Cassidy Red (2017)

Abby Eiland is Josephine (Joe) Cassidy. Her mother was a whore; her father made his living as a hired killer and is now a drunk.

She sees marriage to rancher Tom Hayes (David Thomas Jenkins) as a chance to start life anew.

But she can’t shake her yearnings for his adopted brother Jakob (Jason Grasl).

When Hayes returns home early from a trip to settle his deceased father’s affairs, he finds the two together.

He could have killed them. He decides to make them suffer, the way they’ve made him suffer.

So Hayes has himself elected sheriff so he’s the law in these here parts. When Joe slips out of town, he sees his chance to get even with Jakob.

In the process, he knows he’ll be able to lure Joe back to town.

After all, there’s no more effective way to hurt someone than to hurt someone they love.

The ploy works. Josephine, hair dyed blood red, is back in town. And she’s looking for revenge.

Review:

I doubt this film is going to crack anyone’s Top 100 Westerns list. But in the barren landscape of 21st Century Westerns, it’s certainly worth viewing for fans of the genre.

The key twist is having a gun-toting female as a heroine. But the film also features a double-flashback format that helps it stand out. And if the “training” interlude during which Joe’s dad teaches her the art of handling a six-gun is way too overdone in Westerns, at least it’s handled well here.

Other pluses include a strong performance by Abby Eiland as Joe Cassidy and an even stronger one by Rick Cramer as her father.

There’s also a fabulous opening title sequence by Daniel Olivas that hearkens back to the days of Spaghetti Westerns and, if anything, sets the expectations for what’s to follow a bit too high.

The plot? It’s not particularly strong. One wonders how much that had to do with budget constraints.

But even then, having Tom’s Indian-hating father adopt an Apache as a second son and having absolutely no one react when Cassidy’s father bursts into jail and guns down a deputy seems a bit far fetched.

Directed by:
Matt Knudsen

Cast:
Abby Eiland … Joe Cassidy
David Thomas Jenkins … Tom Hayes
Jason Grasl … Jakob Yazzie
Jessy Knudsen … Quinn
Gregory Zaragoza … Cricket
Rick Cramer … Cort Cassidy
Lola Kelly … Rowena
Alyssa Elle Steinacker … Young Joe
Hudson Borthwick … Young Tom
Lindsey-Anne Campbell … Young Rowena
Lyle Kanouse … Hank Hayes
Bryan Harnden … Deputy Sootie
Peter Fuller … Kearny
Mercedes LeAnza … Harley O’Houlihan
Annie Pace … Annie

Runtime: 91 min.

Memorable lines:

Cricket, providing words of advice for Quinn: “Everything looks lovelier when the sun comes up. Or at least less ugly.”

Cassidy, when Rowena hands her a derringer: “It’s a whore’s gun.”
Rowena, as Cassidy changes into her mother’s clothes: “Well, that sure as hell ain’t no missionary’s costume.”

Cassidy to her dad Cort: “You and I have both had something taken from us. You can’t hunt down consumption, but I can put a bullet in the heart of that seed sucker that killed Jakob and made a slave out of Harley.”

Cort, about avenging Jakob: “Stomping into a suicide mission to avenge some Apache bastard who gives you the vapors ain’t the way I planned on ending my life.”

Cort, during Cassidy’s shooting lesson: “What the hell are you closing one eye for? Close one eye, you’re just going to see half as much. Plus you’ll end up spraying wide cause you ain’t got no depth perception.”

Tom Hayes: “You may think this woman loves you, Jakob. And you may be right. But I can goddamn well guarantee you she ain’t got the necessary faculties to love your ass half as much as she hates mine. She truly is her father’s daughter.”