Incident at Guilt Ridge (2020)

Joe Cornet is Dev; Curt Lambert is Jonas, two longtime partners in small-time crime looking for the job that will put them “in tall cotton.”

So they leave their lady loves — Etta and Belle, respectively — and head off on a job that’s supposed to be a cakewalk.

At some point, a mining boss named Bo Huntington cheated a mining competitor named McDonald out of $50,000.

Now Bo’s Tin Rock Mining Co. is shipping $60,000 through the town of Guilt Ridge, where the bank is the only business still operating. That’s because a cholera epidemic has turned Guilt Ridge into a ghost town.

Dev and Jonas aim to recover $50,000 for McDonald and keep the $10,000 extra for themselves.

So they arrive in Guilt Ridge to find it every bit as devoid of townsfolk as McDonald promised it would be.

But no sooner have they left the bank with the $60,000 than they realize they’ve walked into an ambush as Huntington’s Tin Rock regulators approach from every side.

Joe Cornet as Dev, along with partner Jonas on another easy money scheme in Incident at Guilt Ridge (2020)

Curt Lambert as Jonas, Dev’s longtime partner in crime in Incident at Guilt Ridge (2020)

Review:

The highlights: A decent score, some interesting cinematography and a fine deadpan performance by director/star Joe Cornet in the lead role.

The drawbacks: Way too much talk, way too much tough talk, too many overweight cowboys and weak performances by the actors playing the mine bosses.

You’ll see one of the film-ending twists coming from a mile away. And the female cast members — there are actually more credited female cast members than males in this Western — don’t have much to do but fret over the safety of their men.

This marked Cornet’s second Western, following “A Prayer for the Damned” (2018). If you’ve seen that film, you’ll recognize some of the same cast members here.

Buddy Clements as McDonald, the miner who hires Dev and Jonas to get back his $50,000 in Incident at Guilt Ridge (2020)

Ernie Ventry as Bo Huntington, owner of the Tin Rock Mining Co. in Incident at Guilt Ridge (2020)

Directed by:
Joe Cornet

Cast:
Joe Cornet … Dev
Curt Lambert … Jonas
Vitta Quinn … Etta
Kelsey Bohlen … Belle
Ernie Ventry … Bo Huntington
Anna Goeser … Rose
Nikki Kreuzer … Myra
Diane Ayala Goldner … Madame LeFarge
Buddy Clements … McDonald

Runtime: 75 min.

Vitta Quinn as Etta, fretting over her lover Dev in Incident at Guilt Ridge (2020)

Kelsey Bohlen as Belle, Jonas’s girl in Incident at Guilt Ridge (2020)

Memorable lines:

Dev: “How many times have you almost gotten me killed?”
Jonas: “You keepin’ count?”

McDonald: “Gentlemen, it’ll be a cakewalk. Just get in. Get my money. And get out. Before humanity returns to Guilt Ridge.”

Dev: “A man can only die when he’s careless.”

Jonas, as gunmen interrupt their getaway: “I bet you’re getting angry right about now.”
Dev: “That doesn’t even capture the spirit of the thing.”

McDonald: “My friend, one must revel in confidence when staring down adversity.”
Jonas: “Let’s see how them ten dollar words get you out of this.”

Nikki Kreuzer as Myra, McDonald’s gal, capable of caring for herself in Incident at Guilt Ridge (2020)

Anna Goeser as Rose, the woman who runs the general store in Incident at Guilt Ridge (2020)