She Was the Deputy’s Wife (2021)

Shayn Herndon is Paul, a horse thief sentenced to hang one fine Sunday morning.

Two people are determined to see that doesn’t happen.

One is Mabel (Megan Therese Rippey), wife of the town deputy. She’s fallen for the man on the gallows and has a pistol in her purse, ready to interrupt the proceedings.

The other is Marshal Graham (Les Best), who dashes off a telegram warning the town sheriff (John Marrs) not to hang Paul until he can be questioned about the whereabouts of a missing white stallion.

That telegram does the trick, but it also offers Mabel an opportunity to dash to the jail and free her lover.

Instead, the jailer winds up dead the the lovers wind up trapped in the sheriff’s office, pinned down with little chance of escape.

The situation only becomes more complicated when the marshal arrives it town.

Inside the jail, Mabel and Paul are wondering if they’re spending their last hours together.

Outside, Mabel’s husband Jonathan (Robert Anthony Peters) is wondering what’s come over his wife … until he finds a letter explaining it all as best she can.

Review:

The film opens with Paul being marched to the gallows by a sheriff who’s decided Sunday is a fine day for a hanging.

Meanwhile, another young man has climbed atop the church, his tongue cut out, possibly threatening to jump.

And so begins a film that’s as splendid a low-budget, independent Western as you’re likely to find.

Director Travis Mills and his team serve up a fresh script filled with enough surprises to keep you guessing.

Plus some wonderful little details, like the dog (the director’s own) who hides under the sheriff’s desk, lapping up tobacco juice.

And if the ending seems to go a bit over the top, every actor and actress in a main role seems perfectly at home in front of a camera.

Very seldom do I write that about a 21st century independent Western.

If you like Westerns, see this movie.

Directed by:
Travis Mills

Cast:
Megan Therese Rippey … Mabel
Robert Anthony Peters … Jonathan
Shayn Herndon … Paul
Les Best … Marshal Graham
Vincent Stalba … Lemmy
John Marrs … Sheriff Bob
Larry Judkins … Smithey
John Schile … Wilson
Vernon Walker … Merriweather
Babe McGuire … Mrs. Wade
Wade Everett … Pastor
Russell Thompson … Timberlake
Austin Buchanan … Marcus

Runtime: 95 min.

Memorable lines:

Sheriff Bob: “When that sun came up this morning and I got my first breath of fresh air, I thought, ‘God damned, it smells like a good day for a hanging.”

Paul, the condemned man, to the sheriff hellbent to hang him: “I’ll be waiting for you. Me and the devil.”

Pastor, objecting to a Sunday hanging: “Sheriff, this is the Lord’s day.”
Sheriff Bob, glancing at his watch: “Well, he can have it back in less than a half an hour.”

Mabel to her husband Jonathan: “A woman can change, just like a man.”
Jonathan: “Even when the seasons change, they don’t do so without reason.”

Paul to the marshal: “We’re all villains here, of varying degrees.”

Mabel, in a letter to her husband: “It was never my want to cause you pain. Only to know what it means to be free.”

Marshal: “Put the gun down, and there will be no more unnecessary violence.”
Paul: “Only the necessary kind. Ain’t that right, marshal?”

Austin Buchanan as Marcus, climbing onto the church roof in She Was the Deputy’s Wife (2021)

Les Best as Marshal Graham, a man determined to find a white stallion in She Was the Deputy’s Wife (2021)

Shayn Herndon as Paul and Megan Therese Rippey as Mabel, trapped in the sheriff’s office in She Was the Deputy’s Wife (2021)

Megan Therese Rippey as Mabel and Shayn Herndon as Paul, wondering about the marshal’s next move in She Was the Deputy’s Wife (2021)