Dallas Valdez is Joe Crist, a notorious bounty hunter who returns home after three years on the trail to find the town has changed.
A search for a missing girl leads him to a hotel and straight into an ambush.
A shotgun blast rings out. Joe is blown clean out of the front window of the hotel.
Forty days later, he miraculously awakes from a coma, minus any sign of the gunshot wound, but with divine new powers.
Now, as for locating that missing girl?
No problem. Joe touches the doorknob to the room where she was staying and instantly knows where she is.
He finds her dead. No problem. He touches the young girl, and she’s breathing again.
Joe’s best friend Dell (Curt Lambert) is amazed by Joe’s new abilities.
Girlfriend Maggie (Carrie Keagan) is more interested in the prospect of a new life with Joe away from the saloon where she makes her living.
Town boss Anton Weaver (John Marrs) sees Joe as a threat to his control of this here burg.
And he’s out for vengeance after Joe kills his only son in the rescue of another damsel in distress.
Joe just might need all those new powers. Because Weaver has a virtual army of henchmen to back his play.
In the opening scene, Joe Crist arrives in a Western town for a showdown with three outlaws at the White Horse Saloon.
Isn’t he concerned about taking on all three of them, one outlaw asks. Three CGI blood splatters later, Joe is shouting “Yeehaw!” and embarking on a rampage to clean up the rest of the town.
And Joe will swipe the hat right off the head of one of his victims if he likes it better than the one he’s wearing at the moment.
Nope, this isn’t a Western to be taken very seriously. Tongue planted firmly in cheek, director Mark Allen Michaels delivers some Spaghetti touches, a bit of religion and a great-looking breezy little film that clocks in at less than an hour in length.
Dallas Valdez clearly enjoyed playing the lead role, even if the part would have seemed to call for someone younger with a more commanding voice.
Maggie is a delight as his curvy lady love and John Marrs, by now a veteran of many modestly budgeted Western, nails his part as the villain of the piece.
This isn’t a Western you’re likely to watch more than once. But you’re not going to regret giving it a watch either.
Directed by:
Mark Allen Michaels
Cast:
Dallas Valdez … Joe
Carrie Keagan … Maggie
Curt Lambert … Dell
John Marrs … Anton Weaver
Robert Acres … Padre Michael / Sheriff Yugo
Seamus Cattaneo …. Doc
Carson Rapsilver … Bera
Mario Rocha … Elmo
Robert Steven Brown … Bart
Blaize Naasz … Sheila
Bob Colson … Dobbs
Stefan Colson … Jake
Paul Kirwan … Juda
Sandra Dunn … May
John Schile … Barney
Runtime: 53 min.
Memorable lines:
Sheriff, after Joe’s rampage leaves several dead and sees him change hats several times: “No bad guys left in town. Time to move on, Joe Crist.”
Doc Wellburn: “You suffered a shotgun blast to the chest and the face and you were blown clean through the hotel window. Frankly, I don’t know how you’re still alive. You’re head is harder than a blacksmith’s anvil.”
Sheriff Yugo: “There’s gonna be hell to pay.”
Bera, one of Weaver’s henchmen: “We’re all goin’ to hell, sheriff. I just wanna be the last one to get there.”
Joe Crist: “You know, you kind of look like the sheriff.”
Padre: “The sheriff — he’s my twin brother. He’s as twisted on the inside as he is on the outside.”
Joe Crist, standing over Sheriff Yugo, a gun pointed at the lawman’s head: “You’re the sheriff. You’re supposed to stand for law and order. You’re supposed to stand for good. But you? You stand for neither. But your real problem is, you kicked the wrong dog.”
Padre: “You know violence isn’t the answer.”
Joe Crist: “You know it is for me, padre.”