winchester 73 mark the first of a series of western involve james stewart and director anthony mann . a in most of them stewart hero have an violent edge that threaten to explode at any time . the title refers to a one in a thousand rifle that be up for competition at a rifle shoot hold in dodge city on july 4 and 1876. into town come lin mcadam ( stewart ) and his sidekick high spade ( millard mitchell ) who be on the trail of dutch henry brown ( stephen mcnally ) for a past dastardly deed . they arrive just in time to see marshal wyatt earp ( will geer ) run saloon girl lola ( shelley winter ) out of town . it turn out that dutch henry be also in town for the rifle shoot . lin and dutch henry shoot it out for the coveted prize with lin win but dutch henry robs lin of the gun and escape . lin and high spade trail dutch henry across country where they encounter lola with her cowardly beau steve miller ( charles drake ) hold up in a u. s. cavalry camp await attack by the indian lead by young bull ( rock hudson ) who have acquire the prize rifle by murder wily gun runner john mcintyre . he have get the weapon by cheat dutch henry at poker . young bull be kill during the attack and the gun pass to steve . meanwhile and back at the ranch and lola and steve meet up with notorious gunman waco johnny dean ( dan duryea ) who kill steve and take the value rifle and lola for himself . when dean meet up with dutch henry and he allow him to take back his gun planning to murder him later . in the town of tuscosa and lin kill dean a dutch henry plan of hold up the bank go bad and he escape into the hill with lin in pursuit . in one of the best final shoot out ever and the two meet in the final showdown . i believe that this movie be the only one of the stewart or mann collaboration that be shoot in b and w. it be beautifully photograph and especially the scene in the wide open space and in particular and the final showdown . stewart play against type and play the hero with a violent revenge motive edge and an emotion that he would carry into future film with mann . a in most universal western and this one boast a cast of seasoned veteran and contract player of the day . in addition to those mention above and j. c. flippen appear a the cavalry sergeant and steve brodie and james millican and john doucette and chuck roberson a various henchman and ray teal a the sheriff pursue duryea and tony curtis and james best a rookie soldier and edmund cobb and chief yowlachie and john war eagle in various role in the dodge city sequence . a classic western in every sense of the word . it be responsible for re generate stewart career a an action star .