The Master Gunfighter (1975)

An outnumbered swordsman/gunfighter tries to prevent wealthy landowners from annihilating local Indians.

Director:

Tom Laughlin (as Frank Laughlin)

Writer:

Tom Laughlin (as Harold Lapland)

Stars:

Tom Laughlin, Ron O'Neal, Lincoln Kilpatrick

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe.

Cast

Credited cast:
Tom Laughlin	...	Finley
Ron O'Neal	...	Paulo
Lincoln Kilpatrick	...	Jacques
Geo Anne Sosa	...	Chorika
Barbara Carrera	...	Eula
Victor Campos	...	Maltese
Hector Elias	...	Juan
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
James Andronica	...	Abel
Richard Angarola	...	Don Santiago
David S. Cass Sr.	...	McDonald
Patti Clifton
Doug Jinks	...	Cowboy ruffian
Mike Lane	...	Frewen
Burgess Meredith	...	Narrator (voice)
Carmencristina Moreno

Storyline

An outnumbered swordsman/gunfighter tries to prevent wealthy landowners from annihilating local Indians.

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Plot Keywords:

juarez mexico | mexico | guitar | street shootout | shootout on a beach | 

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Taglines:

He Fought Like an Army, and Lived Like a Legend.

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Genres:

Drama | Western

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 October 1975 (USA)

Also Known As:

El pistolero

Filming Locations:

Big Sur, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$3,500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Billy Jack Enterprises

Technical Specs

Runtime:

121 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film begins with the words "Billy Jack Rights Presents" appearing on the screen. This relates to Tom Laughlin and Delores Taylor's production company, Billy Jack Enterprises. After the prologue narration, it is followed two minutes later by "Billy Jack Enterprises Presents", which starts the opening credits. Neither means this film is in the "Billy Jack" series of movies.

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Connections

Remake of Goyôkin (1969)

User Reviews

Even more brainless than the usual Tom Laughlin film

This movie apparently takes place in pre-Civil War California and everybody rides horses instead of Harleys, but other than that it's a typical Laughlin film, except even dumber. Laughlin plays a guy who is trying to save local Indians from being sold into slavery. It's difficult to figure out who exactly the bad guys are, because Laughlin kills whites, blacks, Mexicans, Indians, rich, poor . . . in fact, he blows away just about everybody (in the name of justice and equality, of course). Laughlin's idea of conveying anger (the only kind of emotion he shows in the picture) is to grit his teeth, talk slow and appear to be constipated. He carries an odd kind of shotgun/pistol (which didn't exist at that time, but why quibble...) and a samurai-type sword and proceeds to use both on everyone within eyesight. Fred Williamson, usually a reliable actor, also conveys a lot of anger, but it's probably directed at his agent or whoever got him to agree to do this movie. The story bounces around and goes off into every tangent possible, the "acting" is generally atrocious, the photography at times is so dark it's hard to see anything. Laughlin was apparently trying to make an "anti-Western", but in one respect he falls back on a bit that a lot of B westerns did: he manages to fire a limitless number of rounds from a six-shooter without reloading. Then again, maybe it's supposed to be an early version of a machine gun; that would make about as much sense as anything else in this picture . . .