A viso aperto

When I sat down to watch the 1973 Western "Showdown" here in 2022, it was actually the very first time I have ever seen it. In fact, it was my very first time to ever have heard about the movie as well. Then again, I haven't really been harboring much interest for the Western genre before earlier this year.

So I have to say that I didn't have any expectations to writers Theodore Taylor and Hank Fine as I sat down to watch "Showdown". But I figured that since the movie had Rock Hudson and Dean Martin on the cast list, then I would most likely be in for something worthwhile.

And now having seen "Showdown", I will admit that this was actually a rather enjoyable and entertaining movie. Director George Seaton put together a very good narrative from the works of the writers, and the movie was actually good from beginning and right up to the end. So, it was definitely a movie well-worth sitting down to watch.

"Showdown" has a good cast, with Rock Hudson playing Chuck Jarvis and Dean Martin playing Billy Massey. They were really nicely cast for the leading roles. The movie also have some other familiar faces on the cast list, such as Susan Clark, Donald Moffat, John McLiam and Ed Begley Jr.

If you enjoy Western movies, then "Showdown" is without a doubt a movie that is worth watching, and it has that particularly enjoyable Western atmosphere to it. I was genuinely entertained by this movie.

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

I have always had difficulty watching Rock Hudson getting into physically grittier parts; somehow he just doesn't ever quite convince me - he is just a bit too "clean cut" to be seen in a muddy outfit, or be in a fist-fight... This film sees him as the sheriff ("Chuck") out on the trail of old pal Dean Martin ("Billy") who has - almost playfully - helped a gang of outlaws rob a train. Things start to go south shortly after that and soon Hudson is on his trail and a local posse is on the trail of them both! It's not the most complex storyline you will ever see, and the stars - alongside a rather feisty Susan Clark as Hudson's wife provide a nicely paced western adventure. Apparently the two men were a bit like rutting stags during filming, but it doesn't cross into the production - it's a decent, if largely forgettable, 100 mins.

Showdown is another version of the two buddies who take different turns in the road of life. It borrows elements from George Marshall's supremely enjoyable Texas which starred two very young players named Glenn Ford and Bill Holden.

The buddies here are Dean Martin and Rock Hudson. They're a little older than Bill and Glenn were. Rock Hudson is now a solid respectable citizen ranch owner, married to Susan Clark, and who also happens to be the sheriff.

Dino cleared out from the ranch they had and has been gone for two years so he doesn't know that Hudson is the new sheriff. Maybe he wouldn't have decided to rob that train with some very serious outlaw types. Unfortunately Dino was recognized and Hudson has to bring him in.

This turned out to be the last western film for both Dean Martin and Rock Hudson. Martin, starting with Rio Bravo in 1959, did a whole string of westerns of varying quality. But making them is hard work, a fact Dean discovered one day out in the desert heat making these films. The rest of his movies were done in modern dress.

Also for some reason two of the most agreeable stars to work with as attested to by numerous co-stars of both did not get along during the making of Showdown.

Yet this Damon and Pythias story is still good entertainment and nothing either Rock or Dean had any reason to be ashamed of.

I am quite satisfied by this western which looks very like an Andrew Mc Laglen's film from the early seventies; I mean a plot that sounds like a sixties scheme or late fifties but with the seventies melancholia touch. Nothing to do with Monte Hellman nor Sam Peckinpah's style, but it could be an Arnold Laven's film ; such as his ROUGH NIGHT IN JERICHO - with also Dean Martin as the villain, unlike FIVE CARDS STUD where he was the good guy and Bob Mitchum the bad one. Rock Hudson is better than ever here, totally different from his Douglas Sirk's films characters, not the handsome son in law anymore, but a rough, disillusioned and bitter, poignant man. Yes a good film to close a career, especially from a director for whom western was not the speciality. Donald Moffat in a very interesting supporting character, a villain, former ranch owner for whom we feel some empathy. In the Budd Boetticher - with Randolph Scott - manner...As Richard Boone in TALL T.

It may not be an amazing script, but the couple great actors of Martin and Hudson make it well worth the watch. It's a decent western, even if there's no great "action" to speak of. You won't find any memes from it, and it's not even really blog-worthy beyond the hour and a half of relaxing tv watching. Both Martin and Hudson play their parts in an understated way, which makes it more believable.

There's enough chemestry between Rock and Dean that they're comfortable to watch. There is some subtle humor here and there, and the story doesn't offend. Personally I enjoyed it, if you like westerns and buddies on opposite sides you may like it too.