The Dalton Gang (2020)

Frank Dalton is gunned down while wearing a deputy’s badge, prompting brother Bob (Jerry Chesser) to vow vengeance.

But he and brothers Emmett (Russell Dobson) and Grat (Alan Cope) want the law on their side, so they get badges of their own.

That works fine until they kill a wanted man, but are denied the $2,000 bounty on his head because the one-year deadline on the reward has passed.

Noting that the dead man must have stolen much more than $2,000 to earn a reward that high, Bob suggests the brothers try their hands as outlaws.

So they form the Dalton Gang and head off on a series of heists so successful Bob soon starts running out of places to stash the loot.

He’s a bit worried about the impact his outlaw life is having on his son Skeeter. Elizabeth, Skeeter’s mom, discovers the Daltons are now scorned in their own hometown.

And an outlaw’s reputation is putting a crimp in Emmett’s plan to marry Julia Johnson, the woman he loves.

But Bob is undeterred. In fact, he planning a double bank job in Coffeyville, Kansas.

Even Frank’s ghost — who comes to visit Bob in the middle of the night to “knock some sense into your ass” — isn’t certain that’s a good idea.

Jerry Chesser as Bob Dalton, contemplating how he’ll avenge his brother’s death in The Dalton Gang (2020)

Russell Dobson as Emmett Dalton, trying to earn enough money to marry his lady love in The Dalton Gang (2020)

Review:

“Don’t be stupid,” the marshal warns the Dalton Gang just before the climatic gunfight begins.

The same warning would apply to any Western fan who settles in for another Christoper Forbes’ film.

Seriously, 30 films into his directing career, this is as good as it gets? Most of the movie is flat-out atrocious.

When the gang occasionally hits pay dirt, it’s because the film turns unintentionally hilarious. Just check out the scene where Bob Dalton chats with the bank teller while waiting for the supposedly time-locked bank vault to open.

For those who aren’t familiar with Forbes’ earlier films, a “saloon” scene early in this one hints at what’s to come.

The bottles of booze are sitting on a mantel. The type of mantel you’d find above a fireplace. And they’re all empty!

Alan Cope as Grat Dalton, teasing Bob about his inability to start a campfire in The Dalton Gang (2020)

Daniel Dobson as Bill Powers, a member of the Dalton Gang in The Dalton Gang (2020)

Directed by:
Christopher Forbes

Cast:
Jerry Chesser … Bob Dalton
Russell Dobson … Emmett Dalton
Alan Cope … Grat Dalton
Jezibell Anat … Bridget McGill
Wade Fulmer … Marshal Fuller
Gunner Bridgers … Skeeter
Lizzi Tomkins … Lizzi
William Adams … Slade
Terri Gibson … Terry
Paige Heape … Elizabeth
James Arnold Foster … Will Towerly
Daniel Dobson … Bill Powers
William Wylie … Senator Curtis
Kelly Forbes … Bank teller
Joseph Zuchowski … Caleb
Meghan Bridgers … Julia Johnson
Ryan Swank … Frank Dalton
Bobby Snider … Sheriff Miller
Cheyenne Roberts … Anne

Runtime: 81 min.

Wade Fulmer as Marshal Fuller, sensing trouble in Coffeyville in The Dalton Gang (2020)

William Wylie as Senator Curtis, the man who orders time-locked vaults for his banks in The Dalton Gang (2020)

Memorable lines:

Emmett Dalton: “We have to be calm and think this through.”
Bob Dalton: “I am calm! When I find out who did this, I’m gonna kill ’em.”

Julia Johnson, when Emmett Dalton botches his proposal by asking her to marry him without a ring and without asking her father first: “What are you doing, Emmett?”
Emmett Dalton: “I have no idea.”

Bob Dalton: “Let’s be outlaws.”
Grat Dalton: “Different whore every night?”
Bob Dalton: “Two.”
Grat Dalton: “I’m in.”

Elizabeth: “Why is there money buried in the back yard?”
Bob Dalton: “I’m runnin’ out of places to stash it.”
Elizabeth: “What about a bank?”
Bob Dalton: “I don’t think that’s a good ideaer.”

Jezibell Anat as Bridget McGill, holding a gun on a man who isn’t paying her whores in The Dalton Gang (2020)

Paige Heape as Elizabeth, the mother of Bob Dalton’s son Skeeter in The Dalton Gang (2020)

Gunner Bridgers as Skeeter, watching dad Bob Dalton go from lawman to outlaw in The Dalton Gang (2020)

Cheyenne Roberts as saloon girl Anne, humored at finding a Dalton who won’t be tempted by her curves in The Dalton Gang (2020)