The sniper (1950)

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Movie
German title the sniper
Original title The gunfighter
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1950
length 85 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Henry King
script William Bowers ,
William Sellers
production Nunnally Johnson
music Alfred Newman
camera Arthur C. Miller
cut Barbara McLean
occupation
synchronization

The sniper , also known as sniper Jimmy Ringo (original title: The Gunfighter ), is an American western by the director Henry King from 1950 based on a story by André de Toth .

action

Jimmy Ringo, an aging gunslinger in the Wild West, rides into a small town and is insulted in the saloon there by a young man named Eddie who wants to show off to his friends. The bartender points out Ringo's dangerousness to the young show-off, but that is precisely the reason for him to challenge Ringo. Ringo ignores the insults and lets himself be invited to a whiskey, but Eddie tries to quarrel and pulls out his revolver. Ringo is faster and shoots the young man in self-defense. In the saloon he was unanimously confirmed that Eddie pulled first and Ringo was right. But being right does not prevent him from being attacked by Eddie's three brothers. Ringo doesn't want any more trouble and leaves town, but is followed by the brothers. With a feint, he easily succeeds in disarming the brothers and robbing them of their horses. So you have to be on foot and he gets a big head start in the event. Eddie's brothers still want to pursue Ringo in the next town.

When he arrives in Cayenne, he wants to see Peggy, with whom he has a son, and meets the sheriff Mark Strett. As it turns out, Strett and he were brothers in arms in raids. Strett managed to start a middle-class life because he got out in time and was not as famous as Ringo and is happy with it. Despite the friendship, Strett wants Ringo to leave the city again, because word of his presence has got around and is causing increasing unrest. The boys in town skipped school to catch a glimpse of Ringo. Ringo asks Strett to ask Peggy, whose son is now eight and whom he only saw as a baby, if she would like to see him. He would be satisfied with any answer and, once clarified, would leave town immediately. Strett seeks out Peggy, who has since become a teacher: She asks about Ringo's well-being and looks, but doesn't want to meet him.

While Ringo waits in the saloon, the situation in the city comes to a head without any action on his part: the youthful village bully and would-be gunslinger Hank wants to compete with him, a women's initiative demands to remove the "murderer" Ringo from the city, and in that In the building opposite the inn, an elderly man named Marlowe lies in wait with a rifle to shoot Ringo. Marlowe believes rumors that Ringo was once involved in a shootout in which his son died - now he wants to avenge his death, although Mrs. Marlowe criticizes his vindictiveness. Meanwhile, the bartender Mac, whom Ringo likes each other, is happy that Ringo has made his saloon famous and that the onlookers bring him big business.

Hank finally enters the saloon with the revolver belt fastened low and is initially ignored by Ringo, who is sitting at the table, but does not let up. Finally, the young man can no longer be ignored and Ringo explains to him that he has already drawn his revolver under the table and pointed it at him. Hank leaves the saloon and later curses Ringo as a coward. When he has left the saloon, Ringo puts his hands on the table and it turns out that he had done nail care with his knife under the table. Ringo is later nearly shot when he steps out of the parlor's patio door, but at the last moment he sees Marlowe's gun barrel flash from the building opposite. Ringo leaves the saloon through the back door and can disarm Marlowe without violence in his room. He arrests Marlowe in the prison cell and explains that he could not have been involved in the death of his son because he was never at the scene of the shooting.

When Ringo wants to leave the sheriff's building again, the women's initiative comes in. A humorous confrontation develops with the leader of this group, Mrs. Pennyleather, and Ringo as well as the Sheriff Strett, who later joins the group. Ringo takes a very charming and serious approach to the concerns of the women who finally demand that after the one hour negotiated waiting time he can be shot "like a dog" by the sheriff. When Sheriff Strett casually reveals Ringo's identity, the women flee the building in horror.

Strett has to tell Ringo that Peggy, who wants to protect their son, doesn't want to see him. Ringo accepts this and gets ready to leave. Then he meets a friend from earlier days, Molly, whose husband and friend Ringos has been shot without his knowledge and who now works in the saloon. Molly, who is still close friends with Peggy, then persuades Peggy to meet Ringo. At the meeting of the former couple it becomes apparent that both are still in love with each other. Nevertheless, out of consideration for her son, Peggy does not want to leave the village with Ringo immediately. They decide to meet again next year to possibly plan a peaceful future together. Ringo can see his son alone, they quickly find a warm relationship with each other without Ringo revealing himself as his father.

