The Guardsmen — Heck Thomas (Thom Hallum), Chris Madsen (Blaine Hall) and Bill Tilghman (Tom Zembrod) — ride again, this time seeking an outlaw named Bill Raidler.
Seems Raidler killed a well-respected deputy named Thomas Houston and needs to pay for his crime, though these days The Guardsmen have softened their stance of killing outlaws on sight and prefer to bring them in alive.
Word has it that Raidler is running a saloon in the town of Drumright. So Heck Thomas hatches a plan to nab him.
Madsen will don a long wig and show up in Drumright as a stranger, perhaps joining Raidler’s gang of hoodlums.
Then once he’s gauged the strength of the outlaw’s gang, he’ll get word back to his partners, who will swoop in for the capture.
The other complication is that The Guardsmen are under the direction of a new commissioner, Frank Canton.
He’s a man who prefers death at first sight for outlaws, who wants a bigger share of the bounties The Guardsmen collect and who has his eyes on the Oklahoma governor’s mansion.
Blaine Hall as Chris Matsen, trying to calm down Bill Tilghman (Tom Zembrod) after a meeting with Frank Canton in The Guardsmen II (2024)
Thom Hallum as Heck Thomas, plotting the capture of outlaw Bill Raidler in The Guardsmen II (2024)
Review:
If you’ve watched the first Guardsman film, you already know this is going to be a low-budget affair, long on tough talk and angry facial expressions, short on convincing action scenes. Problem is, this outing is sloppy to the point of being ridiculous.
In the opening scene, Chris Madsen has tracked down outlaw Emmett Dalton to learn where The Guardsmen can find Bill Raidler. After all, Raidler has killed a good man with two boys at home, a pretty little wife and a “daughter on the way.” Damn, I didn’t know they had ultrasounds in the early 1900s.
Then, after learning what he wants to know, Madsen walks off, leaving the outlaw free to go on his way, pistol in hand. Wow. We knew The Guardsmen weren’t indiscriminating killing outlaws anymore. No one said anything about setting them free so they could plot the trio’s demise later in the same film.
Then there’s a scene at the home of a woman who owes Raidler protection money that. It makes so little sense it’s laughable. And another in which the camera shows a sign that reads Pioneer Village, pretty much confirming that the town scenes were shot in a Wild West tourist destination. Still wondering if that’s the case? The next camera shot shows a directional sign pointing to the Cowboy Park and Campground.My, oh, my.
Bottom line: Don’t waste your time.
Tom Zembrod as Bill Tilghman, reacting angrily to Frank Canton’s policy changes for he and his partners in The Guardsmen II (2024)
Robert Keith as Frank Canton, new commissioner and boss of The Guardsmen in The Guardsmen II (2024)
Directed by:
Brett Bentman
Cast:
Thom Hallum … Heck Thomas
Blaine Hall … Chris Madsen
Tom Zembrod … Bill Tilghman
J. Benedict Larmore … Emmett Dalton
Buddy Love … Bill Raidler
Robert Keith … Frank Canton
Mihcelle Sherrill … Shop owner
Noah Archibald … Dalton gang member
Mason McEvers … Bandit
Caleb Shaw … Bandit
David K. Jacobs … Bandit
Runtime: 75 min.
Buddy Love as Bill Raidler, giving an assignment to a new member of his outlaw gang in The Guardsmen II (2024)
J. Benedict Larmore as Emmett Dalton, a bit bloodied after a run-in with Chris Madsen in The Guardsmen II (2024)
Memorable lines:
Frank Canton, new commissioner and boss of The Guardsmen: “What’s this rumor that I hear tell that you don’t kill outlaws anymore? Hmm? Have you forgotten how we cleaned this territory up? Because it sure as hell wasn’t with pattycakes and Eskimo kisses. I can assure you of that.”
Heck Thomas: “Time is both magnificent and dangerous gentlemen. Too much proves fatal.”
Marshal Chris Madsen, asking a sheriff if he can spend a night in a jail cell: “Tend to do my best thinking in places I fear the most.”
Bill Radler: “A great man beats his enemy to submission. So tell me. Do you give up?”
Chris Madsen, in the middle of taking a beating: “Hell no.”
Bill Radler: “I hear the Guardsman got soft on killing folk?”
Heck Thomas: “Folks? Maybe. Outlaws? Never.”
Tom Zembrod as Bill Tilghman and Blaine Hall as Heck Thomas, awaiting Chris Madsen’s return in The Guardsmen II (2024)
Thom Hallum as Heck Thomas (pistol pointed), catching the outlaws in their lair in The Guardsmen II (2024)
){kind=link}