George Segal returns to his town to find his girl, Janice Rule, the widow of a Yankee, and his family home in the possession of local banker Pat Hingle. He squats on the land, so Hingle persuades the town that this Johnny Reb needs killing, and they hire gunfighter Yul Brynner. Brynner is a New Orleans Creole, and he goes through a lot of philosophizing about freedom and suchlike stuff while the town -- and Hingle in particular -- waits for him to kill Segal; he doesn't seem to be in any rush.

Given the post-Civil-War setting, you'd think they could leave the moralizing about race relations to a very loud subtextual reading. This, however, is a Stanley Kramer production, which means that it's all on the surface, with Brynner wearing just enough makeup so that everyone will know he's Black. Whereupon, it's never mentioned again, and most of the people don't even seem to notice it when Brynner doesn't bring it up himself.

All of which. makes it clear that this isn't about subtext, but about current events of the 1960s, and it annoys me. First, I'm a great believer in telling a story and letting the subtext remain down below the surface. Second, it's an egregious case of Blackface from a producer who was quite willing to take on the subject of race relations. Was Sidney Poitier unwilling to take the role? Whatever the reason, it's rather clumsy.

A gunslinger with a compelling and unique brand of personal honor arrives in the town of Pecos, New Mexico Territory, apparently in advance of a citizen who was sent on a mission to find one. I'm not quite sure what the film makers were trying to achieve with the appearance of the Dancer (Dal Jenkins) arriving by stagecoach, but the town folk certainly wouldn't have got their money's worth out of that Don Knotts-like character. The guy was afraid of his own shadow.

Jules Gaspard d'Estaing (Yul Brynner) maintains that he's 'not human' while relying on a fast gun and an unusual insight into the human condition as he sizes up the residents of the small Western town. Hired to kill a returning Confederate soldier (George Segal) who threatens to shake up the existing order in the pro-Union town, 'Jewel' begins to realize that his intended victim has more integrity and courage than the folks who hired him. A not so subtle backdrop of racism against Mexicans in the divided town also works it's affect upon the Creole born gunman.

Personally, if I were handling the script I wouldn't have had d'Estaing resort to a drunken rampage to bring the town to it's knees. I feel he would have had a more forceful impact if he'd taken on the town head on. However I found the exchange between Jewel and the citizens kind of interesting. When the sheriff (Bert Freed) drew down on him, Jewel shot the gun out of his hand, but when Crane Adams (Clifford David) did the same, he was shot dead for his trouble. It made me wonder if Crane's shooting was fatal because of Jewel's professed love for Ruth Adams (Janice Rule),or whether the shooting angle provided no other way to defend himself.

I'm a little conflicted on Brynner's performance here. Perhaps because Jules d'Estaing was a conflicted individual himself trying to find his way in an unsettled West with a history of personal abuse and racism himself. I thought his characterization would have been helped if he took his own advice as given to Ruth Adams, and that was to smile once in a while.

A modest little matinée western with little in way of style with its methodical direction, but leading the way are the strikingly prominent performances from Yul Brynner, George Segal, Pat Hingle, Janice Rule and backing it up is a lyrically well-oiled script stringed to a customary, but accessibly gripping premise that patiently builds upon its unfolding situations.

A confederate solider Matt Weaver returns back to his small town after the civil war to find out his home has been sold by the dominating town boss Sam Brewster. Causing a ruckus, Brewster hires the interestingly mysterious gunfighter Jules Gaspard d'Estaing to take care of Brewster; however Jules gets caught up in the devious shades of a town run by corrupt figures.

The way the story pans out is thoughtfully projected and the framework delivers it in an unconventional manner with some psychological interplays. The way the steely protagonist uses the situation to gain what he wants and hand out much needed justice within the shameful town simply holds you there. It's literally chatty, but never does it outstay its welcome. A sternly defined Brynner is outstanding (as the camera magnetically follows him around) and likewise is a booming Hingle. When the action/shoot outs occur they're rather sparse, but toughly staged despite its obvious studio bound sets.