The brothers of the shot Eddie bought horses on the way and therefore arrived earlier than Ringo expected. They are ambushed. The deputy, however, recognizes the ambush of the brothers and disarms them non-violently. Happy about the prospect of having a future together with his family, Ringo mounts a fresh horse to leave the city as quickly as possible. At this moment Hank jumps out of his hiding place from behind and shoots immediately after he shouts: “Who is faster, Ringo?” - Ringo manages to turn the horse and pull his revolver, but is badly hit and can no longer target the shot. The dying Ringo untruthfully explains to the people around him that he himself would have pulled first and that Hank would have been faster. Full of pride in his supposed brilliant deed, Hank does not understand, despite the clear explanation of the dying Ringo, that this has condemned him to lead a restless life under constant threat. Meanwhile, Peggy prevents her son from running to the dying Ringo and continues from the scene, battling her emotions.

The whole city is gathered at the funeral service, so that the people still have to stand in front of the full church. Peggy explains that she is Mrs. Jimmy Ringo and sits in the front row as a wife with her son, who now knows that Ringo was his father. The film closes with the silhouette of Ringo riding in front of the sunset.

background

The title character of Jimmy Ringo is very loosely based on the historical Johnny Ringo . In dialogues, reference is made to Wyatt Earp again and again in order to underline Ringo's dangerousness. Darryl F. Zanuck , at the time studio boss of 20th Century Fox , was so impressed with the script that he was convinced that it would create a classic of the genre like Ringo . In the end, according to Norbert Grob , the first essayistic western emerged, “which shows and rethinks at the same time, presents and explains: with a protagonist who acts how he has to act - but at the same time makes it clear again and again how hated him This is".

Grob also stated: “The camera avoids wandering into the distance. It only indicates which space surrounds the hero (as the space of the possible) in order to then concentrate on the narrowness of the drama in the center (as the space of the necessary). At the same time, she addresses the tension between departure and skepticism, between new beginnings and resignation ”.

Reviews

For the film service , The Sniper was a "character study by Gregory Peck in an atmospherically dense and brilliantly staged Western that is wrongly in the shadow of Zinnemann's 12 noon ". Time Out also conceded a few similarities to the film, which appeared two years later, at 12:00 noon , but found that the tone of The Sniper was even harder and darker. Peck played "flawlessly" a then revolutionary characterization of a gunslinger as an aging, lonely man crushed by his reputation. The rest of the cast are also convinced that camera work and direction are “outstanding”. In the way that the characters are predetermined in their fate, The Sniper is reminiscent of Fritz Lang's films and has the “true dimensions of a tragedy”.

Awards

André de Toth , who wrote the script for the script, was nominated together with William Bowers for an Oscar in the category Best Original Story. The Writers Guild of America also nominated Bowers and William Sellers for Best Western Screenplay.

synchronization

The German dubbed version was created in 1953 at Alster Studios Synchron GmbH Hamburg under the dubbing direction and based on the dialogue book by Hans Harloff .

role actor Voice actor
Jimmy Ringo Gregory Peck Paul Klinger
Peggy Walsh Helen Westcott Eva Pflug
Sheriff Mark Strett Millard Mitchell Heinz Klevenow
Molly Jean Parker Eva Böttcher
Mac Karl Malden Gert Niemitz
Deputy Norris Anthony Ross Horst Beck
Mrs. Pennyleather Verna Felton Annemarie Schradiek
Mrs. Devlin Ellen Corby Katharina Brauren

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Certificate of Approval for The Sniper . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , August 2011 (PDF; test number: 50 79V V).
  2. ↑ Norbert Grob : The sniper / sniper Jimmy Ringo. In: Bernd Kiefer , Norbert Grob (ed.), Marcus Stiglegger (collaboration): Filmgenres. Western (= RUB . No. 18402). Reclam, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-15-018402-9 , pp. 137-141, here 139.
  3. ↑ The sniper. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  4. ^ The Gunfighter. Accessed January 7, 2020 (English).
  5. ↑ The sniper. In: synchronkartei.de. German synchronous index , accessed on May 22, 2017 .
  6. ↑ See synchrondatenbank.de