FURY AT SHOWDOWN (director/writer: Gerd Oswald; screenwriters: Jason James/book Showdown Creek by Lucas Todd; cinematographer: Joseph La Shelle; editor: Robert Golden; music: Harry Sukman; cast: John Derek (Brock Mitchell), Nick Adams (Tracy Mitchell ), John Smith (Miley Sutton), Gage Clarke (Chad Deasey), Robert E. Griffen (Sheriff Clark), Carolyn Craig (Ginny Clark), Sydney Smith (Van Steeden, Banker), Ken Christy (Phelps), Tyler McDuff (Tom Williams), Tom McKee (Sheriff of Buckhorn), Frances Morris (Mrs. Williams), Malcolm Atterbury(Norris), Rusty Lane (Riley); Runtime: 77; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Iohn Beck; UA; 1957-b/w)
“Uninspired routine Western.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Uninspired routine Western that director Gerd Oswald(“Paris Holiday”/”A Kiss Before Dying”) shot in five days. Writer Jason James adapts it from the novel by Lucas Todd.
Volatile gunslinger Brock Mitchell (John Derek) is released from the Buckhorn prison after serving a year for killing a bully in self-defense and is intent on reforming. Back home in Showdown Creek, Brock partners with his younger rancher brother Tracy (Nick Adams) in an operation to provide services to the crews of the new railroad line to be built nearby. They have this golden opportunity because the friendly banker (Sydney Smith) lent the money to Tracy. The brothers will be partners with the cautious old-timer ranchers Riley (Rusty Lane) and Norris (Malcolm Atterbury), who trust Tracy but not his brother.
Sheriff Clay (Robert E. Griffen) doesn’t care for Brock and supports his daughter Ginny (Carolyn Craig ), who dumped him when he went to prison. The obnoxious lawyer Chad Deasey (Gage Clarke) hates Brock for killing his brother in the bar shooting and plans to get even with him by making sure Brock’s crew won’t get the lucrative railroad deal. Railroad agent Phelps (Ken Christy) must sign onto the deal for it to happen and he plans to take the stage to their hometown to meet them. But Chad sends Phelps a letter that keeps him in the nearby town of Gunstock, as he schemes to force the bank to collect on the loan without an extension and thereby killing the deal. But Tracy rides to Gunstock and gets the signature only to be bushwhacked on the trail back by Chad’s hired gun Sutton (John Smith). Though Tracy dies, the deal is saved and Brock guns down Sutton after he takes Ginny as a hostage and the sniveling Chad is arrested for ordering the killing.
Things seemed heavy-handed, the action scenes were unremarkable and the romance was so thin it seemed to hardly matter until the final shot when the star-crossed lovers walk to each other.
REVIEWED ON 4/10/2017 GRADE: C+
Dennis Schwartz: “Ozus’ World Movie Reviews”
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