Invitation to a Gunfighter ** (1964, Yul Brynner, George Segal, Janice Rule, Pat Hingle) – Classic Movie Review 11,897

The 1964 DeLuxe Color Western film Invitation to a Gunfighter is directed by Richard Wilson, stars Yul Brynner and George Segal, and is based on a 1957 teleplay by Larry Klein shown on TV’s Playhouse 90.

Rebel soldier Matt Weaver (George Segal) returns  home to New Mexico from the US Civil War to find that the Yankee townsfolk, led by unscrupulous banker Brewster (Pat Hingle) have taken his farm and want to drive him out by hiring a mixed-parentage gunslinger, Jules Gaspard D’Estaing (Yul Brynner), who sets out to kill Weaver (Segal). A clever premise with some nice plot developments is undermined by too much talk and too little action.

But director Richard Wilson’s striking Western movie Invitation to a Gunfighter retains the attention, partly because of its credibility and partly through the interesting and involving performances from the fine team of Segal, Brynner, Hingle and Janice Rule, as Segal’s one-time fiancée Ruth, who is now married to another while he was away at war.

The cast also includes Brynner’s The Magnificent Seven co-star Brad Dexter, Alfred Ryder, Mike Kellin, Clifford David, Bert Freed, Curt Conway, Clifton James, Clarke Gordon, Arthur Peterson, Strother Martin, Gertrude Flynn, John A Alonzo, and William Hickey.

Made by Stanley Kramer Productions and released by United Artists, it was a hit, costing $1.8 million and earning $3.1 million.

The cast are Yul Brynner as Jules Gaspard d’Estaing, Janice Rule as Ruth Adams, George Segal as Matt Weaver, Alfred Ryder as Doc Barker, Clifford David as Crane Adams, Mike Kellin as blind Union vet, Brad Dexter as Kenarsie, Pat Hingle as Sam Brewster, Bert Freed as Sheriff, John A Alonzo as Manuel, Curt Conway as McKeever, Clarke Gordon as Hickman, Gerald Hiken as Gully, Strother Martin as Fiddler, Clifton James as Tuttle, Dal Jenkins as Dancer, Arthur Peterson, Gertrude Flynn, and William Hickey.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 11,897

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Kirk Douglas and Yul Brynner in Cast a Giant Shadow (1965).