Reckoning (2002)

Jason Rodriguez plays Luke, who bursts into a saloon looking for his sister.

Instead, he finds a handful of men prepared to gun him down and a whore named Lucille (Stacy Cunningham) who has an idea of where he might find her.

So Luke guns down the men and, at the point of a gun, convinces Lucille to ride along with him.

It’s the first step toward an inevitable showdown with John Bonham (Alan Waserman), the man who kidnapped his sister and turned her into his own private whore a while back.

Bonham has a small army of no-goods willing to do his dirty work, even if that means killing Luke and dragging his pregnant sister back “home.”

But Luke proves harder to kill than most; his biggest fear is that his sister won’t survive the fever that’s taken hold of her, the gunshot wound she suffered during their escape and the birth of the baby she doesn’t want.

Luke, his sister and Lucille find refuge on a small ranch occupied by Kate and former Bonham gunman Charlie Wells.

But the respite from the violence is short-lived.

Jason Rodriguez as Luke, rescuing his sister, then facing stiff odds in Reckoning (2002)

Kim Jackson as Luke’s sister, recovering from her trauma in Reckoning (2002)

Review

A very somber Western. Alan Waserman is as evil a villain as you’ll come across, killing, injuring or destroying whatever’s most likely to make a difference to the people he’s trying to manipulate.

In contrast, Luke is a Bible-thumper of a vengeance seeker, often saying a quiet prayer before he unleashes his temper, or his guns. The mood is reinforced by a soundtrack featuring quietly played religious hymns.

The sets tell you this was a fairly low-budget venture. But at least the money was well spent on a cast that can act as opposed to some 21st Century Westerns that try to be bigger than they can afford and wind up with a cast that act like they’ve never been in front of a camera before.

Stacy Cunningham as Lucille, the whore who leads Luke to his siters in Reckoning (2002)

Alan Waserman as John Bonham, the man who kidnapped Luke’s sister in Reckoning (2002)

Directed by:
Jason Rodriguez

Cast:
Jason Rodriguez … Luke
Kim Jackson … Luke’s sister
Stacy Cunningham … Lucille
Cheryl Lawson … Kate
Kent Smith … Charlie Wells
Alan Waserman … John Bonham

Runtime: 93 min.

Kent Smith as Charlie Wells, for the former Bonham gunman who has turned against him in Reckoning (2002)

Cheryl Lawson as Kate, owner of the ranch where Luke takes refuge in Reckoning (2002)

Memorable lines:

Lucille: “Son of bitch. Killed some of my best customers. I’m gonna need you to give me something (to leave with you).”
Luke: “Come and live. Or stay and die.”
Lucille: “Dying doesn’t scare me much, mister.”
Luke: “Then maybe it should.”
Lucille: “I ain’t got a horse.”

Luke: “I’m looking for a girl.”
Bartender: “We’ve got some of those.”
Luke, glancing toward three whores: “None of those. This girl is like no creature on this earth. Like an angel sent from heaven.”
Bartender: “Mister, not many angels darken these doors.”
The whores laugh.

Passer-by, thinking he recognizes Lucille: “Ma’am, I rarely forget a whore.”
Lucille: “No sir, you don’t look like a man who would.”

Stacy Cunningham as Lucille, checking on Luke’s wounded sister in Reckoning (2002)

Kim Jackson as Luke’s sister, a captive of John Bonham in Reckoning (2002)

Alan Waserman as John Bonham, determined to get back his favorite girl in Reckoning (2002)

Jason Rodriguez as Luke, determined to strike back for the injustice done his sister in Reckoning (2002)