Lance Henriksen gives a strong performance as a weary gunfighter in this western that promises more in terms of myth-busting drama than it finally delivers.
1877. Gunfighter Frank Morgan (Lance Henriksen) is sick of having to defend himself against young gunslingers who want to prove themselves against him. A telegram from his ex-lover Linda (Kay Lenz) takes him to Red Pine, Wyoming, where he is recognized and met with suspicion by the townspeople.
Most unsettled is shopkeeper Jordan Yarnell (David McIlwraith), who has been acting as temporary sheriff since a bank robbery attempt in which he helped capture murderous Jack Morris (Dave Ward). Morris is scheduled to be hanged, and Jordan fears Morgan has come to free him. No one knows of the
relationship between Morgan and Linda, who sent him away 16 years ago when she became pregnant. Morgan's hopes that he may have a new lease on life with Linda and daughter, Kristen (Nikki DeLoach), whom he has never met, are dashed when he learns that Linda only summoned him to help her new
husband--Jordan. Disgusted that, despite her hatred of his life, Linda wants Morgan the gunfighter and not the man she loved, he rides out of town. But an encounter with Kristen convinces him to stay.
Later, Morgan is badly wounded by the brother of a man he was forced to kill. When the townspeople learn that three hired guns are coming to free Morris, they want to release him. Jordan refuses to do so, and the townspeople tell him he'll have to face the gunslingers alone. The shopkeeper is all
the more determined to face this test of manhood because he feels intimidated by the stories Linda has invented for Kristen about her "real" father, a war hero. Still weak from his wounds, Morgan knocks Jordan unconscious and goes to face the gunmen. He kills two of them and, when the third tries
to surrender, shoots him too. As he rides away, Linda tells Kristen what Morgan had wanted to say to his daughter, that he is her real father.
Shown on cable TV in 1995 and released to video in 1997, GUNFIGHTER'S MOON is a perfect vehicle for Henriksen, whose strong, craggy features can simultaneously evoke fear and tenderness. The script touches on strong themes of the destructive nature of violence feeding on itself: Linda sends Morgan
away because she won't raise her daughter as the child of a gunfighter, yet invents a father, a war hero, whose imaginary (though glorified) violence has an equally destructive effect on her family. Unfortunately, these themes are mitigated by an ending that generally romanticizes violence as much
as any western: Morgan may be trapped in his life, but he is still a Hero. The script also errs in spending half an hour trying to keep us "guessing" about what is clear in the very first scene, that Morgan is not an evil man. GUNFIGHTER'S MOON is recommended primarily to western fans and for the
performance of Henriksen, an actor capable of much more than the villainous parts in which he is generally cast. (Violence, profanity.)
