Hired gun Billy (James Groom) and brothers Casey (Tom Nolan) and Dallas (Duncan Casey) pull off a bloody bank robbery in the town of Bath Water.

They head out of town, Dallas badly wounded, a partner dead on the street back in town and a posse on their trail.

Casey decides they’ll split up in an attempt to lose the posse. He’ll head in one direction with the gold and try to get the posse to follow him.

Billy, who left the bank empty handed, will head in another with the wounded Dallas as part of a simple agreement.

If Billy gets Dallas to the rendezvous point — an old mine — alive, he’ll get a share of the gold. If not, he’ll get a showdown with Casey.

They make it to the mine only to find a waiting posse left by Sheriff Noone and three would-be bank robbers — Annie, Jessie and Cassidy — who are being blamed for a holdup they didn’t commit.

Review:

One of the first signs of a low-budget Western is a lack of horses. In this film, the bandits ride out of town, but quickly decide to elude the posse on foot (huh?).

Strange thing is, the posse opts to head off into the wilds on foot too!

Fortunately, there’s a clever plot with Spaghetti overtones, lots of blood-letting and lots of snarling performances.

Perhaps too much of the blood-letting, and all the blood can’t hide the lack of character development.

But, hey, that title winds up being pretty clever as well. Worth a watch for Western fans.

James Groom as Billy in A Fistful of Lead (2018)

Chris Rogers as Sheriff Noone in A Fistful of Lead (2018)

Directed by:
Marc Price

Cast:
James Groom … Billy
Tom Nolan … Casey
Duncan Casey … Dallas
Chris Rogers … Sheriff Noone
Kaitlyn Riordan … Jessie
Emily Andrews … Annie
Jordan Kanner … Cassidy
Phil Deguara … Limey Joe
Marcus Shakesheff … Swain
Christian Patterson … Mr. Mulgrew
Daniel Hawksford … Mr. Johnson
Richard Sandling … Johnny Romford
Charlotte Mounter … Mrs. Timms

Runtime: 86 min.

Tom Nolan as Casey in A Fistful of Lead (2018)

Duncan Casey as Dallas in A Fistful of Lead (2018)

Memorable lines:

Sheriff Noone, in wake of bank robbery: “I don’t know ’bout y’all, but I need to get out there and riddle them bitches with lead.”

Bystander: “They blasted their way out of town, sheriff. They shot Donaghan. I think he’s dead.”
Sheriff Noone: “You think?”
Bystander: “Pretty sure. His head’s a foot away from his body.”

Sheriff Noone: “The audacity of it. Robbin’ our bank. On a Sunday. Before church.”

Billy, about Casey: “That son of a bitch is so crooked, he could swallow nails and spit out corkscrews.”

Cassidy: “People do all sorts of strange things when money gets involved.”