6 Guns

Soo... What we have here. Typical low budget movie with typical western theme of revenge.

Action: You get your share of shootout, no worries about that. Though pace of the movie is slow.

Plot: 2 dimensional. Stereotypical. Nothing original.

Acting: Almost non-presented.

What we learn from the movie: 1) Sage Mears is beautiful. VERY beautiful. 2) She will never get an Oscar. NEVER. 3) To look as cool western hero, you must try to be as emotionless as possible and talk as little as possible, and never mind if time to time you look dumb because of that, instead of looking cool.

If you decide to watch this movie:

1) Ignore the plot holes. 2) Ignore all the pointless characters. 3) Lower your expectations to not be disappointed.

RELEASED TO VIDEO IN 2010 directed by Shane Van Dyke (Dick's grandson), "6 Guns" stars Barry Van Dyke (Dick's son) in a Shane-like role. The plot is pretty typical for Westerns: A band of outlaws murder & rape a family, but the wife (Sage Mears) survives and, after overcoming her disillusionment, wants justice. She eventually enlists the services of a taciturn bounty hunter (Barry Van Dyke) to teach her how to shoot. Meanwhile the outlaws are on the prowl.

"6 Guns" is a quasi-remake of Raquel Welch's "Hannie Caulder" from almost forty years prior, but lacks that one's comical edge. There are some obvious elements of other Westerns, like "The Bravados" (1958) and "Pale Rider" (1985), but what else is new?

Barry is notable as the laconic bounty hunter as he fits the role of the rugged loner to a 'T.' He's akin to Eastwood in the Leone trilogy, but is an actual human character rather than caricature. Geoff Meed chews up the scenery as the main villain with gusto; it's obvious why his men fear him. Mears is quite good as the female protagonist, convincing and winning the viewer's sympathy, while Erin Marie Hogan stands out as the ravishing brunette saloon babe, Scarlet.

The vibe is nicely realistic and the locations smack of harsh Western authenticity. All of this is topped off by a great score by Chris Ridenhour, which definitely perks the movie up and gives it class. In fact, the movie's worth watching just for the score.

I'm only giving "6 Guns" 6.5/10 Stars because, even though it's a solid Western, it's also low-budget and kind of standard. If I gave it a higher grade people might expect something better than what it is. Still, if you like an occasional Western this one's worthwhile.

I was surprised to discover that this was made by The Asylum, a film company notorious for releasing cheap knockoffs of major releases to steal some of their thunder. The Asylum has certainly put out some cartoony dreck (e.g. "30,000 Leagues Under the Sea" and "Mega Piranha"), but they can also surprise you with some worthy low-budget stuff (e.g. "The Land That Time Forgot" and "Grimm's Snow White"). "6 Guns" ranks with the latter.

THE MOVIE RUNS 95 minutes was shot in California (Spahn Ranch, Chatsworth; Paramount Ranch, Agoura; and Snegoff Ranch, Topenga Canyon). It's rated 'R' for the brutal murder/rape scene.

GRADE: B- (6.5/10)

you will love this movie IF and only IF you like bad acting and a movie set that was put up in the back of a home depot store.. all of the lumber was modern ..the best scene was the one in jail cell when you can see all the wafer-wood painted green.. all of the door knobs are bright brass..

and i loved the double acting hinges on the bars swinging doors the electric porch lights on all of the buildings.. the only reason i finished watching the movie, was to finish out my worst ten movies list.

What about these...?? WASHINGTON QUARTERS (minted in 1932) and ROOSEVELT DIMES (1946)...add to that the brand new JUMBO INDEX playing cards in the poker game.

This is a movie that could have garnered more accolades and bite - if there was time for the actors to do "multiple takes" of some scenes. The lead actor (Barry Van Dyke) was good but could have emoted a lot more intensity in some of his scenes with the lead actress. Barry was the perfect point man to make this movie "Better" than what was wrapped up. Greg Evigan could have turned up the juice too as he played a support to Barry's character. And the lead actress should have done some of her scenes with a lot more bite, fierceness and overall " I'm seeking REVENGE" quality to make her more believable than vulnerable. Typical story-line and plot-twist make it predictable and kind of fun to watch.

Sage Mears is a very attractive actress. One would think she might get better roles. She is really the only one worth mention in this straight- to-video western. With the exception of 3:10 to Yuma, I didn't even know anyone way still making westerns, but here we are.

There isn't a lot of great acting here, but how many westerns feature acting giants. It's the action you come for. There isn't a whole lot of that, either.

It's a revenge movie. The bad guy (Geoff Meed) kills her husband (Brian Wimmer) and two sons and his gang rapes her. She becomes the town drunk until the bounty hunter (Barry Van Dyke) arrives in town.

What happens next is not entirely believable, but it makes for a fairly good story. I can't say as much for the very end. That goes off into fantasy land.