User Reviews

Being shot in black and white does not hurt this film. Actually it makes it more striking, not the usual post card color we're used to seeing in films shot in these familiar locations. It has a number of actors who while familiar also do rather good work. Even the quintessential New Yorker Harold J. Stone comes across as a rather threatening outlaw, especially when his face is half in shadow and Strother Martin does quite a nice bit as a town drunk. Audie and his frequent co-star, Charles Drake, are a couple of roving cow hands who fall in with bad company and pay a harsh price for it.

In some senses this seems like a throw back to some of the hard edged Westerns of the 1940's. Audie's character at times seems like the one honorable fellow in the story. All the other characters have weaknesses and flaws, but even Audie at a couple points commits less than honorable acts - shooting a horse in one scene and in another I think he shoots a bad guy in the back.

Overall this is interesting and even a little thought provoking. Glad I found it.

Since my teenage years Audie Murphy thrilled me with those B westerns, this one just come out, totally restored, the plot is a bit unusual and creative, two friends Audie Murphy and Charles Drake just arrived in the town, a drunk Drake lost his money on gambling, and sent to stay all night long hold by chains and iron neck collar, together with a dangerous Lavalle's gang, at sunrise they run away, invaded the bank and Drake stolen 12.000 dollars in bonds, Lavelle make a deal with Drake, leave him to change the bonds by money and bring back to save Murphy's life, nothing happened as planned, so Murphy offer himself to do it, even being a low budge this picture is very interesting, Charles Drake had a decent acting, Lavelle a rough guy played by Harold J Stone is fabulous as gang's leader, the old girlfriend of Drake called Estelle (Kathleen Crowley) was introduce in the middle of the picture and seems a girl without heart, great picture for a B movie standards, a bit short indeed, in the final scene stays a doubt, Murphy gives back the money??

Resume:

First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.5.

The really like this movie, it reminds me of Six Black Horses ( my favorite Murphy movie): Now to be fair, I like most Audie Murphy westerns, but this was something different. thanks to Kathleen Crowley ( Estelle). She was rotten in the very beginning, taking money that Chris (Murphy) needed to save his friend, but why did she? Greed? No, being rotten? NO. It was getting back her younger sister who she had to give up, and she was so beaten down and used she had no trust for anyone. What you see from her is character growth, that she can finally start to trust again ( something Chris points out to her). Character growth always improves a movie. Do Chris and Estelle end up together? Of course, but it is well worth watching, 8/10 stars.

SYNOPSIS: Mistakenly shackled to a chain gang in the border town of Adonde, Chris and Bert are forced to steal securities and escape with a bandit named Lavalle who holds Chris hostage whilst Bert converts the securities into cash.

COMMENT: Could be improved by trimming. 79 minutes is too long for a "B" anyway and Showdown will cut down to around 64 minutes with ease. Getting rid of a lot of that dull dialogue - all directed in an extremely dull fashion, mainly in close-ups - not only improves the pace but focuses attention on the movie's best features: namely, its smartly handled action spots (all set against striking natural terrain), its tightly edited shoot-outs and whip-cracking special effects. The basic plot is overly familiar, but it's laced with enough action to please the fans. All of it freshly staged too, - no stock material. Acting just gets by. No performances stand out, and alas, Miss Crowley (in a key role) is unable to make her abrupt change of character convincing. Characterizations tend to be one-dimensional anyway, though the script does try to fill in a bit of background for Drake and Crowley. But the subsidiary people are very sketchily treated indeed. Production values benefit from a good deal of actual location lensing. Technical credits are slick, if undistinguished. However, unlike Universal's previous Audie Murphy releases, Showdown was photographed in black-and-white. It's possible - as Variety's critic observed - that "color could have made a stronger impact."

Prolific western director R.G. Springsteen helmed as many as 40 sagebrushers during his long 50 year career in Hollywood. He made one other western with Audie Murphy entitled "Bullet for a Badman" with Darren McGavin. Essentially, "Showdown" is nothing to shout about as far as westerns go. This Universal International Release was filmed in black & white rather than color to conserve on costs. Clearly, producer Gordon Kay must have been obsessed with the bottom line to shoot a sagebrusher in color in 1963. Westerns should always be lensed in color, unlike contemporary crime dramas in urban settings. The Lone Pine, Alabama Hills setting isn't as in black & white. As an 80-minute oater, "Showdown" qualifies as entertaining enough despite its offbeat hostage narrative. Ric Hardman spent most of his career writing for television westerns, such as "Cheyenne," "Sugarfoot," "Lawman," "Laredo," "Rawhide," and Murphy's own "Whispering Smith." The dialogue keeps the plot moving, but it isn't especially memorable. The cast is better than average, with Harold J. Stone, Skip Homeier, L.Q. Jones, Strother Martin, and Dabs Greer. Audie Murphy plays his usual, straight-arrow, good guy hero, while Stone makes an abrasive adversary.

Charles Drake and Murphy co-star as a couple of drifters who share nothing but hard luck. They get themselves tangled up with a murderous outlaw, Lavalle (Harold J. Stone of "These Thousand Hills"), scheduled to hang, when they ride into the town where he is being held captive. Their predicament is rather unsavory. Bert Pickett (Charles Drake of "No Name on a Bullet") and Chris Foster (Audie Murphy of "The Unforgiven") get into a saloon brawl after Bert gets liquored up and loses at cards. The local authorities arrest them for disturbing the peace. The most interesting thing about this conventional oater is the jail where our heroes end up spending the night. You see, the town marshal has driven a beam into the ground on main street. This set-up resembles a grim maypole of sorts with chains and neck collars. Each inmate wears a metal collar around the throat, and they remain outside when a deputy maintains surveillance. Although I've seen all the major westerns as well as lots of B-movies, I've never seen prisoners shackled to a pole in the middle of main street. This is the kind of thing you'd be more apt to see in a colonial adventure instead of a dusty western. Anyway, Lavalle plans to escape before dawn and strong arms our heroes into joining in the digging to uproot the beam.

Eventually, Lavalle and his henchmen are able to uproot the beam and wield it as a battering ram to smash in the door of an office where guns are kept. They shoot it out with the local authorities and manage to escape. Things get messy when the treacherous Lavalle agrees to turn loose Pickett if he promises to bring back the $12-thousand that he wired to a dance-hall girl, Estelle (Kathleen Crowley of "The Quiet Gun"), but Bert tries to escape to save his own neck. After his henchmen round up Pickett, Lavalle sends Chris Foster (Audie Murphy) to get the loot. At the same time, Lavalle has two gunslingers Caslon (Skip Homeier of "The Gunfighter") and Foray (L.Q. Jones of "Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid") accompany him on his quest. Not surprisingly, Estelle refuses to help Bert out by giving the money to Chris. Along the way, Chris frustrates the two gunmen who followed him. As it turns out, Bert has been telling tales as Estelle reveals. By the time that he gets back to Lavalle's camp, matters take a turn for the worst. Caslon shoots Bert in the back, but Chris evens up the score later.

Nothing memorable, the generically entitled "Showdown" is worth a glance. Meantime, it would have looked better in color.