Border Shootout

Young rancher Kirby Frye (Cody Glenn) is appointed deputy in a small town tyrannized by ruthless Phil Sundeen, the son of one of the founders of the town.

First of all, this script is terrible. The dialogue is ridiculous, and how many times can you have characters say "chili pickers" and "loco" before it sounds silly? Not many, I can assure you. The acting did little to elevate the writing, so it comes across just as cheesy (or worse) than intended.

But also, the DVD I watched this on (a two-pack with "Ruthless Four") is as bad as a VHS transfer, probably worse. It looks like a public domain film. Would a new transfer help the film? Probably not, but for fans of Glenn Ford or Michael Horse, it might be nice to be able to actually see them.

I started out really liking this western for the first 50 minutes or so. It had a story by Elmore Leonard that was quite coherent up to that point. Unfortunately from then on, it does start to fall apart with the dialogue becoming more and more simplified, almost lazy as if the director, Chris McIntyre, couldn't wait to get it finished, as he also helped with the writing, or more likely tinkered with Leonard's original. I liked the photography, good colour design but bad editing I thought. Seems choppy, particularly the second half. This was the great Glenn Ford's last western and he hadn't appeared in one since 'Santee' 17 years earlier. Pity he didn't do what Randolph Scott did and retire before he got too old for the part and kept us with our memories of how great he was in movies like 3.10 To Yuma and Jubal. The supporting parts are well played by some of the older character actors, none of whom I knew apart from Michael Ansara doing his usual native American stint, but the film is let down by the younger players who mostly seem very wooden. The one exception is Charleen Tilton, she of Dallas fame, who I found very sexy, particularly as her blouse kept falling of her lovely shoulders. Without wanting to appear sexist, I also thought she acted very well, and much better than the younger male leads and brightened up every scene where she appears. I really wanted to like this film but unfortunately poor old Glenn was way too old for his part and looked very frail and it's a bit painful to watch a fight scene where he is replaced by a stunt man who knocks out about four big tough guys. As he picks himself up from the floor you can see him trying to catch his breath and sadly it looked like as a result of his age, rather than anything that happens in the scene. Still, he can still talk the talk like the old days, even if he can't walk the walk. Four stars, mostly for Charleen Tilton then.

County Sheriff Glenn Ford can't cover the entire area of his county, so he's got to have deputies in all the towns. When one doesn't prove up to the job, the leading citizens of the town urge Ford to appoint young rancher Cody Glenn who caught a couple of rustlers who had been plaguing the area for months. Ford give him the appointment, but the town doesn't back up the new deputy.

This is all at the urging of Jeff Kaake, son of Gale Wingfield who's the local Ben Cartwright in the area. He wants and gets a lynching of the Mexicans who did the rustling with no trial. That makes Glenn's duty quite clear, to go against the townspeople who so recently made him deputy and gave him their confidence.

Naturally of course Kaake has a hidden agenda, but for that you have to see Border Shootout. He's also having an affair with Charlene Tilton, a woman who was brokered in marriage to one of the town council, but just like her most famous role of Lucy Ewing, the young lady has needs. That part of the plot would not have gotten Border Shootout made as a feature film western back in the day.

The script also brings together all the dramatis personae together for a final shootout in a Mexican border town. One of the roles, Russell Todd, as a gunfighter hired by Kaake is really poorly defined in the story.

Glenn Ford who made some of the best westerns ever like 3:10 to Yuma, Jubal, and The Sheepman makes his farewell western in Border Shootout. I wish he could have gotten something better.

The film was nicely photographed in Arizona, I just wish the story matched the scenery.

If you are watching "Border Shootout" in order to see Glenn Ford, you might be disappointed. Yes, he's in the film...but only on occasion and he really is way too old (at 74) to be punching people as often as he does in this film! You also will likely be disappointed if you want a good western. While it's very watchable, it just goes on too long (the ending seems to take half the film) and seems cheap.

The film is about a border town in the old west where a jerk-face named Sundeen and his 'committee' take over the town in order to bring law and order. In reality, Sundeen is just another evil boss trying to run everything...and he does some cattle rustling on the side. Few are willing to stand up to him except for a not particularly interesting new deputy and by the end, enough folks have gotten sick of Sundeen he might just have overplayed his hand.

Overall, a pretty dull film due to its pacing, uninteresting leads and, oddly, the overuse of the hymn "What a Friend We Have in Jesus"...in the saloon of all places.

Released in 1990 and directed by Chris McIntyre, "Border Shootout" is a Western starring Cody Glenn as a farmer-turned-sheriff of the border town Randado. He uncovers a cattle-rustling ring linked to the leaders of the town and havoc ensues. Glenn Ford, Michael Forest, Charlene Tilton, Michael Ansara, Michael Horse, Russell Todd and Jeff Kaake co-star.

Ford was 73 during filming and this was his final Western. It's a Turner Pictures production and therefore has a TV-budget vibe, but it's several rungs below the typical TV movie in quality. Perhaps this was because the director previously directed only one episode of a TV series. Or perhaps it was just because the producers spent most of the budget on the good cast. The opening score starts off as a lame synth piece, which is anachronistic, but it gets a lot better if you're patience, adding guitar and percussion, etc. Further low-quality can be observed in the over-choreographed fight scenes and stilted delivery of dialogue, like the actors just learned their lines the same day they shot the scene.

If you can acclimate to the low-budget quality, however, there's a lot to appreciate about "Border Shootout" besides the quality cast and the fact that it's Ford's last Western. For one, the actors take the material seriously and give it their best shot despite knowing it was a micro-budge production. Secondly, the production features excellent Arizona locations and sets. True, the movie was shot on existing sets for other Westerns, like the impressive fort scenes, but, still, the locations are notable and the movie doesn't have that set-bound look of many scenes in older Westerns.

Most importantly, the story and the characters slowly take you in so that, by the second half, you forget the movie's limitations and just enjoy it. So, if you find yourself having a hard time getting into "Border Shootout" I encourage you to be patient because the second half delivers the goods, as far as comic book Westerns go. (The script was based on Elmore Leonard's novel "Law at Randado"). The stand that several characters make in the third act is almost moving; as is the redemption of one of the characters. Someone asks him: "I thought you hired out to anybody with a price" to which he responds: "So did I... but sometimes you get to thinking about things you thought you already knew."

The film runs 89 minutes and was shot at Old Tucson and the Sonoran Desert, Arizona.

GRADE: B-