Border Shootout (1990)

Cody Glenn is Kirby Frye, a young cowboy given the job of deputy in the town of Randado when he brings in two men suspected of rustling. But being sheriff of this town won’t be an easy chore.

The town leaders are fed up with Harold Mendez, their ineffective aging marshal, and with the strong arm of Sheriff John Danaher (Glenn Ford).

And young Phil Sundeen (Jeff Kaake), son of the richest rancher around, is running roughshod over everyone.

He and the other town leaders decide they’ll make their own law and, at Sundeen’s urging, the two suspected rustlers are hanged while Frye and Danaher are out of town.

There’s a good reason for that move: Sundeen has been helping rustle his own dad’s beef for sale to the cavalry.

But Kirby Frye takes his new job quite seriously and the older lawman isn’t quite ready to surrender the town to the no goods.

In fact, Danaher and Frye just might wind up finding a couple of other rather unlikely allies.

Glenn Ford as Sheriff Danaher in Border Shootout (1990)

Cody Glenn as Kirby Frye in Border Shootout (1990)

Review:

Simply put, this is a grade Z mess. Ford was 74 when the film was made and looked it, making the scene where he fights three cavalrymen and wins downright laughable.

Charlene Tilton, at the tail end of a starring role on the TV show “Dallas,” is the mail-order bride to a much, much older man, but hops in bed with Sundeen every chance she gets. Until he’s shown for what he really is. At which point she realizes she really should return the affection of the really, really old man.

There are a couple of Indian scouts thrown in for good measure, a couple of crooked cavalrymen, a mysterious gunman (Clay Jordan) who changes sides at the perfect moment and a slow-motion gunfight at the conclusion.

Bottom line: A sorry affair for Ford’s last Western outing. In spite of his top billing, his role here is secondary. He would appear in just two more films.

Jeff Kaake as Phil Sundeen in Border Shootout (1990)

Charleen Tilton as Edith Hanasain in Border Shootout (1990)

Directed by:
Chris McIntyre

Cast:
Cody Glenn … Kirby Frye
Jeff Kaake … Phil Sundeen
Glenn Ford … Sheriff Danaher
Charlene Tilton … Edith Hanasain
Russell Todd … Clay Jordan
Michael Ansara … Chuluka
Sergio Calderone … Juaquin
Michael Forest … Earl Beaudry
Sam Smiley … R.D. Tindal
Don Starr … Haig Hanasain
Michael Horse … Dandy Jim
Ed Gable … George Steadman
Michael Ansara … Chuluha
Danny Nelson … Harold Mendez

Runtime: 90 min.

Don Starr as Haig Hanasain in Border Shootout (1990)

Russell Todd as Clay Jordan in Border Shootout (1990)

Memorable lines:

Sheriff Danaher: “You don’t seem too concerned about what’s going to happen to you at Fort Waychuka.”
Indian prisoner: “I am a valuable scout. They will do nothing. Lt. Davis does not care that I cut the nose off my miserable, cheating squaw. It is a Coyotera tradition.”

Kirby Frye, being held captive by a cavalry patrol: “I don’t think you understand who I am, mister?”
Patrol commander: “Oh, we understand who you are. You’re a horse’s ass lawman who’s lost his badge. So I guess that just makes you a plain old horse’s ass, don’t it?”

Edith Hanasain: “Frye must have done something really stupid.”
Haig Hanasain: “Oh, he did. He tried to uphold the law in this piss-ant town.”

Edith Hanasain: “Sometimes you get to thinkin’ about things you thought you already knew.”

Haig Hanasain: “Do me a favor, Edith.”
Edith Hanasain: “What?”
Haig: “Keep that son of a bitch (Sundeen) out of my bed until I’m at least cold in the ground.”