Westworld Wiki
Advertisement


Sloppy with your drink?

–The Gunslinger to Peter Martin, trying to provoke a fight

The Gunslinger was a model 404/406 android and the main antagonist of the 1973 film, Westworld. He also appears briefly in the 1976 sequel, Futureworld. Played By Yul Brynner, the Gunslinger was designed to be the villain of the park. He is supposed to confront the guests by challenging them to participate in duels.

Biography[]

Background[]

The Gunslinger on the surface, looks like a tough cowboy, with a black hat covering his bald head. He wears a dark blue denim shirt and jeans covered by a black gun-belt with the holster on his right side. On closer inspection, the Gunslinger's eyes appear to have metallic-silver colored pupils. With his facial cover removed, it is shown that he has a tube behind his mouth so that he can consume drinks without 'short circuiting'.

Plot[]

Westworld[]

Gunslinger Westworld bar

"Sloppy with your drink?"

The Gunslinger is first introduced at a saloon where Peter Martin and John Blane attend during their first day at Westworld. Upon walking in he deliberately nudges Peter, making him spill his whiskey shot, while Gunslinger pours his own. He then criticizes him for being sloppy with his drink, to add insult to injury. After some goading from John, Peter challenges The Gunslinger to a duel and wins, prompting two other robots to drag The Gunslinger's bullet riddled body away for repair.

He appears a second time the morning after, confronting John at gunpoint while he is shaving. Peter, who just got back to the hotel after a bath, kicks the door in shooting The Gunslinger out of their bedroom window, prompting the sheriff of Westworld to arrest him for murder.

Gunslinger sparks

The Gunslinger succumbing to his damage.

The Gunslinger appears a third time, again in the morning to confront the two men. John, hungover and unaware of the computer virus spread all over the resorts, decides to challenge The Gunslinger to a duel and is promptly shot and killed. The Gunslinger then challenges Peter, who runs away from him, beginning the chase. The Gunslinger nonchalantly strolls in pursuit of Peter, trying to shoot him every chance he gets. While Peter gets his horse and flees, The Gunslinger also gives chase on his own horse prompting Peter to try to lose him in the canyons outside of Westworld. Peter tries to get the drop on The Gunslinger using his gun, but The Gunslinger, who could hear him breathing, manages to foil the surprise attack, causing Peter to ditch his gun and run. Peter comes across a Delos technician who tells Peter that acid can be used against The Gunslinger. Before the Technician can tell Peter more, The Gunslinger kills the technician and chases Peter into Roman World. Peter finds a sewer that leads him to Delos' inner workings and The Gunslinger follows him relentlessly. He shoots at Peter, but runs out of ammo. Peter hides among the deactivated robots and surprises Gunslinger by throwing acid into his face messing with his vision. Peter then leads The Gunslinger to Medieval World, where he uses the torches to burn him. The Gunslinger appears one last time as a charred machine barely able to reach Peter before it gives out and collapses exploding in sparks.

Futureworld[]

Gunslinger firing revolver Futureworld

The Gunslinger liberating Tracy from her captors

The Gunslinger makes an appearance in Tracy Ballard's dream while she is testing out a dream recording device. In the dream, Tracy encounters The Gunslinger while wandering through a mansion. While trying to flee The Gunslinger, Tracy is captured by a group of men in red garbs. The Gunslinger then breaks into the room where Tracy is being held captive and proceeds to kill all of Tracy's captors. The dream then switches scenes to a white room, where The Gunslinger lassoes Tracy. The dream sequence ends with The Gunslinger and Tracy making out.

Death[]

Destroyed By

While hiding from the pursuer, Martin stands under a torch to become undetectable since fire's temperature surpasses the one of his body. However, when The Gunslinger still figures him out, Martin shoves the torch in him, which, in combination with the acid, sets The Gunslinger on fire. He tries to resist, but the fire burns his insides.

Related Casualties[]

This list shows the victims The Gunslinger has killed:

Personality[]

The Gunslinger at first is portrayed as an arrogant, whiskey-drinking bully who goads human guests into gunfights with disparaging comments. Later in the film he becomes an emotionless and relentless machine who won't stop until his opponent is gunned down. On some level, he seems to enjoy killing humans - as shown when he kills John Blane in a duel and smirking at Peter when he challenges him next. It also seems he remembers every lost duel even before the malfunction; after his first fight he tracks down John and Peter in their hotel for a rematch.

Abilities[]

While The Gunslinger is similar to the other Delos robots, there are a few things he's capable of that separates him from the others.

Gunslinger thermal vision

Peter seen through the Gunslinger's thermal vision

  • Thermal Vision: After his second fight with Peter, the technicians fit him with a thermal sensor to work in tandem with his regular vision. With it he can track humans down, by following the heat signature left behind by their footprints. When Peter throws acid in his face, it destroys his regular vision causing him to fully use thermal to compensate. The flaw is that it only senses heat so torches could throw off his vision.
  • Advanced Hearing: Along with his thermal vision, the technicians increased his hearing sensitivity allowing him to hear better noises most human ears can't from certain distances. This was used when Peter tried to ambush him, but The Gunslinger caught onto his vantage point by hearing him breathe.
  • Liquid Consumption: Unlike most androids who can't consume liquids without short circuiting, the Gunslinger is equipped with a tube device behind his mouth so he can consume liquids, (specifically whiskey) so that he can play the part of a heavy-drinking and arrogant gunfighter.

Weapons[]

The Gunslinger has been seen with the following weapons:

  • Colt Single Action Army, Cavalry
  • Winchester Model 1873

Known Deaths[]

The Gunslinger apparently dies 2 times:

Appearances[]

Trivia[]

  • Black Knight is The Gunslinger's counterpart in Medievalworld (1973).
  • The term "Gunslinger" was not created until the 1950s, and was not used in the 1800s.
  • The Gunslinger's appearance was inspired by Yul Brynner's portrayal of "Chris Adams" in the film The Magnificent Seven.
  • The character has his own prominent leitmotif on the film's soundtrack, titled eponymously "The Gunslinger".
  • A Gunslinger-inspired robot, named The Gunfighter (played by Alex Kubik), appears in Beyond Westworld.[1]
  • In the HBO TV series, The Gunslinger is shown briefly in the episode "The Adversary", while Bernard is exploring Sub-Level B82.[2]
  • He shares parallels with several host and human characters in the HBO TV series, notably Hector (a black-clad feared outlaw, whom the guests can fight), the older William (attire, mannerisms, antagonistic role) and even Dolores (the exact same favored sidearm, Dolores' steely and ruthless resolve while under the influence of the Wyatt persona).

Gallery[]

The gallery below is automatically generated and contains images in the category "Images of The Gunslinger (1973)". Images added to that category turn up in the gallery after a short time.

Video[]

References[]

Advertisement