Dead Man’s Hand (2023)

Jack Kilmer is Jean Jacques Renau, aka Reno, and Camille Collard is Vegas. They’re a newly married couple bound for Nevada where they plan to open a saloon called Solomon’s Temple.

At least that’s the plan until the stagecoach in which they’re riding is stopped by three wanna-be bandits dressed in Confederate gray.

Reno springs from the stage, pulls out two six shooters and guns down all three outlaws.

But he’s a fast gun with a conscience and can’t stand the idea of letting their bodies lie rotting in the midday sun.

So he has the bodies tied to the back of the stage and dragged into the next town where the stage is stopping.

That turns out to be his big mistake.

Because the town is run by corrupt former Confederate Col. Clarence T. Bishop (Stephen Dorff). And one of those bodies is his brother.

Bishop is determined to avenge his brother’s death, even after a U.S. Marshal Roy Cutheon (Cole Hauser) shows up with a warrant for his arrest.

So Bishop challenges Reno to a game of Play for Keeps. If Reno loses, he hangs. If he wins, he gets to escape town with his life.

Well, Reno wins with the dead man’s hand. But Bishop, of course, has no intention of living up to his word.

He has Reno captured by his legion of henchmen. He cuts off both of the stranger’s trigger fingers.

And he has some nasty ideas for how to deal with Vegas as well.

Jack Kilmer as Jean Jaques Renau, aka Reno, meeting Mayor Bishop for the first time in Dead Man’s Hand (2023)

Camille Collard as Vegas, dreaming of starting her own saloon in Nevada until she and her husband land in the wrong town in Dead Man’s Hand (2023)

Review:

A promising premise and a generally talented cast is wasted by a script that turns up way too many jokers to be taken seriously.

Director Brian Skiba lost me for good when our hero Reno is spirited off to an Apache camp carrying his trigger fingers.

A bit of medicine man magic later, he’s staggering back toward town with reattached fingers and armed with nothing but a tomahawk.

About that cast, Jack Kilmer — son of Val Kilmer and actress Joanne Whalley — isn’t the least bit convincing as the quick draw who cheats death time and again.

And his new wife endures enough abuse for several damsels in distress. She’s whipped, raped, shot and nearly hanged by the time the credits roll. Which makes her playful attitude when she and her new husband are trapped in a hotel by Bishop’s men seem sorta silly.

On the other hand, Stephen Dorff and Cole Hauser do their best to bring some grit to the proceedings and several supporting cast members — Forrie J. Smith, Vincent E. McDonald, Myah White and Louise Linton among them — look at home in front of the camera.

Shame they weren’t given a more plausible story line to work with. Had they been, one might even have been able to overlook Skiba’s penchant for over-the-top action scenes.

Stephen Dorff as Col. Clarence T. Bishop, ready to play for keeps in Dead Man’s Hand (2023)

Cole Hauser as Marshal Roy McCutheon, looking to arrest Bishop on a murder warrant in Dead Man’s Hand (2023)

Directed by:
Brian Skiba

Cast:
Jack Kilmer … Jean Jaques Renau, aka Reno
Camille Collard … Vegas
Stephen Dorff … Col. Clarence T. Bishop
Cole Hauser … Marshal Roy McCutheon
Mo Brings Plenty … Mahto
Delilah Andre … Gouyen
Forrie J. Smith … Alexander
Vincent E. McDonald … Abraham
Myah White … Philly
Randall Batinkoff … Sheriff Winters
Louise Linton … Carrie
Costas Mandylor … Lucas
William McNamara … Johnny
Corin Nemac … Red
Tait Fletcher … Goliath
Forrest Wilder …Ed Bishop
Chandler Duke … Garrett
Laurie Love … Sarah

Runtime: 96 min.

Mo Brings Plenty as Mahto, the Apache who repays a debt by helping Reno in Dead Man’s Hand (2023)

Delilah Andre as the Apache woman Gouyen, helping nurse Reno back to health in Dead Man’s Hand (2023)

Memorable lines:

Vegas, as the shotgun guard holds up a hand with a penny-sized hole blow through it: “Is your hand okay?”
The driver: “No!”

Reno, pointing to two men wearing Confederate uniforms: “Hey, they know the war’s over, right?”
Carrie: “I wouldn’t be so sure.”

Col. Bishop: “New game. Five-card draw. We play for keeps.”
Reno: “For keeps? I’m not familiar with that wager.”

Vegas, when Reno informs her one of the men he killed in the stage holdup was the mayor’s brother: “Next time, you leave those bodies to rot.”

Abraham, passing Reno his six-guns: “Now tell me, how you gonna shoot straight with those fingers?”
Reno: “Magic.”

Forrie J. Smith as Alexander, a bartender wary of crossing Mayor Bishop in Dead Man’s Hand (2023)

Vincent E. McDaniel as Abraham, warning Reno to get out of town as soon as he can in Dead Man’s Hand (2023)

Myah White as Philly, the saloon girl who hopes to flee town along with Reno and Vegas in Dead Man’s Hand (2023)

Costas Mandylor as Lucas, the man who still hasn’t decided if Abraham deserves his freedom in Dead Man’s Hand (2023)

Kim DeLonghi as Cochet, the saloon madam who does Bishop’s bidding in Dead Man’s Hand (2023)

Randall Batinkoff as Sheriff Winters, realizing the mayor might have a special interest in the new arrival in town in Dead Man’s Hand (2023)

Stephen Dorff as Col. Clarence T. Bishop, holding a U.S. Marshal at gunpoint in Dead Man’s Hand (2023)

Jack Kilmer as Jean Jaques Renau, aka Reno, testing his six-gun skill with reattached fingers in Dead Man’s Hand (2023)

Camille Collard as Vegas, realizing the trouble she and her new husband face while new friend Philly (Myah White) looks on in Dead Man’s Hand (2023)

Cole Hauser as Marshal Roy McCutheon, Vincent E. McDaniel as Abraham and Jack Kilmer as Reno, about to launch an attack on a mining camp in Dead Man’s Hand (2023)