GUNMAN'S WALK

Special Features: New 4K Restoration

Directed by Phil Karlson, who excelled with hard-hitting film noirs like 99 RIVER STREET, KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL and THE PHENIX CITY STORY, from a screenplay by Frank S. Nugent (THE SEARCHERS), GUNMAN’S WALK is a surprising and psychologically complex western, critically incisive on its themes of violence, patriarchy and racism, while incorporating elements of Oedipal drama and Shakespearean tragedy for good measure. Arizona rancher and land baron Lee Hackett (a masterful Van Heflin) accumulated his wealth and stature during a more lawless time, and while his past — possibly dirty — deeds are now sublimated into legend, his reputation as a man not to be crossed remains intact. Lee’s moody son Ed (Tab Hunter) acts out in anger and impulsiveness, but his messes are always cleaned up and accommodated by the local townsfolk, who fear his powerful father. Lee indulges Ed’s transgressions, imagining them to be just the high spiritedness of a man of action like himself, and judges his polite and caring younger son Davy harshly by comparison. Davy’s budding romance with the half-French, half-Sioux Clee (Kathryn Grant) and Ed’s rivalry with her brother Paul (Bert Convy) set into motion tragedy, scandal and a final reckoning that will shatter Lee’s world and how it is ruled. DIR Phil Karlson; SCR Frank S. Nugent; PROD Fred Kohlmar. U.S., 1958, color, 95 min. NOT RATED

Run Time: 95 Minutes

Opening Date: Saturday, August 29, 2026

Genre: Western

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