10 · 24 · 23 Henry King's THE GUNFIGHTER Presented as Part of the Mexico Imaginario Section at the 21st FICM Share with twitter Share with facebook Share with mail Copy to clipboard Gustavo R. Gallardo The film The Gunfighter, by filmmaker Henry King, was presented at the 21st Morelia International Film Festival (FICM), as part of the director's retrospective in the Mexico Imaginario section. Imogen Sara Smith The film tells the story of reformed gunfighter, Jimmy Ringo, who is headed to a quiet town in hopes of reuniting with his girlfriend and the young son he has never seen. Upon his arrival, a chance encounter with some old friends gives him a break. But Jimmy's reputation haunts him, this time in the form of three vengeful cowboys and a local gunslinger who hopes to use Jimmy to make a name for himself. Chlöe Roddick, the festival's programmer, said the section screens films shot in Mexico by foreign directors, which has made it possible to feature movies by Sergey Eisenstein, John Ford and John Huston, among others. Afterwards, Roddick introduced writer Imogen Sara Smith who gave more in-depth comments on The Gunfighter and the work of Henry King. "This 1950 film is one of the most radical films made in the post-war era and stripped away all the trappings of the western mythology, thus revealing a much darker truth. In this case, the cycle of senseless violence that arises from the worship of westerns' favorite archetype in movies: The gunslinger; the quickest of them all," Smith explained.
