Wichita

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Wichita

1955,

1h 21m,

Western

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100%

10 Reviews

Tomatometer

65%

250+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

100%

Tomatometer

10 Reviews

65%

Popcornmeter

250+ Ratings

After a group of drunken trail riders runs amok, Mayor Andrew Hope (Carl Benton Reid) of Wichita, Kan., recruits the intrepid Wyatt Earp (Joel McCrea) to end lawlessness. Armed and ready for anything, the new marshal decides he will end gun violence simply by banning guns. Soon Earp must face crooked rancher Clint Wallace (Walter Sande) and whiskey slinger Doc Black (Edgar Buchanan), vicious locals who like Wichita exactly as it is and don't take kindly to being told what to do.

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Richard Brody

The New Yorker

Mar 25, 2013

Daniel Ullman's script turns backroom political dealings into high drama; Tourneur's poised and lyrical direction elevates it to a sort of secular scripture.

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Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

Jun 25, 2005

Jacques Tourneur's first and best film in CinemaScope is also one of his strangest westerns.

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Grant Watson

Fiction Machine

Jul 25, 2025

7/10

This is a western in the vein of older, more naïve works, where the heroes are noble and principled, and the villains mean-spirited and untrustworthy.

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Sep 9, 2023

2.5/4

A fairly intelligent and moderately entertaining Western.

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Yasser Medina

Cinefilia

May 28, 2021

7/10

A simple and entertaining Technicolor western that, through rich panoramas captured in CinemaScope, revisits the myth of Wyatt Earp with a good role from Joel McCrea. [Full review in Spanish]

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Nathanael Hood

The Retro Set

Dec 28, 2018

8/10

...an astounding little Western.

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George R

Feb 10, 2019

Wichita is atop the top-shelf Westerns.

Harry S

Nov 6, 2018

Wichita is an amazing film. It is about Wyatt Earp who reluctantly accepts the Marshal's job after noticing the total lawlessness in Wichita in 1874. Joel McCrea and Vera Miles give fantastic performances. The screenplay is good but a little slow in places. Jacques Tourneur did a great job directing this movie. I enjoyed watching this motion picture because of the adventure. Wichita is a must see.

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Oct 29, 2018

You have to laugh how critics love a movie that the audience did not like. This movie was a disgrace to Wyatt Earp's name.

Abraham M

Aug 22, 2015

A little too stiff and contrived, but I did enjoy this different take on a younger Wyatt Earp.

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Jacques Tourneur

Director

Joel McCrea

Wyatt Earp

Vera Miles

Laurie McCoy

Lloyd Bridges

Gyp Clements

Wallace Ford

Arthur Whiteside

Edgar Buchanan

Doc Black

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Synopsis

After a group of drunken trail riders runs amok, Mayor Andrew Hope (Carl Benton Reid) of Wichita, Kan., recruits the intrepid Wyatt Earp (Joel McCrea) to end lawlessness. Armed and ready for anything, the new marshal decides he will end gun violence simply by banning guns. Soon Earp must face crooked rancher Clint Wallace (Walter Sande) and whiskey slinger Doc Black (Edgar Buchanan), vicious locals who like Wichita exactly as it is and don't take kindly to being told what to do.

Director: Jacques Tourneur
Producer: Walter Mirisch, Richard V. Heermance
Screenwriter: Daniel Bruce
Production Co: Allied Artists Pictures Corporation
Genre: Western
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 8, 1955, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 22, 2009
Runtime: 1h 21m

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