Winchester '73

Winchester '73 (1950) is the Universal western you can watch online on iFILM — and the film that set James Stewart on a decade-long run of darker, harder roles under director Anthony Mann. The two made five westerns together; this one came first.

Lin McAdam rides into Dodge City and wins a shooting contest, taking home a prized one-in-a-thousand Winchester rifle. His rival steals it and vanishes. Mann's clever structure follows the gun rather than any single man — the rifle passes through gamblers, traders, outlaws and cavalry soldiers, each handoff framing a different corner of the frontier. Stewart, meanwhile, pursues something that goes well beyond recovering a stolen object.

Beneath the chase plot is a study in obsession: a man who has turned a personal score into the whole point of his life. Rock Hudson and Tony Curtis each appear in early roles. Stream Winchester '73 (1950) online on iFILM.