TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Brainsbell The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.

classicsoncall I don't want to mis-characterize "The Master Gunfighter" as a bad film, but it will take some patience to sit through. With Tom Laughlin's name attached to the project, I wondered if there would be a Billy Jack sensibility to his character, and it didn't take long to find out. Laughlin generally shows his smug impatience with the bad guys by rubbing his face and head, allowing time to contemplate his next move, which usually involves shooting them, or utilizing a more novel touch, skewering them with the Samurai sword that's part of his arsenal. It might have been cooler to see him kick someone in the head. The cinematography takes a gorgeous turn every now and then though, with location shooting along the Monterey Coast, and if you enjoy this kind of natural beauty, Barbara Carrera's also part of the cast. Dedicated fans of Billy Jack will probably find the picture to be entertaining enough, for myself it was a B Western that didn't have to run two hours to get to the final showdown.

cyberian Tom Laughlin didn't have to stretch much for this role, to be sure, but as the previous poster said, Barbara Carrera alone is worth the price of admission. If you liked the Billy Jack flicks, you'll undoubtedly like this as well. If you like westerns, you'll like this too. It's a pretty solid performance, and Laughlin is surrounded by a good cast. This movie also has considerably higher production values than the first Billy Jack pictures. This is particularly noticeable in the cinematography, as well as the set design. One would suspect this is because by the time this was made, Laughlin was beginning to enjoy some degree of success and fame due to the buzz generated by the two previous Billy Jack installments.

billposer This film is set in southern California in the period shortly after California became part of the US. American settlers and the US government discriminated against the Mexican landowners and frequently took their land by force or legal skullduggery. This film focuses on wealthy Latino ranchers whose land and wealth are at risk. They decide to misdirect a US government ship carrying gold so that it will be wrecked and they can take the gold. To prevent themselves from being caught, they plan to massacre the local Chumash Indians. The hero is the now estranged adoptive son, a master swordsman (trained in Japan!) and gunfighter, who tries to prevent this while still saving his family. The plot reflects the sad history of double colonialism in California, the scenery is gorgeous (as is love-interest Barbara Carrera), and the action exciting.

wmat Let me say that I love Westerns and sword-play movies. Then along comes The Master Gunfighter. I'm sure there is a plot in there somewhere. But you owe it to yourself to see one of the worst movies ever. It was not made-for-TV, but a real, live in the theatre experience. People might have actually spent real cash to see this. Sad. The LeMat (pistol) actually existed as a .22 cal,with a .410 shotgun barrel, but was not introduced until the Civil War. A great many men carried Bowie knives at the time that this took place, but I imagine getting an actual Samurai katana would have been very difficult.