Anthony Mann's Winchester '73

The hallmark of Mann's style is a mobile camera, moving fluidly with the action, its pace and direction dictated by the drive of the character.
----Jim Kitses, Horizons West


Winchester '73 was the first Western Mann made with James Stewart and was followed by four others, all with plots of suffering, revenge and family struggles.  Whoever it was that said the best movie would have exteriors by Anthony Mann and interiors by Nicholas Ray was probably not thinking of this film, which is in beautiful black-and-white, with exquisite cinematography by William Daniels, who was Garbo's favorite cameraman (Ninotchka, 1939).  Mann and Daniels beautifully cover the different light at different times of the day, as well as the dust of Dodge City and arid landscape around it, with a lovely emphasis on men riding with backlighting by the sun.

Using many effective character actors -- from Will Geer as Wyatt Earp to John McEntire as an Indian trader and Jay C. Flippen as a grizzled cavalry sergeant -- Mann captures the desolate and dangerous beauty of the post-Civil-War West as Stewart chases his brother, the man who shot their father.  There is a certain amount of historical context included, with references to President Grant and Buffalo Bill Cody as well as the recent Battle of the Little Bighorn (the film takes place in the summer of 1876).  Stewart is not only after his brother, he is also after the "perfect" Winchester '73 rifle that he wins in a 4th of July shooting match and then is fought over and eventually ends up with Dan Duryea, who shares the villain role with Stephen McNally.

Stewart's ferocious role as Lin McAdam began a series of new roles for Stewart, as he played neurotic heroes for Mann, Hitchcock, John Ford and others throughout the fifties and early sixties, reflecting the mood of America at that time as effectively as Dennis O'Keefe and others reflected the late forties in Anthony Mann's films noir of that period.