The Rifleman is a 2020 American historical war drama from co-directors Fergus Smith and Gray Crowther-Burton. Set during the American Revolutionary War, it builds a biographical portrait of Timothy Murphy, a rifleman whose marksmanship at the Battle of Bemis Heights became part of that conflict's lore. The film runs 104 minutes and streams on K-Time with a Persian dub.
What is The Rifleman about?
Rather than surveying the war from the top down, The Rifleman narrows its focus to one soldier. Timothy Murphy is a rifleman, and the film frames his story around the fighting at Bemis Heights, the engagement with which his name is most closely linked. The approach is biographical: the drama is less concerned with the sweep of a campaign than with what the battle looked like from the position of a man whose job was to pick a target, hold steady and fire. The film keeps that ground-level perspective throughout, with a historical figure rather than a composite character at its centre.
About the cast
The cast is headed by Aaron de Vasquez, with Richard E. Vernon, Travis Bingham, Rupert Henry Smith, Finley Jones, St. John West, Marius Clarke and James Askrigg completing the principal company. Because the listing does not map actors to specific roles, the names are given here in billing order. Smith and Crowther-Burton share the directing credit.
Context & significance
The American Revolutionary War was fought between Britain and its North American colonies and ended with the establishment of the United States. Riflemen held a distinctive place in that conflict: unlike the smoothbore muskets carried by most infantry, the long rifle was accurate at far greater range, and its bearers were generally used as skirmishers and marksmen rather than in the close-order line. Bemis Heights is remembered as one of the engagements in which that precision shooting had a visible effect, and Timothy Murphy's name has long been attached to it. For viewers in the Persian-speaking diaspora, the film's Persian dub removes the language barrier for anyone who prefers to follow the dialogue in Farsi.
Watching The Rifleman on Ktime
The Rifleman is available to stream on K-Time. Reading this page is free; to press play you need to sign in with a K-Time account. The title carries a Persian dub, so Farsi-speaking viewers can watch without subtitles, and the whole K-Time interface is available in Farsi for the Iranian diaspora.