The Shooter

When I stumbled upon the 1997 Western "The Shooter" here in 2024, I had never heard about it. And seeing that it was directed by Fred Olen Ray, I have to admit that I wasn't really harboring much of any grand expectations to the movie. But with it being a movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I opted to give the movie a fair chance.

Writer Tony Giglio put together a rather enjoyable script and storyline. It was pretty straightforward, sure, but I liked it.

The only familiar faces on the screen were leading actor Michael Dudikoff, and also Kane Hodder and Nils Allen Stewart. I have to say that Michael Dudikoff carried the movie quite nicely, and it was nice to see him in a movie such as this; one that wasn't the archetypical action movies he starred in earlier. I was surprised to see the likes of Kane Hodder and Nils Allen Stewart in the movie, despite it being in small roles only. But their presence was most welcomed, nonetheless. The acting performances in the movie were good.

If you enjoy Western movies, then I will say that this movie is actually worth watching. I was genuinely entertained throughout the course of the movie.

I will actually go as far as to saying that this is by far the best movie from director Fred Olen Ray that I've seen.

My rating of "The Shooter" lands on a six out of ten stars.

Where do I start? The hero should have learned to ride a horse before filming a western. Red lipstick marks on a persons back really don't look like whip cuts. Hats of that period didn't have modern metal ventilation holes and the style of saddles used were not developed until the mid 1900s. After firing about eighteen rounds, our hero finally had to reload his six-shooter and there was zero "kick" when revolvers were fired. What bad guy takes the time to tie the picture perfect rope noose to hang the heroin? Who knew all the "whores" out west were so attractive? I could go on. All in all,a very amateurish production.

Action, horror, sci-fi, exploitation director Fred Olen Ray shows he has some talent as a director. Character actor William Smith is one of the best tough/bad guys in the industry. He treats the viewer with the best acting performance of his career. As for Randy Travis he gives his best Lee Van Cleef impression. He's not bad in the film. Smith and Travis make the movie. As for the rest of the cast none of them really stand out. Ray did a great job directing this flick, Smith and Travis were good, I'd give this B western on a scale of one to ten(ten being the best) a seven.

Hell must be freezing over as Fred Olen Ray has made a good movie... In a career spanning 40 years and 167 movies, all of them bottom of the barell style bad. Movies so bad they make Uwe Boll's House of the Dead seem like Martin Scorsese made it in comparison.

The Shooter 1997 is the outlier to the 167. This was very good. A clear 6/10 movie but given the surprise of who made it. I gave it an 8.

Michael Dudikoff from American Ninja fame plays a lone gunslinger passing through town who hears a woman being assaulted on the outskirts and comes to her rescue, killing the five men attacking her in the process. It turns out one of the men he killed was the son of an infamous criminal, played by William Smith, who had been menacing and terrorising over the town. On hearing his son is dead he swears revenge on Dudikoff.

This film had a vibe similar to Clint Eastwoods High Plains Drifter, and I enjoyed every minute of it. It made me eager for more Michael Dudikoff westerns.

If Mr Olen Ray ever reads this review, please make some more Westerns as these seem to fit your style of direction.

Dudikoff stars as Michael Atherton a gunfighter and ex-union soldier, after stumbling across a woman being beaten by some no-good scum, Atherton naturally steps in and saves the girl(Valarie Wildman) and in the process finds himself targeted for vengeance by the family of one of the guys he killed and it's not long before Atherton is caught, beaten and almost killed, only to be saved by Wendy the girl he saved before, Atherton takes aim at taking down the family and does, however the sheriff has a vendetta, one that goes all the way back to the war in this far-better-than-you-would-expect direct to video western which features a decent story and Dudikoff in good form. This, The Silencer, Soldier Boyz and Virtual Assassin are the only watcahble movies from Dudikoff in the 90's. However where as Dudikoff is well suited to the role of a western, it's Randy Travis who ends up making the most impression and in turn steals the movie.

3/5 Matt Bronson