is a commanding
presence in Richard Wilson's Invitation to a Gunfighter, a Stanley
Kramer production set in New Mexico just at the end of the Civil War. Brynner
is Jules Gaspard D'Estaing, a half-Creole, half-black gunfighter, hired
by the town boss Sam Brewster (Pat Hingle) to kill Matt Weaver (George
Segal), a soldier who has just returned from the war. When Weaver, who
fought on the Confederate side, finds that his house and farm had been
auctioned by Brewster as "enemy property", he guns down the man who had
"acquired" his farm and stole his girlfriend Ruth Adams (Janice Rule).
Now the town wants payback and hires a self-appointed dispenser of instant
justice.
Nattily dressed in a black
suit and a ruffled white shirt, Jules is the strong, silent type, equally
adept at playing poker, reciting poetry, and playing the harpsichord as
he is engaging in "work and play" with his guns. He is well paid to finish
the job but soon discovers that his prospective victim may be more honest
than those who are joined against him. Although he makes the statement
that he is no longer human, Jules' actions prove otherwise as he develops
a sympathy for Weaver, becomes attracted to Ruth, and finds aid and comfort
with the Mexicans in the village who have been shunted to the outskirts
of town by the corrupt bosses. When Jules, seething with frustration, goes
on a drunken rampage and nearly destroys the town single handedly, Sam
makes a truce with Matt to get rid of the mysterious stranger and the showdown
is set.
Yul Brynner turns in a
compelling performance as the son of a slave who wants justice more than
another payday. While there is a tendency in many films to glorify murderers
for hire, we can relate to Jules more as a flawed human being with a troubled
past than as a cold-blooded killer. Unfortunately the other characters
are not as well developed and George Segal seems miscast as the vengeful
war veteran. Janice Rule is lovely but is given little to do except stand
around and look pensive. The less said about the musical score the better.
Suffice to say, it did not add to the pleasure of watching this film. Being
a Yul Brynner fan, however, I found Invitation to a Gunfighter a
satisfying experience, a film whose themes of racism and interracial love
were advanced, even for 1964 when consciousness about civil rights was
exploding.