Kudos to the Canadian National Film Board for this compelling account based on a true story. The film covers a span of roughly ten years in the life of British Army soldier John Brown (Tom Burlinson) who ventures to the Canadian Northwest and gives up the military life to take up gold prospecting and trapping. Brown's story is told in flashback as he stands trial for the murder of former partner McTooth (Donnelly Rhodes), who ventures in and out of Brown's circle at various times, always ending in some misfortune. A despicable character, McTooth was not altogether immune from his own indiscretions, each time he appears on the scene he's missing another body part.Brown's Indian name, given to him by Dumond, leader of the Metis, is Kootenai - 'the one who comes from the West'. Rescued from near death by Dumond's band, he's nursed back to health and falls in love with a squaw named Olivia (Michelle Thrush) who he marries and has a child with. However as the years go by and the buffalo herds thin, Kootenai is forced to take up with white men again in order to earn a living and provide for his family. The event precipitating the murder charge involves McTooth, who stole Brown's furs and pays with his life when Brown can no longer contain his rage over a decade of deceit and thievery.Brown's trial would probably have resulted in a guilty verdict, however a former acquaintance and mining partner, Arthur Vowell (John Pyper-Ferguson), turns up as a character witness for Brown with incriminating evidence against McTooth for a shooting death years earlier. One gets the impression that the judge (Raymond Burr) wouldn't have been persuaded by this argument alone, but was moved by the jury foreman's insistence that Brown's actions were a clear cut case of a man defending his private property. On that note, Kootenai Brown is released and free to reunite with his wife, present during the trial and subject to snide remarks throughout by the judge regarding her background as a 'savage'.Until now I had never heard of this movie title and with minimal exposure here to IMDb viewership, I'm not sure how one would get hold of it. My copy is part of the Mill Creek Entertainment Western Collection of two hundred fifty films on sixty DVD discs, but I haven't seen that set available recently. Best to keep a watchful eye out if you're interested, I'd recommend it as worth the effort.

I consider this a grossly underrated movie. I watched it by chance last night, unaware of its title or possible fame. I was very impressed. Top marks to the Canadian Board for taking the time and effort to bring to the screen a true tale from its 19 century past, and to have such outstanding performers portray their roles so eloquently and with total belief. Burlinson was smack-on as the hard-done-by Irish officer who fell victim to the hazards of British Columbia's gold regime. And though she spoke very little, the innocence and hardship that Michelle Thrush revealed was celebratory. A quiet yet excellent performance. If only there were more films like this.

The very first film usually dubbed a Hollywood western was Cecil B. DeMille's The Squaw Man which came out in 1913. The plot involved an English earl going west to America after one of those Victorian affairs of honor and settling down with an American Indian wife. A lot of the plot elements of The Squaw Man are in Showdown at Williams Creek. In this Tom Burlinson is not an earl, far from it he's a British officer who sees a chance for promotion in the 1860s in the army of Great Britain slim because of the custom of purchasing a commission. Ironically enough right at the time he was deciding to head to North America to seek his fortune, the Gladstone ministry and its Secretary for War Lord Cardwell was finally addressing just such abuses.In any event Burlinson goes to America, falls in with some bad companions and one of them leaves him to die with an Indian arrow wound. But he's rescued by a band of Metis, mixed racial descendants of fur trappers and Indians and falls in love with Michelle Thrush one of the women who he has a son by.The story is told in flashback by Burlinson on the stand during a murder trial where he's accused of shooting down Donnelly Rhodes that bad companion he fell in with. As the story unfolds Burlinson being left to die is only part of the reason for the homicide. I first saw Burlinson in his native Australian production of The Man From Snowy River. He gave a good account of himself here as he did there. In that other film, I managed to learn what a 'brumbie' is, we call them mustangs in the USA.Playing the judge in the courtroom is Raymond Burr who in fact is a native Canadian. I'm sure he was there to encourage independent Canadian film making and lend a little Perry Mason box office to the effort.The film is nicely photographed in British Columbia and if it's broadcast in Canada or in the USA or at the North Pole for Santa Claus, I urge you catch it.

This movie was a movie I saw a while ago on Pay TV. I have since watched it at least a dozen times. It is fairly accurate factually, as well as being highly entertaining. An amazing story to be sure. I recommend it to anyone who is at all interested in that part of Canada/USA, or who enjoys movies