The Showdown (1950)

Bill Elliott is Shadrach Jones, a former Texas State Police officer investigating his brother’s murder.

Someone shot him in the back with a derringer, then dumped his body on the outskirts of town.

There’s a long list of suspects, most of whom ride for cattleman Cap MacKellar (Walter Brennan).

And most of them hold grudges against the Texas State Police because of what they consider post-Civil War carpetbagging.

There’s a female suspect too, hotel/saloon operator Adelaide (Marie Windsor), who erased the name of Shadrach’s brother from her hotel registry.

Only her derringer is rusty and used mostly as a paperweight these days.

In order to sort out the truth, Shadrach agrees to be ramrod for a MacKellar’s cattle drive.

Sometime over the course of the journey, he figures he’ll find out the truth and get his revenge.

Oh, and Adelaide is along for the drive, having swapped her business for part of Cap MacKellar’s herd.

Bill Elliott as Shadrach Jones, showing off the evidence he found in the hotel registry in The Showdown (1950)

Walter Brennan as Cap MacKellar, the cattleman trying to convince Shadrach to give up his quest for revenge in The Showdown (1950)

Review:

One of Elliott’s better Westerns, partly because he doesn’t act like a choirboy for the entire film.

In fact, driven by revenge-fueled rage, he sees suspects everywhere, drives his cowhands hard and trusts no one.

The older Cap — Walter Brennan in another fine supporting performance — tries to warn him of how revenge will change a man.

He urges Shadrach to let “retribution” have its way, because it inevitably will.

Shadrach isn’t listening, tearing boots off one cowboy, sure he’ll find a derringer hiding there, and shooting cigarettes he’s tucked behind the ears of another man to get him to tell the truth.

It helps quite a bit that plot keeps that truth hidden from the viewer as well.

Marie WIndsor as Adelaide, explaining how she came to own part of a cattle herd in The Showdown (1950)

Harry Morgan as Rod Main, a cowpoke with a grudge against the Texas State Police in The Showdown (1950)

Directed by:
Darrell McGowan
Stuart McGowan

Cast:
Bill Elliott … Shadrach Jones
Walter Brennan … Cap MacKellar
Marie Windsor … Adelaide
Harry Morgan … Rod Main
Rhys Williams … Chokecherry
Jim Davis … Cochran
William Ching … Mike Shattay
Yakima Canutt … Davis
Nacho Galindo … Gonzales
Leif Erickson … Big Mart
Henry Rowland … Dutch
Charles Stevens … Indian Joe
Victor Kilian … Hemp
Guy Teague … Pickney
William Steele … Terry
Jack Sparks … Bartender

Runtime: 86 min.

William Ching as Mike Shattay, the cowboy who refuses to remove his boots in The Showdown (1950)

Rhys Williams as Chokechery and Jim Davis as Cochran, two of MacKellar’s men in The Showdown (1950)

Memorable lines:

Cap MacKellar to Rod Main: “Rod, you’re not gonna live long enough to wear out those britche if you don’t quit using gunpowder for brains.”

Cap MacKellar to Shadrach: “I’ve learned something son. I’ve learned what a man thinks either makes or destroys him. There’s nothing any more harmful than thinking about revenge. Poisons your mind, rots your guts and leaves a brand on you that never fades.”

Shadrach, when Adelaide tries to give him advice on the cattle drive: “Why don’t you be satisfied with just looking pretty?”

Chokecherry to Shadrach: “I shot a coyote today, plum through the heart. And the only thing it wanted to do was run. It wanted to run so badly, it even run after it was dead. Well, that’s how I feel about sinking this hook into your throat. So go ahead and shoot. A dead man’s gonna kill you.”

Marie Windsor as Adelaide, interrupting Shadrach’s interogation of Gonazles (Nacho Galindo) in The Showdown (1950)

Bill Ellliott as Shadrach Jones, trying to get answers at the point of a gun in The Showdown (1950)