Hell to Pay (2005)

Two brothers head West to the town of Rampart. Former Union officer Kirby Scott wants to lay claim to a piece of land he can homestead. Chance Scott is more content lounging around a saloon, gambling, flirting with the gals and looking for an easy score.

They both fall for the same gal, Rebekah Sheppard, and soon discover there’s something afoul in these here parts.

Someone’s trying to force landowners off their land, even land where mines are supposed to be played out.

Turns out the someone is a land agent named Matt Elden, in cahoots with saloon owner Del Shannon and their henchmen, Rufus and Lyons.

There are subplots, too — Stella Stevens plays a widow who’s raising the granddaughter of a relative who fought with Bloody Bill Anderson and dreads his return from the war.

William Smith plays a miner who deserted from the Army because he was sickened by the sight of the Sand Creek Massacre. He’s now caring for two young Indian girls who survived that massacre.

Kevin Kazakoff as Kirby Scott, more interested in farming than gun play when he arrives in Rampart in Hell to Pay (2006)

William Gregory Lee as Chance, a man who loves gambling and women in Hell to Pay (2006)

Review:

Wow, could this be a bigger mess? You know you’re in trouble when a gang of bandits wearing KKK-style hoods tries to hold up a stagecoach and two just reacquainted brothers stand back-to-back and shoot them off their horses with incredible ease, all the while avoiding so much as a scratch.

It’s a sign of things to come, lots of grade Z action scenes, with grade Z acting filling in the gaps. Of the old-time Western stars trotted out to fool people into watching this turkey, James Drury (The Virginian) plays the biggest part, that of a sheriff who tries to get brother Kirby to serve as his deputy.

Give it a star for not being as low budget as some 21st Century Western ventures. And for the curiosity of seeing Lee Majors, Stella Stevens, Buck Taylor and the other old-timers in a Western again.

Rachel Kimsey as Rebekah Sheppard, who finds herself courted by Kirby and Chance in Hell to Pay (2006)

Katie A. Keane as Rachel Lowry, Rebekah’s sister, who became a saloon girl during the war in Hell to Pay (2006)

Directed by:
Chris McIntyre

Cast:
Kevin Kazakoff … Kirby Scott
William Gregory Lee … Chance
Rachel Kimsey … Rebekah Sheppard
Dale Kimsey … Jedediah Sheppard
Katie A. Keane … Rachel Lowry
James Drury … Sheriff J.T. Coffee
Lee Majors … Marshal Boone
Andrew Prine … Matt Elden
Bo Svenson … Del Shannon (saloon owner)
Mark Warner … Rufus
Jason Shaw … Lyons
Eden Rountree … Sarah Potter
Alison Vasan … Tashi’ne
Stella Stevens … Mary Potter
William Smith … Emil Brax
Buck Taylor … Dr. Adam Galen
Peter Brown … Johnny Behan

Runtime: 100 min.

James Drury as Sheriff J.T. Coffee in Hell to Pay (2006)

Lee Majors as Marshal Boone, arriving in the town of Rampart in Hell to Pay (2006)

Memorable lines:

Chance: “Bartender, got any of that Tennessee sipping whiskey.”
Bartender: “These boys drink elephant piss and think they’ve gone to heaven.”

Del Shannon: “Excuse all the noise around here, but I’m having the place spruced up a little bit on account of the big onslaught.”
Jedediah Sheppard: “Onslaught?”
Del Shannon: “War’s over, man. Last couple of years, you could have fired Jed Stuart’s cannon through town and hit nothin’ but bird shit. Next couple weeks, half the town’s population is coming back.”

Stella Stevens as Mary, left a widow when her land agent husband was murdered in Hell to Pay (2006)

Bo Svenson as saloon owner Del Shannon in Hell to Pay (2006)

Del Shannon: “Amanda, we got here a young man rode darn near 1,500 miles and we ain’t yet offered him a fine drink or a nasty woman.”

Marshal Boone: “I went to dental school, Scott. Fate is what happens when need collides with opportunity.”
Kirby Scott: “I don’t need to be a lawman.”
Boone: “Who cares what you need? … Are you content to mop up after the damage is done? Hell, a stable boy could do that.”
Kirby: “This is none of my business.”
Boone: “Evil is all of our business.”

Rebekah Sheppard: “Please, there’s been enough killing.”
Roy Hobbs: “There ain’t never enough killing.”

William Smith as Emil Brax, at risk of losing his mine in Hell to Pay (2006)

Alison Vasan as Tashi’ne, a survivor of the Sand Creek Massacre in Hell to Pay (2006)

Kevin Kazakoff as Kirby Scott, learning the Union blue isn’t a welcome sight in Rampart in Hell to Pay (2006)

William Gregory Lee as Chance and Katie A. Keane as Rachel Lowry in Hell to Pay (2005)