Winchester '73

 Anthony Mann's "Winchester '73"


With the 1950 film "Winchester '73," actor Jimmy Stewart and director Anthony Mann started a collaboration that would last another seven films. The story centers on a cowboy, played by Stewart, in search of a prized rifle and a murderous fugitive. Mann shows us the journey of that rifle and the various ill-fated hands it falls into. 

While the film has a mild entertainment value, there wasn't much for me to chew on. I felt relatively bored by the film and its Western aesthetic seemed only that, an aesthetic. There does seem to be deeper themes that parallel a sort of Homer-esque odyssey through the late 19th century Old West. However, the film chooses not to expand on that theme and chooses the safer option of Western aesthetic entertainment value instead.



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