Made on a fairly moderate budget, The Showdown tries to be a modest old-fashioned western. The intention is good, but it feels like a mix of a made-for-TV movie and a home movie. The costumes and props are clearly something you can get anywhere and the actors feel like ordinary people. The characters have no development and feel generic, as does the script. The pace is quite slow and bland making the movie not very interesting. At the beginning everything is rather pure filler without showing anything beyond the relationship between the sheriff and Dixie. Nothing interesting happens until halfway through the movie when the problem with the bandits occurs. The Showdown is a western that has good intentions and is beautiful to look at, but it is a shame that it is too limited by the budget. My final rating for this movie is a 4/10.
10 Reviews
The acting was so bad that we all laughed
straty025 October 2009
I sat down to watch this with my uncle and father, both of them just love westerns. However this is more like a 'folks in the woods' rather than a true 'western'. The acting was truly bad, it looked and felt like an amateur stage show, even the guns sounded like starter pistols.
Some of the lines in the film are so bad that they are funny, if only the actors were not trying to be serious! After watching this we all heartily agreed that it was one of the worst films ever made.
If you are a fan of westerns I recommend that you sit down to one of your Audie Murphy westerns from the 1950's and watch that instead.
Don't waste your time with this one folks.
Some of the lines in the film are so bad that they are funny, if only the actors were not trying to be serious! After watching this we all heartily agreed that it was one of the worst films ever made.
If you are a fan of westerns I recommend that you sit down to one of your Audie Murphy westerns from the 1950's and watch that instead.
Don't waste your time with this one folks.
Somebody's home movie gone horribly wrong
markci31 December 2009
This is apparently somebody's home movie project gone horribly wrong. Note the list of "actors," all of whom share a handful of last names, and few of which have been in so much as a toothpaste commercial before, or since. The "director" hasn't directed anything else either, but at least he was an extra on an episode of Walker Texas Ranger.
Needless to say the acting, writing, photography, direction and everything else are strictly amateur-hour. In all seriousness, if you filmed your local high school's drama club show, it couldn't be a whole lot worse. It makes the average after-school special look like Citizen Kane.
Positive reviews and ratings are no doubt from the cast and crew. That is the ONLY possible explanation. In support of this, consider that as of this writing, neither of the two positive reviewers have reviewed a single other film on IMDb. In fact, they were written one day apart, and coincidentally right around the time that this direct-to-DVD crapfest would have been hitting the bottom shelf of your local video store.
Needless to say the acting, writing, photography, direction and everything else are strictly amateur-hour. In all seriousness, if you filmed your local high school's drama club show, it couldn't be a whole lot worse. It makes the average after-school special look like Citizen Kane.
Positive reviews and ratings are no doubt from the cast and crew. That is the ONLY possible explanation. In support of this, consider that as of this writing, neither of the two positive reviewers have reviewed a single other film on IMDb. In fact, they were written one day apart, and coincidentally right around the time that this direct-to-DVD crapfest would have been hitting the bottom shelf of your local video store.
It was sooooo bad ...
aussie-made-glass15 January 2010
This has to be one of the worst movies I ever hired. It's not about the money I spent on hiring it, I can always make more money ... but I will never get my time back!
Lets get down to the nitty gritty. Costumes and sets, as well as make-up and some of the effects are quite good ... and that's about as far as it goes.
The lighting is very bad, it does not enhance the moods in various scenes but instead works really hard at destroying it. The clothes are too clean, as are various furnishings. I've never seen a Western Saloon so squeaky clean you could almost eat off the floor!
The acting is less than second rate, the actors (if you can call them actors) sound very wooden and almost like they're struggling to remember the script with such intensity that they forget all about actually acting. The lines of the script itself are very lame and often cliché, which in many instances could make the movie funny ... but it's not a comedy. Some of the extras in the background just stand there like wax dummies (in fact in one scene I actually thought they were wax dummies until they moved slightly). There are movies in which the actors will draw you into their story and make it believable, this isn't one of them, I didn't feel or care about any of the characters at all.
The background music is also very cliché. If they had elevators with music back in those days, they would play some of the music from this movie.
All in all The Showdown has a very home brewed quality about it, which is fine if it was made as a home movie for the family to watch or for the re-enactment society to screen on a slow Saturday afternoon. I just wish that such a waste of time hadn't been unleashed on the general movie-watching public.
I cannot recommend this movie ... and I want my time back!
Lets get down to the nitty gritty. Costumes and sets, as well as make-up and some of the effects are quite good ... and that's about as far as it goes.
The lighting is very bad, it does not enhance the moods in various scenes but instead works really hard at destroying it. The clothes are too clean, as are various furnishings. I've never seen a Western Saloon so squeaky clean you could almost eat off the floor!
The acting is less than second rate, the actors (if you can call them actors) sound very wooden and almost like they're struggling to remember the script with such intensity that they forget all about actually acting. The lines of the script itself are very lame and often cliché, which in many instances could make the movie funny ... but it's not a comedy. Some of the extras in the background just stand there like wax dummies (in fact in one scene I actually thought they were wax dummies until they moved slightly). There are movies in which the actors will draw you into their story and make it believable, this isn't one of them, I didn't feel or care about any of the characters at all.
