The Showdown (2009)

Bob Handegan plays Marshal Luke Canfield, who’s searching for part of his past and struggling to keep peace in his present.

His primary present problem is a bully named Asa Brown, who dispatches his brothers to steal horses and doesn’t mind manhandling women, including Dixon Johnson (Ann Hadegan), the saloon gal the marshal is so fond of.

Well, Canfield winds up jailing Asa’s brother Mayfred for horse thievery. He proposes to Dixie.

And he adopts — at least temporarily — two young boys named Johnny and Billy, whose outlaw dad met an untimely death, thanks to the marshal’s gun.

Things are going fine until Luke and Dixie’s wedding night.

That’s when the blood-thirsty Asa orchestrates a jailbreak, leaving one deputy dead and another dying.

Luke, of course, sets out on their trail.

And that trail might solve the missing piece from his past, the piece he’s been seeking for five years, ever since his former wife, pregnant at the time, ran off with his son.

Bob Handegan as Marshal Luke Canfield, showing the effects of a brawl with Asa Brown in The Showdown (2009)

William Homel as Asa Brown, the man who likes to beat women, in The Showdown (2009)

Review:

Let’s give it two stars for effort at a time when some Western are even much more amateurish. And there’s no skimping on the cast size.

It’s just a shame the cast includes so few good actors. Speaking of size, there’s no shortage of beer-bellied middle aged men who apparently like to dress up like cowboys.

Perhaps the worst performance comes from William Homel in the Asa Brown role. Oh, he kills indiscriminately. But when he’s not pulling a trigger, he never seems very tough.

Add a ridiculous plot twist and characters who shrug off serious wounds as though they are mere scratches and the last 30 minutes or so of the film certainly strives for a lower rating.

A favorite scene: The good marshal is shot in the leg and has to swing down off his horse. In doing so, he inadvertently kicks his horse in the head.

As for flubs, watch early in the film when a not-so-sexy quartet of saloon gals do a song and dance number. Some overweight guys at a table cheer their performance, one clearly wearing a wristwatch. Circa 1880, I’m sure.

Ann Handegan as Dixie Johnson, the saloon girl the marshal is sweet on in The Showdown (2009)

Jace Fletcher as Johnny Braswell and Justin Fletcher as Billy Braswell, the two orphans Canfield takes under his wing in The Showdown (2009)

Directed by:
Jim Conover

Cast:
Bob Handegan … Marshal Luke Canfield
Ann Handegan … Dixie Johnson
William Homel … Asa Brown
Jace Fletcher … Johnny Braswell
Justin Fletcher … Billy Braswell
Timothy Hopper … Mayfred Brown
Greg Vander Vennett … Deputy Tom Brady
Rob Conover … Karl Zimmer
Raymond R.S. Heyde … Dr. Raymond Heyde
Howard Gorman … Fred Green
Bob Krouse … Calvert Brown

Runtime: 93 min.

TImothy Hopper as Mayfred Brown, the man Canfield throws in jail in The Showdown (2009)

William Homel as Asa Brown and Howard Gorman as Fred Green, welcoming two fast guns to town in The Showdown (2009)

Memorable lines:

Calvert Brown to brother Asa, during attack on Luke’s ranch house: “Damn, Asa, you said I could take her along with me. You killed her. Now you got the only one (woman). You’re one crazy son of a bitch.”

John Moll, gunshot: “Asa, you gotta help me.”
Asa pulls his gun and finishes Moll off: “Sorry, that’s the best I could do on short notice.”

Johnny, rushing to his brother: “I thought you was killed.”
Billy: “So did I. But Luke saved me.”

Dan Barth as Doctor Dan Barth, a magician, with Max in The Showdown (2009)

Bob Krouse as Calvert Brown and William Homel as Asa Brown, watching their brother being taken to jail in The Showdown (2009)

Ann Handegan as Dixie Johnson with Marshal Luke Canfield (Bob Handegan) in The Showdown (2009)

Bob Handegan as Marshal Luke Canfield, in a gunfight with horse thieves in The Showdown (2009)