Gunfight at Rio Bravo (2023)

Marshal Carter (Olivier Gruner) and his deputy have captured notorious outlaw Ethan Crawley (Matthis Hues), leader of a vicious band of former Quantrell’s Raiders known as the Hellhounds.

Bound for San Antonio where Crawley will face a hangman’s noose, they stop in the town of Blind Chapel for respite.

Sheriff Vernon Kelly (Joe Cornet) agrees to temporarily house Crawley in the town’s jail, much to the dismay of Mayor Bowman.

He fears the Hellhounds will show up attempting to free their leader.

And Crawley pretty much guarantees that’s exactly what will happen.

While most of the town’s residents head for the church to cower in fear, the marshal and sheriff prepare for the arrival of the Hellhounds.

They have an ally in former Civil War general Ivan Turchin (Alexander Nevsky), a Russian emigrant haunted by a decision he made years ago in Athens, Ga.

He’s also determined to protect three pretty ladies, doctor’s daughter Nora Miller, saloon waitress Arlene and Jenny Gray, a saloon girl sweet on the sheriff.

Review:

Directed with more vim and vigor than most low budget Westerns, this is clearly director Joe Cornet’s best genre outing to date.

There are also touches of intentionally campy humor, like the way Crawley’s subordinate Capt. Grady relishes in tasting the blood of his victims.

At least I hope I’m correct in assuming the humor was intentional.

Once the Hellhounds arrive, leading man Alexander Nevsky dons an anachronistic leather jacket and transforms into a 19th century Arnold Schwarzenegger style killing machine.

One of the film’s biggest drawbacks: The Hellhounds sure don’t look like hellhounds. They look more like aging, overweight men lured away from the buffet table at the local dinner.

Oh, and the Ivan Turchin character is based on the real-life Ivan Turchaninov, a Russian emmigrant and soldier who arrived in the U.S. prior to the Civil War, changing his name to John Basil Turchin.

In the film, Turchin’s Civil War background is drawn directly from Turchaninov’s life. But he would have been in his mid-40s when he left the Union Army, probably not nearly as young and fit as the actor playing him in this film. And I’ve found nothing in online bios to indicate he headed West and wound up in a town called Rio Bravo.

Directed by:
Joe Cornet

Cast:
Alexander Nevsky … Ivan Turchin
Olivier Gruner … Marshal Austin Carter
Joe Cornet … Sheriff Vernon Kelly
Matthias Hues … Ethan Crawley
Natalie Denise Sperl … Nora Miller
Kerry Goodwin … Jenny Gray
John Marrs … Capt. Grady
Anna Oris … Arlene
Lee Dawson … Mayor Bowman
Robert Livingston … Deputy Walker
Maria Paris … Daniela
Curt Lambert … Preacher

81 min.

aka:
Assault at Rio Bravo (2023)

Memorable lines:

Deputy Walker: “Hell, marshal, I could eat off the same plate as a rattler and my gut would be fine.”

Ethan Crawley: “Your mayor is a strange bird. But he’s right about one thing. If my Hellhounds come to free me, you’re all going to be buzzard food.”

Marshal Carter: “I remember the Lawrence massacre, committed by Quantrill’s Raiders. That was a disgusting act.”
Ethan Crawley: “You really think so, huh? Well, I kinda liked it.”

Sheriff Kelly: “You ever been up against these kind of odds?”
Ivan Turchin: “Many times.”
Sheriff: “What did you do?”
Ivan: “If you want to beat the enemy, you have to do everything better. If they’re strong, you have to be stronger. If they fight hard, you have to fight even harder.”
Sheriff: “And what if they’re monsters?”
Ivan: “Anyone can be a monster. You’d be surprised.”

Capt. Grady: “This town’s got this big dumb Russian or German or whatever he is. He just won’t die. He’s killed every man I’ve thrown at him.”

Lee Dawson as Mayor Bowman, fearful of what The Hellhounds will do to his town in Gunfight in Rio Bravo (2023)

Curt Lambert as the preacher who tries to give refuge to his parishioners in Gunfight at Rio Bravo (2023)

Maria Paris as Daniela, the saloon girl sympathetic to Ethan Crawley’s plight in Gunfight at Rio Bravo (2023)

Anna Oris as Arlene, the saloon girl smitten with the handsome Russian in Gunfight at Rio Bravo (2023)