The background music is also very cliché. If they had elevators with music back in those days, they would play some of the music from this movie.
All in all The Showdown has a very home brewed quality about it, which is fine if it was made as a home movie for the family to watch or for the re-enactment society to screen on a slow Saturday afternoon. I just wish that such a waste of time hadn't been unleashed on the general movie-watching public.
I cannot recommend this movie ... and I want my time back!
Absolutely dreadful!
ghwriter25 January 2010
I recently hired this unbelievably bad 'movie' from the video shop. I love Westerns. This attempt is absolutely dreadful. Incredibly bad acting all round, atrocious script, horrendous direction and a total waste of time and effort. Another reviewer praised this mess as a 'great amateur' attempt. The dude who wrote that must be a member of the director's family! Avoid this movie at all costs, at the video shop, in the $2 bin, passed on for free......whatever! The goose who wrote the 'review/opinion' on the front cover should immediately surrender his media membership card. He must be blind and deaf! Comparing this tragedy to 'High Noon' and 'Dances With Wolves' is a travesty of cinematic justice.
Once Again Pekin, You Fail
tdcarde29 March 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Well this "movie" is pretty much a joke, and most of us that live in the area where it was filmed (central Illinois) simply kept tabs on its myspace page during its filming for a good laugh. Actually what completely degrades the integrity of this film, other than the fact there's absolutely no acting skill and the screenplay is complete garbage (the awkward number of times God**** is said is of drinking game proportions), is that they actually try to compare its story and I'm assuming overall quality to classic, award-winning western films. REALLY. Whoever's idea it was to add that caption under the title, comparing it "in the tradition" of a film that won 7 Oscars... wow.
Now if someone were to make a movie about the making of this movie (a la Christopher Guest's "Waiting For Guffman") that might garner something of a following.
Now if someone were to make a movie about the making of this movie (a la Christopher Guest's "Waiting For Guffman") that might garner something of a following.
Possibly the worst Western I have ever seen
dwattridge11 October 2015
This film has the worst script, worst acting I have ever seen. I could only take 10 minutes before shutting it off.
What I find even worse than the movie itself is that the DVD cover boasts that it is in the tradition of High Noon and Dances with Wolves and soon to be a classic. Even though I only lasted 10 minutes a blind person could spot flaws in the set. The dance hall saloon was lit up as bright as the Las Vegas strip even though it is supposedly lit by oil lanterns. I have a collection of over 600 westerns and I can tell you this one is NOT part of it. Save your money and especially your time and avoid this movie.
What I find even worse than the movie itself is that the DVD cover boasts that it is in the tradition of High Noon and Dances with Wolves and soon to be a classic. Even though I only lasted 10 minutes a blind person could spot flaws in the set. The dance hall saloon was lit up as bright as the Las Vegas strip even though it is supposedly lit by oil lanterns. I have a collection of over 600 westerns and I can tell you this one is NOT part of it. Save your money and especially your time and avoid this movie.
Great film for being all amateurs
alsmith4618 May 2009
This is a really great western. Hard to believe it was shot entirely in Illinois. I am from Texas and it sure fooled me. This is a truly wonderful experience and I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. We need more of these independent films that show that people can make a movie an act of love and dedication. You can see that the folks that made this movie really cared about doing the best job possible and without being paid or having some kind of contract. It was created in their spare time and definitely took many hours of their free time to make it. Again all I can say is job well done folks, this is truly a labor of love. Hope to see more of these great endeavors.
I liked it
khupp118 November 2010
Warning: Spoilers
The Showdown. I will pit this Western against any other movie world wide that cost $100,000 USD to produce. I have read complaints about the sound of the guns and the cleanliness of the saloon. Please! give me a break this movie was filmed 100% in Central Illinois not on some multi million dollar sound stage. Every outdoor scene was filmed outdoors (OMG what a novel idea). Real horses not some special trained stunt horses. Every actor did his or her own stunts. Granted it may not have been the best western ever made and some of the acting sucked. But the men and women that acted in it never claimed to be Hollywood actors. I dare any of the complainers that ragged on this movie to make a better one for the same money. The fact that none of the actors have received more then a copy of the movie in exchange for their performances doesn't change the facts that each one put in a lot of hard work creating this film. I bought it after seeing it. I am very proud of a Film made in little old Peoria.
Great Western relief amidst too many horror flicks
mcpts19 May 2009
This was a wonderful western, with a very sweet love story mixed right in. The characters were believable in their roles, and did a great job with sincerity. I have always loved westerns, and lately there hasn't been very many western movies coming out. These days just about every new movie coming out is a horrible blood and guts horror movie that I totally don't care to see, so you bet it is nice to see a great western pop up with lots of beautiful horses and scenery accompanied by incredibly great music. This is a real-good, feel-good movie, and you know there hasn't been very many of those out as of late. Check it out, you'll be glad you did. There is nothing better to make for an enjoyable evening than watching a movie such as this. Well done everyone, well done!
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