Thom Hallum is Heck Thomas, Blaine Hall is Chris Madsen and Tom Zembrod is Bill Tilghman. Together, they’re The Guardsmen, Oklahoma lawmen known for working together to rid the territory of outlaws.
An Indian woman has requested they track down Richard West as their next job. Seems he’s causing trouble up Guthrie way.
Her tribe can’t pay much for their assistant, but Heck accepts the job after confirmation that West’s victims include young children.
Meanwhile, the outlaw has sought refuge with a frontier family.
And he threatens to kill the entire Williams family — husband, wife and their two sons — if the husband doesn’t meet with The Guardsmen and send them off on a false trail.
After meeting with territorial Judge E.D. Nix, Madsen and Tilghman ride off to meet their partner, who’s already on the outlaw’s trail.
Judge Nix has the deputies wondering if it might be time to change their tactics in a changing West.
In other words, perhaps it’s time to start bringing some outlaws back alive.
Thom Hallum as Heck Thomas, leader of The Guardsmen, on a vicious outlaw’s trail in The Guardsmen (2024)
Tom Zembrod as Bill Tilghman, fretting because Heck Thomas had ridden off alone in The Guardsmen (2024)
Review:
A leisurely-paced low-budget Western filled with all sorts of phony fretting and some poorly done action scenes.
Fred Mancuso brings some vigor to his role as the villain, but much of the interplay between our three heroes makes little sense.
They’ve been riding together for quite a while, always as a trio, we’re led to believe.
Yet on this journey, Heck shares how his wife and daughter died for the first time, Bill reveals how he was once had children and Chris admits to his love of poetry.
There’s a major plot flaw too. Richard West demands the husband send The Guardsman on that false trail before Heck Thomas accepts the job of tracking down the outlaw.
Blaine Hall as Chris Madsen, vowing his support if Heck Thomas decides to track down outlaw Richard West in The Guardsmen (2024)
Fred Mancuso as Richard West, an outlaw threatening the Williams family in The Guardsmen (2024)
Directed by:
Brett Bentman
Cast:
Thom Hallum … Heck Thomas
Blaine Hall … Chris Madsen
Tom Zembrod … Bill Tilghman
Fred Mancuso … Richard West
Tiffany McDonald … Mildred Williams
Cliff Dean … Rusty Williams
as Cliff Kammerdiener
Andy Anderson … Bank teller
Beau Thompson … E.D. Nix
Zachary Colmenero … John Williams
Ryan Begeman … Jack Williams
Zamira Scattolon … Tallulah
Joey Chance … Lou Jinks
Bob Stewart … Bank robber
Runtime: 73 min.
Cliff Dean as Rusty Williams, order to lie to The Guardsmen or risk his family members’ lives in The Guardsmen (2024)
Tiffany McDonald as Mildred WIlliams, shocked when an outlaw barges into her home in The Guardsmen (2024)
Memorable lines:
Mildred Williams, when outlaw Richard West demands she make him breakfast: “Why don’t you make it yourself?”
West: “I wasn’t asking, sweetheart.
Mildred: “Oh, well, neither was I.”
West: “Alright, you know what’s going to happen if you don’t go in there and make me breakfast? First, I’m gonna kill your husband when he returns. Second, I’m gonna kill those boys after school, and I’ll make you watch too. Third, I’ll put a bullet between your eyes so they can’t offer you an open casket at your funeral. Now, I know you’re thinkin’ to yourself, ‘He won’t do all that. He’s just aimin’ to scare me is all.’ But I will do it. And if you don’t go in there and make me some biscuits and pour some of that smooth gravy on top, I’ll do it again.”
Heck Thomas: “We don’t arrest people. What we do is kill known criminals.”
Richard West: “Some of us were just born to be bad. Fella like me don’t survive givin’ others a fair chance.”
Rusty Williams: “I heard the Guardsmen were their own judge.”
Heck Thomas: “Things change.”
Zamira Scattolon as Tallulah, the Indian woman who asks The Guardsmen to track down outlaw Richard West in The Guardsmen (2024)
Beau Thompson as E.D. Nix, warning The Guardsmen that the days of simply executing their prey may be coming to an end in The Guardsmen (2024)
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