There is something comforting about Joel McCrea's version of Bat Masterson. Unlike Gene Barry's television Masterson, Joel is steady, non-flashy, and dependable, an aging gunfighter ready to settle down, if perhaps not with condescendingly religious Julie Adams, then with kind-hearted saloon owner Nancy Gates, who is as non-flashy and dependable as himself. McCrea runs Dodge City with an iron fist, daring the rabble-rousing cowboys to rabble rouse and letting his gun do the talking. In the end, The Gunfight at Dodge City is just as comfortable as its hero: a B-Movie, but a B-Movie with a heart, Cinemascope and Color by DeLuxe notwithstanding.