Death of a Gunfighter

In the turn-of-the century Texas town of Cottonwood Springs, marshal Frank Patch is an old-style lawman in a town determined to become modern. When he kills drunken Luke Mills in self-defense, the town leaders decide it's time for a change. That ask for Patch's resignation, but he refuses on the basis that the town, on hiring him, had promised him the job for as long as he wanted it. Afraid for the town's future and even more afraid of the fact that Marshal Patch knows all the town's dark secrets, the city fathers decide that old-style violence is the only way to rid themselves of the unwanted lawman.

Cast

Richard Widmark Marshal Frank Patch

Lena Horne Claire Quintana

Carroll O'Connor Lester Locke

David Opatoshu Edward Rosenbloom

Kent Smith Andrew Oxley

Jacqueline Scott Laurie Mills

Morgan Woodward Ivan Stanek

Larry Gates Mayor Chester Sayre