Gunfighters (DVD, 2000)

When I saw this DVD on e.bay, I had to have it.
The price was right, and given the subject matter; I figured I couldn't go wrong.

The cover is made up of one of the classic photos of Wild Bill Hickok that you often see, riddled with bullet holes. There are a couple of ivory handled, long barreled revolvers (crossed) at the top. Besides the title, "GUNFIGHTERS", there is also script on the cover describing the film. The back cover shows an arms set along with an open case.
All of this looks very good, and in fact the cover of the DVD (both sides) is very cool.

So far, great, and I just KNEW that this would be a fascinating documentary concerning Old West gunfighters such as Wild Bill Hickok, the James Gang, the Dalton Gang, Billy The Kid, etc. All of which are included, by the way, and there are a few more as well.

I started watching the film with anticipation but was sorely disappointed. What a letdown.

The whole movie screams "cheap".

First, the volume of the film shifted up and down, forcing me to constantly adjust the volume on the DVD player. Extremely annoying. Since I only watched it once; I'll give that a pass, on the offchance that my friend's DVD player was the culprit (but I doubt it).

The film (it barely qualifies as one, to be honest) consists of some historical photographs, some extremely grainy, almost unwatchable, re-enactment footage which seems to be lifted from another documentary (I've seen it before in the film it was apparently made for), and lots of footage from old Westerns, most of which is in pretty bad condition. These three items, along with voice over narration, and some odd, and at times inappropriate, music are what make up the film.

The narrator is not bad; but hardly outstanding. He sounds like someone who is being paid to do a job, and just wants to get it done. So, even though he has a good voice, the effect is not very satisfying. A few times, he almost or did run words together, which is very annoying when you're trying to follow a story.

Lastly, there is no separation between segments, or subjects. The narrator will be reading right along about Jesse James or whoever and all of a sudden you realize he is talking about the NEXT gunfighter. He finished with one gunfighter and went on to the next without even hesitating. Very unsettling and odd.


There are some interesting photos- some I'd seen before and some I hadn't. Some of them appear and reappear at odd times, though. In other words, a picture may be used appropriately the first time; but then shows up later on in a situation where it has little to no bearing on the subject at hand; making one suppose that the producers simply stuck it in there because they had nothing else to use.

The entire video is in Black & White. A great choice for Film Noir; but for this subject, not so great.

With a little more care and work (and perhaps a little more cash), this still wouldn't have been a great documentary; but I think it could have been significantly better. At least it was cheap.

The more I think about it, my impression is that this was done for the sole purpose of making money from Western History buffs and others -- with almost no regard for quality.