Chisum is a Western movie made in 1970, directed by Andrew V. McLaglen and starring John Wayne. It is loosely based on the Lincoln County War, a conflict between ranchers in New Mexico Territory in the 1870s.
Wayne plays John Chisum, an older, established Cattle Baron in New Mexico Territory in the late 1800s. His rival, Lawrence Murphy (Forrest Tucker), plans to establish a monopoly, and is buying up all the stores and property he can get his hands on. When Murphy's Hired Guns start stealing Chisum's cattle, Chisum is forced to take action.
Tropes in this film include:
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Discussed by Chisum, when he urges Billy not to pursue a relationship with Chisum's niece Sallie.
- Artistic License – History: While being one of the earliest Westerns to try and tell an accurate version of the Lincoln County War, it does play with the facts.
- Tunstall - like other movies - is portrayed as an older gentleman instead of the 24-year-old he really was.
- In real life, the U.S. Army got involved during the final shootout at McSweens store.
- Murphy dies during Chisum's cattle stampede in this movie, but in real life he died of cancer a few months after the shootout.
- Artistic Title: The opening credits consist of a series of oil paintings depicting Chisum's Cattle Drive to New Mexico. It doubles as Backstory.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing:
- Murphy is introduced apologizing to a rancher whom Dolan has rudely refused water to, voicing a logical sounding reason for his actions, and then offering to buy Chisum a drink when he helps the man. However, he's a ruthless Cattle Baron obsessed with killing or ruining anyone in his way.
- Evans is initially happy to see Billy, talking about "old times." However, it quickly becomes clear that he's an active outlaw who robs and kills good people without a trace of remorse.
- Bittersweet Ending: Murphy and most of his gang are killed, ending their criminal empire and avenging Tunstall's death. But Billy the Kid ends up a remorseless killer, setting up a future where his friend Pat Garrett will have to hunt him down...
- Bookends: The film begins and ends with Chisum on his horse, overlooking his lands from the top of a hill.
- Bounty Hunter: Dan Nodeen is introduced collecting the bounty on a nasty Mook who broke out of jail, having killed the man offscreen. However, he quickly ends up taking sinister jobs from that mook's employer.
- Cattle Baron: John Chisum, Lawrence Murphy, and Henry Tunstall.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Murphy. It's indicated he is more than lost once Chisum and Murphy start competition in the business and banking realm.
- Demoted to Extra: All of Billy's gang members besides Tom and Charlie only join the gang in the final act and are played by extras despite several real-life gang members who get name-dropped having prominent roles in the range war from the beginning in reality.
- Duel to the Death: Pepper predicts that Chisum's conflict with Murphy must eventually come down to this. He's right, of course.
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- One of Brady's deputies briefly looks uncomfortable when his partner guns down an unarmed Tunstall.
- Nodeen shows some slight distaste for his slimy employer (refusing to drink with him) and also seems to care about more than the Pragmatic Villainy that Murphy is showing when he orders Sue to get away from the final gunfight after she leaves Alex's store.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Murphy thinks that being as ruthless as Chisum justifies his corrupt practices, disregarding the reality that Chisum plays by the rules and would rather avoid violence unless provoked.
- Fastest Gun in the West: Billy the Kid.
- Historical Domain Character: Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett.
- Historical Hero Upgrade:
- While their degree of villainy in real-life is contestable, Billy's friends Tom O'Folliard and Charlie Bowdre are honest Tunstall cowboys instead of hardened gunmen, only outright join Billy after seeing how he is being hunted by an Inspector Javert, and decline Billy's offer to keep riding with him once the war is over and the Big Bad is dead.
- Historical Villain Upgrade: Applies to Murphy, to some extent.
- Honest Corporate Executive: Chisum and Tunstall go into business to compete with Murphy running a general store and a bank.
- Hunter Trapper: Pat Garrett was a buffalo hunter before he was hired by Chisum.
- I Own This Town: Murphy attempts to achieve this.
- It's Personal: Dan Nodeen is hired to find Billy the Kid, but he's also in it for revenge against Billy, who injured him in a previous gunfight, resulting in a permanent limp.
- Men of Sherwood: Chisum's ranch hands fare surprisingly well against the Mooks in a couple of shootouts, given their status as fictional characters with little dialogue in a movie about one of the Wild West's most infamous range wars.
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: Tunstall is murdered after taking in Billy the Kid.
- Obvious Stunt Double: John Wayne was very disappointed that his stunt double was so obvious in the final fight with Forrest Tucker.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Murphy's store manager and crony, Dolan, repeatedly bullies a Mexican customer and calls him a "greaser" at one point.
- Railing Kill: When Chisum and Murphy fight, Murphy is thrown off a balcony through the railing, to his death.
- Redemption Failure: Billy the Kid is taken in by Henry Tunstall, who believes he can give up his outlaw ways, but when Tunstall is murdered, Billy goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against Tunstall's murderers.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Billy the Kid does this after Tunstall is murdered by Lawrence's men.
- Running Gag: Pepper muttering under his breath, and Chisum trying to goad him into repeating.
- The Rustler: Murphy's men repeatedly try to steal cattle from Chisum and Tunstall. It doesn't end well for them.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Both Evans and Nodeen try to flee town in the climax, as Chisum and The Cavalry arrive. Only the latter man succeeds.Sheriff Nodeen: I resign. No more paydays around here.
- Sidekick: James Pepper.
- The Trope Kid: Billy the Kid.
- Trigger-Happy: In an Establishing Character Moment, Billy the Kid is sitting in a pasture reading the story of Cain and Abel from The Bible. When he gets to the part where Cain kills Abel, he stands up, whips out his revolver, and blasts a nearby cactus to smithereens.
- Violence is the Only Option: Chisum, Tunstall, and McSween try to find legal, nonviolent solutions to Murphy's aggressions, but they all fail.
- We Used to Be Friends: Evans and Billy used to ride together, although any remaining friendship is one-sided on Evans' part.Repeated line by either Evans or Billy: Ain't like old times.
- Worthy Opponent: Discussed by Chisum when he tells Sallie about White Buffalo, a Comanche chief who fought him over the land. Chisum notes they respected each other as brothers...and Chisum can't help feeling sadness at the passing of White Buffalo's way of life, with the chief reduced to living on a desert reservation. He still brings beef and supplies to the chief, and defends him against abrasive Army officers.
