The Gundown is an independently made Western that I discovered one day while browsing through the listings on Netflix’s online streaming service. It’s an OK movie as long as you can overlook the many B-grade aspects of it like bad editing and patched together action scenes. If you like stuff about gunslingers and don’t mind an overabundance of profanity, you might get a kick out of this one.

The story here is about a pistol-packing guy named Cole who goes around killing outlaws and cleaning up towns. His adventures in personal revenge mixed with vigilantism take him to a town called Dead River where outlaws have taken over and the people live in fear. Cole falls in love with a prostitute along the way, and she winds up being used as a pawn in the war of Cole versus most everybody else. You can expect tons of cussin’ and shootin’ in this one.

I though the plot was pretty decent, though rather typical for a Western. It has hookers with hearts of gold, inept law enforcement, and local do-gooders who just get in the way while trying to please everybody. The villain wears a lot of black, too.

The sets were pretty impressive in this, especially the outdoor scenes. There are a couple of scenes inside a saloon where it was obvious that a screen was placed outside the door, and it was kind of distracting to have it so prominently placed in the background.  

I was also put off by the dialogue throughout the movie. It had way too much profanity that seemed forced, almost like listening to teenagers play Call of Duty online. The screenwriters must’ve been watching a lot of Deadwood and tried for the same effect, but it did not work so well.

There is a lot of action in this, but it’s choppy as hell. It’s the kind of movie where you will see somebody pull back to throw a punch, then the camera cuts to show the impact. The same thing happens with gunshots and dynamite explosions, and it doesn’t flow smoothly at all. There is a good bit of bloody violence but it seemed thrown together like there was no choreography so they just filmed it all one blow at a time. I have seen a lot worse, though.

Peter Coyote is the top billed actor in this, but he’s only in it for a little bit. The lead role of Cole is played by Andrew Walker, who I thought looked familiar but hasn’t really had a breakout role despite being in a bunch of B-movies and TV shows. The villain is played by William Shockley, who also co-wrote the script. He’s probably most familiar from his role on Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, though I never watched that show.

In the end, I can’t say I was too impressed with The Gundown. It was an ambitious effort that had a few good scenes, but I never could get into the movie.



Recommended: No