Showdown at Eagle Gap (1982) - Once Upon a Time in a Western

Madison Mason is Jonathan Quell, a former Confederate cavalry officer headed to Texas to start a ranch in the San Pedro area.

Problem is, Alexander Kirk (Skip Homeier) runs the nearby town and prefers all the land around stay free of settlers so he can graze his herds there.

He offers Quell a job. He’ll even take on Quell’s partner, former slave Enterprise Jackson, as a cook at his hotel.

But Quell and Jackson aren’t interested in his proposition, putting them at odds with the rich cattleman.

They find a friend in Paco Romero, a Mexican who has the same trouble as Jackson when it comes to being accepted in Texas.

Meanwhile, Kirk has another problem. His bride-to-be, Angela Richardson, is too weak and ill to perform her wifely duties. And he won’t marry her until she’s pregnant with his heir.

Dr. Hedrick is supposed to help with that problem. Instead, he unwittingly helps smuggle Angela off the ranch.

Seems she only agreed to marry Kirk as a means of getting her father out of debt.

Madison Mason as Jonathan Quell, determined to start a ranch in post-Civil War Texas in Showdown at Eagle Gap (1982)

Rockne Tarkington as Enterprise Jackson, watching Kirk’s men corner a lone Apache in Showdown at Eagle Gap (1982)

Review:

With all the unresolved plot points when the credits roll, this has the spell of the pilot for a proposed TV series that was never picked up.

Which was probably best, because Homeier — who played the heavy or young gun in so many Westerns from the 1950s — falls flat as the snarling villain.

And outside the peppy Cheri Lunghi as Angela Richardson and the stubborn determination of Rockne Tarkington as Enterprise Jackson (just call me ‘Prise), the rest of the cast isn’t much better.

Particuarly difficult to swallow is the part of Paco Romero, a dashing Mexican whose mother runs a large hacienda south of the border.

He’d be welcome there, but prefers to start over on his own and is accepted as a partner by Quell and Prise after helping the latter through one fistfight.

This marked the final film for Homeier and the last directed by Witney, who had gotten his start directing series and serial Westerns in the late 1930s. He has a cameo as a sheriff at the end of the film.

Petrus Antonius as Paco Romero, the handsome Mexican who joins Quell and Jackson in their Texas adventure in Showdown at Eagle Gap (1982)

Skip Homeier as Alexander Kirk, determined to bend everyone to his will in Showdown at Eagle Gap (1982)

Directed by:
William Witney

Cast:
Madison Mason … Jonathan Quell
Rockne Tarkington … Enterprise Jackson
Petrus Antonius …. Paco Romero
Skip Homeier … Alexander Kirk
Cherie Lunghi … Angela Richardson
Urich von Dobschutz … Dr. Hedrick
Mike Moroff … Birnham
Leopoldo Salazar … Solado
Roger Cudney … Ames
Pilar Pellicer … Senora Romero
Adriana Parra …. Pilar Romero
Luz Maria Pena … Maria
William Witney … Sheriff

Runtime: 90 min.

aka:
Quell and Co.

Cherie Lunghi, the bride-to-be who escapes Alexander Kirk in Showdown at Eagle Gap (1982)

Adriana Parra as Pilar Romero with Madison Mason as Jonathan Quell in Showdown at Eagle Gap (1982)

Memorable lines:

Enterprise Jackson, watching three whites corner an Indian brave: “This the old South or the new West.”

Alexander Kirk, when Quell refuses to work for him without Jackson; “Well, you sure are one funny kind of Southern gentleman. Alright, I’ll find something for him to do.”

Alexander Kirk: “Quell, have you ever seen a real stampede? Sorta reminds me of General Sherman marching through Georgia.”

Paco Romero: “Somehow, amigo, wherever I got business, I always got trouble too.”
Quell; “Oh, how come?”
Romero: “I ask myself the same question all the time. The only thing I can figure out is, mixed up in the middle of all this business and all the troubles, there’s always a pretty senorita.”

Alexander Kirk to Dr. Hedrick, as Angela leaves the room: “Damn, but I want her healthy. A man’s bride-to-be, not up to any affection. I’ve got top mares throwing top colts. I’ve got top cows throwing top calves. I’ve got every kind of offspring I want except the two-legged kind. Doc, please, help me!”
At which point the Doc reads “help me” in the fog on the glass he was just handed by Angela.

Quell: “You know, Pilar, your mother’s quite a woman. She runs this hacienda as well as any man I can think of.”
Pilar Romero: “No, mother is better. She knows everything a man should know about operating this hacienda. And also everything a woman should know about managing men.”

Enterprise Jackson to Angela, referring to her slight stature: “All put together, you ain’t more than a pound of shadow.”