Badge for a Gunfighter

by Clair Huffaker

Book by Clair Huffaker

Genres: Westerns

126 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1957

About the author

Clair Huffaker was a U.S. author of westerns and other fiction, many of which were turned into films. His screenplays included such films as "Flaming Star" (1960), "The Commancheros" (1961), "Rio Conchos" (1964), and "The War Wagon" (1967). His TV scripts showed up on "The Virginian", "Lawman" and "Bonanza". Clair wrote screenplays for 3 Euro-westerns, "100 Rifles" (1969), "The Deserter" (1971), "Chino" (1973) and was thanked along with Sergio Corbucci in the 1995 film "Jonathan of the Bears" (1995).

He was married to Norma Lee Fink, a legendary attorney. Their daughter is Samantha C. Kirkeby, a prominent script supervisor who has worked on scores of big pictures including the “Pirates of the Caribbean” trilogy and “3000 miles to Graceland”.

Reviews

[Christopher Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid, enjoyable American frontier fiction.

A gun slick drifter is hired by a strong man in a small town to be his pet sheriff, because the man is charming and unknown in the area. He takes the job but over time finds that the job -- and a lovely young widow with her little boy -- change him over time.

Huffaker takes intersting premises and works them through logically and with believable events, although this one leans a bit more on standard western tropes than, say, The Cowboy and the Cossack. Its well written and interesting with well developed characters who tend not to fit the mold.

[Cws]

LP WHuf