Audie Murphy is Chris Foster; Charles Drake his friend Bert Pickett. Fresh off a trail drive, they ride into the border town of Adonde … and straight into trouble. Pickett gets drunk and loses a good chunk of his wages in a card game. The ensuing brawl earns Bert and Chris a spot chained in the town square.
The town’s too poor to afford a jail, so anyone arrested is chained to a pole. Also chained to that pole is a killer named Lavalle and some members of his gang. During the night, they dig out the pole. The next morning, they use it to ram the door of the local bank and make their getaway with guns blazing.
Chris and Bert run, too. Unbeknownst to Chris, Bert picks up $12,000 worth of bonds on his way out of the bank. The outlaws learn of the bonds and take the two men prisoner. They plan on sending Bert to another nearby town to cash the bonds. He has other ideas, like paying a long overdue debt to a girlfriend named Estelle (Kathleen Crowley).
And once she has the money, she isn’t very willing to part with it. Forced to sing n a saloon and separate from her younger sister, to her those bonds represent a new chance in life.
Kathleen Crowley as Estelle, her motives being questioned by Chris Foster in Showdown (1963)
Review:
Murphy’s Westerns of the 1960s are very hit and miss. This is more hit than miss thanks to an unusual plot and the character of Brett Pickett, who forever pledges to send Estelle money to help her out, then loses the money in a card game. When he finally does come through for her, the timing couldn’t be worse for his best friend.
Another neat touch are the young sons of town loser Charlie Reeder. They’re proud that their dad is chained to the same pole as a notorious killer. They want to chuck rocks at Lavelle, until Murphy’s character warns them about what might happen to their dad if they anger the outlaw.
Skip Homeier is one of Lavelle’s gang. Smoky voiced Kathleen Crowley did most of her acting on TV, but starred in four other Westerns, including 1959’s “Curse of the Undead” with Michael Pate in the role of a vampire-gunslinger.
Charles Drake as Bert Pickett, Chris Foster’s friend, addicted to gambling and Estelle in Showdown (1963)
Harold Stone as Lavelle, warning Chris Foster that his options are $12,000 in bonds or a dead friend in Showdown (1963)
Directed by:
R.G. Springsteen
Cast:
Audie Murphy … Chris Foster
Kathleen Crowley … Estelle
Charles Drake … Bert Pickett
Harold Stone … Lavalle
Skip Homeier … Caslon
L.Q. Jones … Foray
Strother Martin … Charlie Reeder
Charles Horvath … Hebron
John McKee … Marshal Beaudine
Henry Wills … Chaca
Kevin Brodie … Buster
Joe Haworth … Guard
Carol Thurston … Smithy’s Wife
Dabbs Greer … Express man
Runtime: 79 min.
Skip Homeier as Caslon and L.Q. Jones as Foray, two of Lavelle’s men in Showdown (1963)
Strother Martin as Charlie Reeder, chained to the post that serves as a jail in the town of Adonde in Showdown (1963)
Memorable lines:
Bert Pickett, to Chris Foster, as they’re both chained to the outdoor “jail” in Adonde: “Man can’t get much lower than this, can he?”
Chris Foster: “He’d have to work at it.”
Chris Foster: “Well, Bert, we haven’t done bad for six months. Lost all our money, guns and our gear. Now if we don’t starve ourselves before we heal, we ought to make a sudden rise in life.”
Chris Foster: “Gentle as a kitten, Bert said. Seems to me you’re a great deal more cat than kitten.”
Estelle: “Let’s just say I’ve come of age, mister.”
Audie Murphy as Chris Foster, trying to bail a friend out of a jam in Showdown (1963)
Kathleen Crowley as Estelle, filling Chris Foster in on her background with Bert Pickett in Showdown (1963)
Harold Stone as Lavalle, the outlaw leader, with Caslon (Skip Homeier), one of his men in Showdown (1963)
Audie Murphy as Chris Foster and Charles Drake as Bert Pickett, watching a express robbery that will get them into deeper trouble in Showdown (1963)
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Showdown is hardly the most memorable Western ever made, but I dare say it is a solid cut above average.
The cast is really quite outstanding. Audie Murphy turns in a workmanlike but respectable performance. Then there are tremendous Western luminaries such as Harold Stone, LQ Jones, Strother Martin and Skip Homier. Hard to go wrong with that lot although I don’t believe the story allowed any of them to truly shine. Murphy, of course, was the star, but he was also the only actor who truly starred. Nobody else got quite enough camera time or lines to really show what he could do and that’s something of a shame.
Now I see that Kathleen Crowley has gotten some grief for her performance in this one. I actually thought she was pretty good. She does have a rather arch and refined way of speaking that is unusual from a Western gal (sort of a female Don Chastain), but it’s not offputting, and I thought her acting was quite serviceable. I also found her final sob story–the one about she and her kid sister being bilked out of all their wealth by Audie’s partner (played indifferently by Charlie Drake)–to be entirely plausible. Should Audie run off with the girl and her money and leave his worthless crum-bum of a friend to die at the hands of Stone and his henchmen, or should he remain loyal to the sack of refuse and endeavor to rescue him? Well, it’s an Audie Murphy vehicle and that means loyalty prevails.
One other remark on Crowley. She’s a classic blonde bombshell–if you like that sort of thing–and about as close as you’ll get to Marilyn Monroe in a Western. Indeed, her beauty is almost distracting.
Another good thing about Showdown is some rather creative dialogue. For instance, Stone, after remarking that Audie and Drake combined barely make up one man, says, “You’re like an oyster. Each of you is a shell sharing one set of guts.” Ha! That must have cut to the quick.
And in another scene Blonde Bombshell says to Audie, “You just keep popping up like a mushroom.”
Audie: “Some people like ’em.”
Blonde Bombshell: “Well, [Drake’s] friends always did do well in the dark.”
This may be the only Western in history that features similes involving oysters and mushrooms. And with that, it’s time for lunch.