Dead Men (2018)

Ric Maddox is Jesse Struthers, who watches his father and his father’s partner get gunned down by men demanding they turn over their gold mine.

Those men want Jesse Struthers dead too, but Virgil Calhoun, an old friend of Jesse’s father, shows up in the nick of time to save him.

Jesse, Virgil and Jesse’s brother Jake (Aaron Marciniak) plan to seek revenge against those responsible for Roy Struthers’ death.

That would be the vicious Cole Roberts (Richard O. Ryan), who wants the gold mine and is secretly in cahoots with Jackson Ridge Mayor Deets to split the profits.

When his men don’t return from the mine, Roberts hires a fast gun named Carlos Van Pelt and sets him out on Jesse Struthers’ trail.

He nearly succeeds, thanks in part to the cowardice of Jake, who flees to save his own life.

But Jesse survives and winds up spending a year recuperating in an Apache village.

Eventually, though, he knows he’ll have to face his fears and return to Jackson Ridge to complete his mission of vengeance.

Can he count on anyone’s assistance?

Or is he going to have to take on Cole Roberts and his band of henchmen single-handedly.

Ric Maddox as Jesse Struthers, determined to strike back at the man who killed his father in Dead Men (2018)

Aaron Marciniak as Jake Struthers, out to redeem himself in the eyes of his brother in Dead Men (2018)

Review:

A Western with epic ambitions that incorporates too many Western themes and tries to do it with too many characters.

The result is a three-hour slog — featuring better acting and better cinematography than you’ll find in most low-budget Westerns of the 20-teens — but that ultimately disappoints.

You get the feeling that the villainous Cole Roberts part was modeled after Deadwood’s Al Swearengen. Newsflash: Richard O. Ryan is not Ian McShane.

And neither of the love stories — Jake’s pursuit of Sissy and Jesse’s marriage to the Apache girl Ila — are well done, leaving the viewer rather indifferent toward their fates.

As for the plot, as the film rambles toward a conclusion, exactly what did Cole Roberts plan to do with ownership of a gold mine now that he’s a wanted man?

Richard O. Ryan as Cole Roberts, out to steal a mine and have Jesse Struthers killed in Dead Men (2018)

Craig Hensley as Vance Edison, the Roberts’ gun left for dead after being shot in the eye in Dead Men (2018)

Directed by:
Royston Innes

Cast:
Ric Maddox … Jesse Struthers
Aaron Marciniak … Jake Struthers
Richard O. Ryan … Cole Roberts
Shawn Parsons… Benjamin Brown
Sasha Higgins … Sissy McHale
Mark L. Colbenson … Mayor Deets
Jim Freivogel … Billy Walters
Brent Rock … Virgil Calhoun
Malcolm Madera … Carlos Van Pelt
Rhett Swanson … Curly
Craig Hensley … Vance Edison
Marisa Quintanilla … Ila
Jon J. Gonzalez …. Ma Tut Se
Joe Saenz …. Snake Medicine
Sam Bearpaw … Iatsa

Runtime: 180 min.

Sasha Higgins as Sissy McHale, greeting a potential customer in the saloon where she whores in Dead Men (2018)

Marisa Quintanilla as Ila, Jesse’s Apache wife, in the hands of Roberts’ men in Dead Men (2018)

Memorable lines:

Jake Struthers, to one of Roberts men: “Why don’t you just do me a favor and blow me out of my misery.”
Roberts man: “I think this son-of-a-bitch just might be crazier than I am.”

Cole Roberts to Jake Struthers: “You see, I like cowards, Jake. They’re predictable. You’re predictable.”

Drunk doctor, splashing moonshine in the face of a badly wounded Vance Edison: “Kills the germs.”

Sissy: “Jesse, don’t to anything stupid.”
Jesse Struthers: “Stupid’s the only thing I got left.”

Cole Roberts: “Vance! Good to see you. I thought you were dead.”
Vance Edison: “I was. I’ve been reborn.”

Donald Deets: “I don’t like competition, Cole. It’s unhealthy for the soul.”

Shawn Parsons as Benjamin Brown, the gambler sympathetic to the Struthers brothers in Dead Men (2018)

Brent Rock as Virgil Calhoun, the long-lost father who returns to help Jesse in Dead Men (2018)

Jon J. Gonzalez as Ma Tut Se, a leader among the Apache Jesse lives with in Dead Men (2018)

Mark L. Colbenson as Deets, the mayor in cahoots with Cole Roberts in Dead Men (2018)

Malcolm Madera as Carlos Van Pelt, hired by Roberts to kill Jesse Struthers in Dead Men (2018)

Jim Freivogel as Billy Walters, one of Cole Roberts’ hired guns in Dead Men (2018)

Aaron Marciniak as Jake Struthers, sensing trouble ahead in Dead Men (2018)

Ric Maddox as Jesse Struthers, realizing it’s time to rejoin the white man’s world in Dead Men (2018)