Wichita

Wyatt Earp comes to Wichita for business; he does not want to be a marshal, he wants to trade. The town makes its money from the cattle drovers, and for that reason nobody interferes with their excesses. When a stray bullet kills a child one night, Earp takes the badge and makes his first decision: no guns inside the town limits. The business people say it will end the trade, and the real conflict comes from there. Jacques Tourneur directs. Joel McCrea plays Earp. What interests the film is economics rather than the duel. The disagreement between the man who brings the law and the merchants who called him asks directly whose interest order serves. Tourneur is known for his horror and film noir work, and in this western too he works more in the night scenes than the day ones; the streets of the town are nearly always in shadow. It was shot in colour and CinemaScope, among the first films in which Tourneur used the wide frame. The narrative does not build the Earp legend; the hero is cold, not talkative, and liked by nobody. Vera Miles and Lloyd Bridges are in the cast. Who it is for: viewers who like mid fifties westerns and the cinema of Jacques Tourneur. Who it is not for: it is short and the characters are thin, and for anyone wanting action the gunfights are few and scattered.