Gunfighter's Moon
Gunfighter's Moon
PG-13 | 01 May 1997 (USA)
Gunfighter's Moon Trailers

A notorious gunfighter returns to his ex-wife, who only wants him to save her sheriff husband from being killed by gunmen out to free his condemned prisoner.

Reviews
FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.
Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%
Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.
Gatto Nero What can I say? This is one of my favorite films of all times! Never has there been a more perfect role for Lance Henriksen then as legendary gunfighter, Frank Morgan. His stone-cold stare face, his low-baritone voice, and his way of moving is quite a show to see. You can just feel how tired he really is trying to "prove" how fast he really is with all these young fools who want to become a 'legend' by seeing if they can outdrawing Morgan in a gunfight. He answers the call of an old flame, Linda Yarnell played nicely by the beautiful but stern Kay Lenz. She fears for her new husband,Jordan Yarnell (played by the good David McIlwraith) who is acting as a stand-in sheriff. Trouble is Jordan with his trigger-happy deputy Spud Walker (played by the at that time hunk, Ivan Sergei) are guarding a prisoner named Jack Morris (played funny-like but great by Dave 'Squatch' Ward) And his 'kin' His cousin, the evil and very fast on the draw, Walt Shannon (played excellently by Brent Stait) are coming to come and bust him out. I like how Stait portrayed Shannon. He oozed evilness in a vampire-like way! He is accompanied by two shady character like himself. The silent but mean-looking Indian, Julio (played nicely by Byron Chief Moon) and the shaky, nervous, Boise (played by the ironically real-life gun-draw expert Thell Reed!) The climatic buildup to the gunfight showdown at the end, is to me the best I have ever experienced! I can re-watch it over and over and never get tired of watching it!I will mention the rest of the actors who made an impression on me was the great character actor James Victor as the simple-minded,humble and abused Juan Acosta who Morgan defends and stays with on his stay in the town. They have a great scene I liked where Acosta who works at the bar as basically as a slave to Tom the bartender (played by the wide-eye John Payne) accidentally breaks some glasses and Tom makes Acosta get on his knees and humiliates him in front of Morgan. Frank doesn't like that and makes Tom get on his knees and humiliates him in front of Juan! Acosta says he will be beaten after Morgan goes but it will be worth it because he saw Tom on his knees and "A man on his knees , is half a man" Next is the beautiful and sexy Yareli Arizmendi as Rosa, Morgan's current squeeze that he drops in a flash as soon as he hears that former flame and the love of his life Linda beckons for him. Poor Rosa, she feels used but she truly cares about Frank. Yet because of Rosa, Frank doesn't kill one of the Landon brothers and that costs Frank very badly later on.To me the most shady and lying character is Linda! She lies to everyone! She never tells her husband Jordan the real reason Frank Morgan is there. She loves Jordan so much she beckons for Morgan to come and fight Jordan's fight since Morgan is a true gunfighter and Jordan is not. He is just a plain storekeeper way over his head. And the worst is she never told her daughter, Kristen (played by the cute Nikki Deloach) that Morgan really is her father! She had told her that her real father was a civil-war hero who died years earlier. She told the same 'lie' to Jordan who raised Kristen as his own anyways because he loves Linda so much. And Frank realizes that Linda loves Jordan so much, that she is willing to even go with Frank after it's all done, if he just stands in for Jordan when the bad guys come to town for the showdown. Wow.In the end, the only character who truly cared for Morgan , was the dog! (played excellent by "Harley" the dog) Harley played 'himself' so good that he reminded me of another excellent dog, The "Dog" in Mad Max 2:The Road Warrior. That dog you may remember was an Australian Cattle Dog or "Blue Heeler", as it's known in its native land. The beautiful story behind the Mad Max dog was that ,it was retrieved at a local pound where he was scheduled to be 'put down' the next day. The production's animal wrangler (trainer) found that the dog could be easily trained for the film. After the film was done, it found a home on a local ranch. This dog, Morgan's, seems to be like a dingo-like dog. So I'm thinking , they have some excellent dog actors in Australia eh?!
cengelm The film opens with a sunset and a red sky and there are riders who ride in slow-motion. This is quite unusual because normally it's the way a Western ends and rides are often accelerated by fast-motion. Soon we are in a Mexican-lead barroom where the superhero (a good Lance Henriksen as a squint-eyed Eastwood lookalike who looks almost as old as Eastwood himself in the nineties) is challenged by some minor gunslingers. Later he enters the town where the husband of his former love is a replacement sheriff because the real sheriff got killed by badmen. Surprisingly he also meets his daughter who doesn't know about this fact. A strange relationship with contradictive feelings develops. What could be a good drama is mostly hurt by the contrasting cartoonish Western cliché inserts. All that is related to the Old West lacks credibility here. The characters as presented feel way to modern. They just try to be Westerners. Recommended to those who are deeply interested in Westerns. There weren't that many made in the nineties.5 / 10
VanSulli I first saw this movie on a cable movie channel about six years ago. I only caught the last half of the movie, but I loved it so much I searched the TV listings and would watch it every time it came on. I would set my alarm for 2 or 3 AM, whenever it was scheduled, Finally I was asked what I wanted as a Christmas gift. The only thing I could think of was Gunfighter's Moon! When I received it, I was thrilled. I have watched it so many times that I have lost count. It never gets boring or old. It is a classic. Lance Henriksen was incredible as he portrayed Frank Morgan. I found myself "caring" for Morgan as he went through a range of emotions and conflicts. The only thing I am disappointed with is there was no sequel - I wish Gunfighter's Moon 2 had been considered and released. Maybe it will be. This movie has it all - love, struggles, gunfights, hard men and Lance Henriksen with an incredible smile.
helpless_dancer I liked this one ok even though it was filled with overzealous actors who either paid no attention to their director or this manager offered no direction at all. The facial expressions and body movements were so overdone as to be hilarious. The one player who had any experience with gun handling was relegated to playing a loser who couldn't even draw his piece without breaking it open and spilling out the rounds. The biggest drawback to this film came when the seriously wounded gunfighter left his sickbed and hobbled off to exchange lead with 3 blood hungry thugs. No way, Jose. I thought we were going to be hit with a 'Shane' moment there at the end but, thankfully, it never came to pass. At least there were no hay bales laying around as there are in many westerns. Fun but dumb.