Winchester '73

Yes, around one weapon - which is indeed proper - it is possible to make a high-quality western with a plot that will captivate you and make you wonder who the weapon will pass on to next and what it will actually cause. James Stewart shows how suitable he is for every role that is given to him. Although it is true, I prefer him in westerns where he is even a bit older. (20.10.2014)

A top-notch spectacle ending with perhaps the best man-on-man shootout I've ever seen in a western. Making a rifle the central character was a bold and brilliant idea, but it certainly wouldn't have worked without the varied mix of characters that gradually own the Winchester. I didn't recognize Rock Hudson as the Indian chief, but James Stewart was nothing short of excellent. (24.12.2012)

This film is still fresh. Told in a brisk, modern way, I appreciate the idea that the main character is actually the rifle, which is here in the position of a kind of harbringer of bad luck to its owner, but I’m already somewhere else thanks to the trends of recent decades. I prefer the modern approach to westerns, first started by Peckinpah, but then mainly by Costner and Eastwood, who demythicize the Wild West, turn its age-old clichés on their heads, and don't treat the Indians as dumb Neanderthals with pigtails. Winchester 73 is still fresh in its modern filmmaking, but it’s also a surviving relic from the days of John Wayne and John Ford. (11.11.2020)