Jack Wyatt and the Gun from Hell (2021)

Drew Hirschboeck is Jack Wyatt. son of a slain sheriff who heads off to the gold fields, hoping to strike it rich.

He doesn’t — strike it rich, that is.

In fact, Jack isn’t good at much of anything, a fact reinforced when he places a bet on his six-gun marksmanship with two fellow miners.

Then a drifter shows up and proves he’s the best shot of them all. It isn’t skill, he confides to Jack. It’s the gun he’s carrying. A gun with mystical powers. A gun that almost never misses.

A gun he gifts to Jack.

But that just causes more trouble for the young man because a villain named Maddox (Jeffrey T. Smith) believes the gun belongs to him. He sets off after Jack and the gun, accompanied by sidekicks Lyle and Ahiga.

They all wind up in Jack’s hometown, where Maddox takes over.

Jack’s determined to put an end to the evil he and the six-gun are doing. His only allies, an aging gun dealer named Flintlock and a tough-as-nails female rancher named Rose.

Drew Hirschboeck as Jack Wyatt, returning to the home where he grew up and his dad was sheirff in Jack Wyatt and the Gun from Hell (2021)

Miranda Byers as Rose, trying to discourage Jack from seeking vengeance in Jack Wyatt and the Gun from Hell (2021)

Review:

Watch this. It’s wonderfully different. It’s entertaining. And it’s one hell of an accomplishment. It was also five years in the making.

Director Clay Dumaw shot the entire film on green screen, much of on a soundstage in Colorado Springs, then filled in the background later.

And in a YouTube video, he explains that because of the fragmented availability of the cast, they “rarely performed on set together.” They had to be composited into scenes together using Adobe After Effects.

In fact, “despite sharing moments on-screen, some of the cast did not meet until filming wrapped,” he says. Given that fact, the performances are damn impressive.

So is the final product, which included two years of post-production work and is a hell of a lot more entertaining than lots of low-budget Westerns.

Jeffrey T. Smith as Maddox, eager to show off his skill with a gun that never misses in Jack Wyatt and the Gun from Hell (2021)

Lyle DeRose as Flintlock, the gun dealer who sides with Jack Wyatt in Jack Wyatt and the Gun from Hell (2021)

Directed by:
Clay Dumaw

Cast:
Drew Hirschboeck … Jack Wyatt
Jeffrey T. Smith … Maddox
Miranda Byers … Rose
Lyle DeRose … Flintlock
Tim Atnip … Lyle
Rodrigo Tactaquin … Ahiga
David Iannotti … Drifter
Bryan Stumpf … Jack’s friend
Also with: Peter Doroha, Stephen Doroha, Trevor Dumaw, Carlos Malache, Jay Storey, Shane Thurston, Anthony Dumaw, Steven Weed

Runtime: 83 min.

Tim Atnip as Lyle, concerned Maddox is going to miss the apple and his head with a bullet in Jack Wyatt and the Gun from Hell (2021)

Rodrigo Tactaquin as Ahiga, one of Maddox’s two sidekicks in Jack Wyaty and the Gun from Hell (2021)

Memorable lines:

Jack Wyatt: “Who are you?”
The Drifter: “You’re safer not knowing.”

Jack Wyatt: “You take me for a fool.”
The Drifter: “I take you as someone who’s life didn’t pan out the way it was supposed to.”

Ruffian, who’d been harassing Rose only to wind up at the point of her gun: “Take it easy, lady. We was just playin’.”
Rose: “Then go play somewhere else.”

Rose: “And you want revenge? That ain’t smart.”
Jack Wyatt: “Why do you say that?”
Rose: “Because you’re a tiny runt who probably couldn’t shoot the broad side of a barn.”

Maddox: “You know, you’re like a tick. Every time I try to flick you off, you just burrow in deeper.”

Jack Wyatt, refusing to disclose the location of the magic six-gun: “You’ll just use it to hurt innocent people.”
Maddox. “Yeah. Probably.”

Peter Doroha and Stephen Doroha as the miners Jack Wyatt bets with in Jack Wyatt and the Gun from Hell (2021)

David Ianotti as the Drifter who introduces the six-gun into Jack Wyatt’s life in Jack Wyatt and the Gun from Hell (2021)

Miranda Byers as Rose, proving she’s quite capable of protecting herself in Jack Wyatt and the Gun from Hell (2021)

Drew Hirschboeck as Jack Wyatt, marveling over the power of a special six-gun in Jack Wyatt and the Gun from Hell (2021)