Heart of the Gun (2021)

John Marrs is Jack Travers, a U.S. Army doctor who deserted in order to track down his estranged wife Abigail, vowing to kill her if he ever finds her.

Years later, he comes across the scene of a wagon attack. Two men and one woman are dead.

A second woman has been raped, wounded and had her face cut, but is still very much alive.

Travers rescues and treats her. The woman, who identifies herself as Sarah (Amber Rose Martin), tells him the Apache were responsible for the raid.

When Travers and Sarah come across a trio of unkept fellow travelers, led by a scowling man named Dolan (Travis Mills), the truth comes out.

They were the ones responsible for the attack. And now they insist on accompanying Travers and Sarah.

The next morning, Travers makes sure two of the men pay for their evil deeds. Sarah wounds the third, Dolan.

But her refusal to gun down and kill the man who cut and raped her so infuriates Travers that he rides off alone, leaving Sarah to fend for himself.

She follows him to the nearby town. After all, Travers isn’t the only one searching for something.

But trouble follows too. In the form of Dolan, who wants to even the score.

And in the form of a cavalry scout named John White, who is determined that a deserter named Travers face justice.

Review:

This marked the 12th of 12 Westerns director Travis Mills filmed in 2020, and he just might have saved the best for last.

John Marrs and Amber Rose Mason both turn in fine performances as individuals who have made difficult choices in life and wound up paying for those choices.

A fresh story and strong script helps. So does a supporting cast that’s much stronger than we’re used to in low-budget, 21-Century Westerns.

Sadly, one member of that support cast, Jay Pickett, passed about five months before the film was released, dying of a heart attack in July 2021 at age 60.

Director Travis Mills plays Dolan, and is superb in the part.

Another standout in the 12 Westerns in 12 months series is “She Was the Deputy’s Wife” (2021).

Directed by:
Travis Mills

Cast:
John Marrs … Jack Travers
Amber Rose Mason … Sarah
Travis Mills … Dolan
Jay Pickett … John White
J.D. Pepper … Sgt. Meeker
John Schile … McCabe
Elley Ringo … Jodie
Michael P. Walker … Timmy
Tom Dragt … Rube
Larry Poole … Blind Billy
Lucy Blair … The deaf wife
Alexis Dubbs … Apache healer
Daulton Brewer … Tanner
Michael Estridge … The father
Lorelei Redmond … Hotel Owner
Peter Sherayko … The drunk
Vernon Walker … The gambler
Jim Heffel … The sheriff

Runtime: 94 min.

Memorable lines:

Jack Travers to a wounded Sarah: “Rest. You might die if you don’t.”

Jack Travers. as Sarah tries to sleep next to him: “Don’t touch me. Ever!”
Sarah, when Jack pulls a gun: “Shoot me! I know what it’s like to be touched when you don’t want it.”

Jack Travers, as he buries a woman killed by Indians: “Once you see enough of them, it ain’t nothin’.”

Jack Travers: “There’s worse things in these mountains than Apaches.”
Dolan: “Oh yeah? You seen these things?”
Travers: “I’ve been them.”

Sgt. Meeker to Sarah, about his Apache captives: “Ma’am, when God created this world, he made man and woman. He gave us animals. And then he made the Apache to be a thorn in our side to be wiped off the face of the earth.”

Sarah, as Travers pratices with a six-gun: “I thought you were a doctor. When did you learn to use one?”
Travers: “It came natural. I followed my heart. It showed me the way.”

Daulton Brewerr as Tanner, leader of the mountain gang that deals in female flesh in Heart of the Gun (2021)

Michael Estridge as the man who marks the end of Travers’ search in Heart of the Gun (2021)

Amber Rose Mason as Sarah, scarred and frightened after her encounter with Dolan’s gang in Heart of the Gun (2021)

John Marrs as Jack Travers, sharing the note left him by his estranged wife in Heart of the Gun (2021)