I've rewatched this one a lot over the last few years, but had to check out the new transfer and what a gorgeous release. Of course there's also more meat to pull from this deceptively-slim, philosophically-weighty film. It's an atypical western in many ways, starting with a multitude of de-romanticized ("no glory" as Drucker says) scenes or talk of people killings others outside of fair fighting practices, not abiding by a written or unwritten code. Whether it's the man planning to snipe Ringo or the melancholic recounting of an old friend’s husband getting shot in the back of the head, the actual mutually-cognizant showdowns exist side-by-side with passive blindsided murder, and even the reciprocally-conscious forced-draws aren't consensual between parties. The most haunting death is the one told in story by the widow, because she, Ringo, and we all sit in confusion, impotent to find any 'reason' for this death- a rare move for a western that lives by clear character motives for some kind of logic, even in killing. The way that conversation shifts from horrifying unknowability to meditating on the life of Peck’s child as he asks questions about him, complements two polar sides of this milieu: brutal meaningless death and warm meaningful life.
I've also become more mindful of just how incredibly provocative Ringo is throughout the film, using his bitter tongue as a weapon because he knows his hands can back it up. He plays the part of being resistant to showdowns, but his killer-label is still a core part of his identity at this point, so what appears to be an attempt to retreat from it isn't necessarily the case.
Only once he meets his son does he have a desire to change, but the man we see for a bulk of the film is in this purgatory stage, torn between a part of him that wants to get away and a part that clings to all he has left: an egotistical sense of purpose in warped heroism -as noted by how he asks first about whether his son admires his reputation as a “hero”(!)
I still think this is an optimistic film, as I outlined in posts upthread, and the best example of a western that takes the recovery model of rehabilitation and applies it to the genre’s fundamental themes, because it doesn't define success based on uncontrollable outcomes of a long and happy life post-change, but an internal one of actualizing personal meaning regardless of how much time you have left.
