The Showdown

Wild Bill Elliott plays the mysterious loner out to solve the murder of his brother. The identity of his brother's killer was less mysterious to this viewer than to Wild Bill. It was fairly obvious before the film was half way over who did the dirty deed. But who cares when one is being treated to the acting of Wild Bill, Marie Windsor, and Walter Brennan. Elliot's serious, stoic stage presence was perfect for dark films like this. Too bad better directors failed to recognize his potential. Windsor and Brennan provide strong supporting characters.

Artistic Western? That one reviewer must have been hitting the Hoppy Juice a bit too often. I guess he thinks any Western that's not a clash over water rights is "artistic." This piece of junk was obvious from the start (Surprise? You thought the girl did it?)

Also "the cast was excellent , including Elliot?" He was stiffer than the oak tress in the background. I guess I can't take too much "Art" in my Westerns. Give me "Stagecoach" anytime.

The Showdown. Bill Elliot. Was old Elliot Wooden School of Acting Guru a regular Republic leading man? Why was Walter Brennan playing that type of character at that point in his career?

This could have been an excellent western movie had they not tried to be so cheap in production. Instead of filming on location with vaulting mountains and wide open scenes, we are left with filming on a back lot with very little scenery and projected background landscape. And with such gifted actors in most parts it was puzzling on why they put stiff actor Bill Elliott as the lead man. I know he has played the lead in many B-westerns but with the cast of actors in this film, he stood out like a sore thumb.

But passing on Elliott's mannequin performance, the rest of the cast seemed to flow effortless and made the story entertaining to watch. There was a few spots hard to watch but overall this film provided enough interest throughout to keep the viewer on the edge of the seat right to the end of the movie. Was actually expecting very little from this movie but was pleasantly surprised. This is a film that you ask yourself, What could have been?

Too bad budget-cutting Republic pictures spent all their money on the script and cast of this surprising little sleeper. It left them none for badly needed location shots, or failing that, at least to improve on some of the poorly done process shots. Note the number of times the horsemen stand statically in front of a backscreen projection instead of riding across a natural scene These cost-cutters count here, because otherwise this is an unnoticed little gem not usually expected from the likes of Saturday-matinée Republic. The script is excellent with a number of surprises, and holds interest throughout. The main cast (Elliot, Brennan, Windsor), along with supporting players (Morgan, Williams, Ching) are as good as could be expected from the major studios. Only Nacho Galindo's buffoonish comic-relief suggests Republic's usual fare. Actually, this is a noir Western produced at a time when film noir dominated many urban crime dramas. The atmosphere here, especially the stormy opening scene, reminds me of the fine Bob Mitchum Western, Blood on the Moon, which also made good use of brooding night-time sets. Then too, Elliot's revenge-obsessed "bad good-guy" strikingly anticipates Randolph Scott"s running character in Budd Boetticher's cult Westerns of the late 1950's. Anyway, this is a surprisingly good little drama, despite the shortcomings.

The Showdown is one unusual western product from Herbert J. Yates's Republic Pictures. It's a vengeance quest tale the kind of thing Randolph Scott would be doing in his westerns. Wild Bill Elliott, hero to many a kid for being Red Ryder plays a mean and vicious former state Texas policeman on the trail of someone who shot his brother in the back. The film also bears a lot of resemblance in the production values to the Dick Powell western, Stagecoach West.

The film opens with Elliott digging up his brother's body at the graveyard, an unusual enough opening for a western. 19th century forensics shows Elliott that his brother was killed, shot in the back with a derringer. It's the only clue he's got to the identity of the perpetrator.

Cattleowner Walter Brennan hires Elliott to drive his herd through to Montana. Elliott was a member of the Texas Police when Texas was under carpetbagger rule. The mostly ex-rebels who are Brennan's hands have a hate on for Elliott on general principles. He hires on because he's got reason to suspect his culprit will be on the cattle drive.

Take a look down the cast list and you'll see that we've got a treasure trove full of suspects, remembering the roles a lot of these people play in films. A few get killed along the way and are eliminated as suspects, some are eliminated by other means. I have to say that I guessed wrong myself as to the identity.

The Showdown teases you every minute of the film as to the identity of the murderer. Elliott schemes and searches his suspects for the owner of La Pistolita. In this great cast I have to say that one who stands out is Harry Morgan. He plays very much against type as a hot tempered young gunslinger, far from Colonel Sherman Potter of MASH as you can get.

When the identity of the killer is revealed the climax is in how it happens, how the individual meets his end and Elliott's reaction to same. The Showdown is a great example of blended genre, a western noir. It's a real crackerjack sleeper of a film and I think people who generally don't like westerns will gravitate to this film.