The Gunfight at Dodge City

After killing a man in self-defense, Bat Masterson slips into Dodge City where his brother Ed is campaigning for sheriff. When hired guns kill Ed, Bat's first instinct is retaliation, but the townspeople persuade him to take Ed's place on the ballot instead. He wins and swaps personal vengeance for the responsibilities of law, only to find authority brings new conflicts. As sheriff he has to weigh friendships, simmering grudges, and the town's demand for order. The plot follows how Bat tries to enforce justice without abandoning his sense of loyalty, and how his choices reshape the town's memory.

Directed by Joseph M. Newman, the 1959 Western was written by Martin Goldsmith and Daniel B. Ullman, and stars Joel McCrea as Bat Masterson with Julie Adams, John McIntire, Nancy Gates, and Richard Anderson, released through a major studio, notably.

It didn't make a major commercial splash on release, performing modestly within the crowded 1950s Western market rather than becoming a standout box-office success, and it largely faded into the steady stream of genre releases of the era, over time.

The film draws on the Bat Masterson legend and helped keep that lawman figure visible in popular culture during the late 1950s. It joined a string of town-focused Westerns that reinforced familiar images of sheriffs, shootouts, and moral dilemmas, and kept Masterson's name active among Western enthusiasts, inspired later portrayals.

Reviews were mixed, and its current average sits around 5.6/10 from a small number of votes. The film hinges on themes of law versus revenge, duty to community, and the costs of putting authority above personal loyalty. McCrea's steady presence and the town politics give modest dramatic weight and restraint.