Cowboy hero Wild Bill Elliott in his last movie for Republic Pictures. A stalwart of the genre, Elliott plays Shadrach Jones, a Texas State Policeman who gives up his badge to hunt down the man that shot his brother in the back, while robbing him of money set aside to purchase an Arizona ranch. Shad believes that the man he is looking for will be working on a cattle drive for Cap Mackellar(Walter Brennan). Jones takes on the job as trail boss with intent of finding the guilty man. Revenge or retribution? Justice or payback? Actually a B Western with a top notch cast making THE SHOWDOWN a must see. The cast also includes: Marie Windsor, Harry Morgan, William Ching, Jim Davis, Leif Erickson and Rhys Williams.

Artistic Western? That one reviewer must have been hitting the Hoppy Juice a bit too often. I guess he thinks any Western that's not a clash over water rights is "artistic." This piece of junk was obvious from the start (Surprise? You thought the girl did it?)Also "the cast was excellent , including Elliot?" He was stiffer than the oak tress in the background. I guess I can't take too much "Art" in my Westerns. Give me "Stagecoach" anytime.The Showdown. Bill Elliot. Was old Elliot Wooden School of Acting Guru a regular Republic leading man? Why was Walter Brennan playing that type of character at that point in his career?

The Showdown is one unusual western product from Herbert J. Yates's Republic Pictures. It's a vengeance quest tale the kind of thing Randolph Scott would be doing in his westerns. Wild Bill Elliott, hero to many a kid for being Red Ryder plays a mean and vicious former state Texas policeman on the trail of someone who shot his brother in the back. The film also bears a lot of resemblance in the production values to the Dick Powell western, Stagecoach West.The film opens with Elliott digging up his brother's body at the graveyard, an unusual enough opening for a western. 19th century forensics shows Elliott that his brother was killed, shot in the back with a derringer. It's the only clue he's got to the identity of the perpetrator.Cattleowner Walter Brennan hires Elliott to drive his herd through to Montana. Elliott was a member of the Texas Police when Texas was under carpetbagger rule. The mostly ex-rebels who are Brennan's hands have a hate on for Elliott on general principles. He hires on because he's got reason to suspect his culprit will be on the cattle drive.Take a look down the cast list and you'll see that we've got a treasure trove full of suspects, remembering the roles a lot of these people play in films. A few get killed along the way and are eliminated as suspects, some are eliminated by other means. I have to say that I guessed wrong myself as to the identity.The Showdown teases you every minute of the film as to the identity of the murderer. Elliott schemes and searches his suspects for the owner of La Pistolita. In this great cast I have to say that one who stands out is Harry Morgan. He plays very much against type as a hot tempered young gunslinger, far from Colonel Sherman Potter of MASH as you can get.When the identity of the killer is revealed the climax is in how it happens, how the individual meets his end and Elliott's reaction to same. The Showdown is a great example of blended genre, a western noir. It's a real crackerjack sleeper of a film and I think people who generally don't like westerns will gravitate to this film.

Once in awhile Republic Studios would release a little gem among all the mediocre B oaters that they put out, and this happens to be one of 'em. William Elliott plays a Texas Ranger named Shadrack Jones who is trying to find out about the circumstances surrounding the brother's death. When he learns that his brother was shot in the back, he's so blinded by hate and revenge that he becomes ruthless and cruel. Even to the point of being rude to one of my favorite 50s scream queens, Marie Windsor. But Jones justifies his actions in order to get some answers about his brother who had stayed in Windsor's hotel, the night he was murdered.The graveyard scene in the beginning where Jones is digging up his brother's freshly dug grave while Cap McKellar (Walter Brennan) and Rod Main (Henry Morgan) just happen to drop by, is excellent. Jones gives Rod a warning that he'll never forget. See, he believes someone in McKellar 's Circle-K outfit is responsible for what happened.McKellar is about to take the Circle-K on a cattle drive to Montana and sell his beef to the army. He's so impressed with Jones that he hires him on as trail boss after Jones is forced to shoot his regular foreman, Big Mart (Leif Erickson) in an excellent gun duel in the saloon. Windsor goes along after selling her saloon for 1/3 of the cattle, which makes Jones even more hostile because he doesn't want a woman going along on the cattle drive. Of course all the other trail hands would love to put a bullet in Jones' back because he misjudges everyone that's around him. We even get to a point where the viewer doesn't know whether Jones is the good guy or not. That's how distasteful he gets. He treats them all mean and sadistic, showing little compassion and mercy. Jones suspects everyone including Marie Windsor, but events will occur that'll prove him wrong.First, Rod Main gets shot during an attempted gun duel with Jones by someone else. Then he suspects Bill has a derringer hidden in his boot and punches and humiliates him in front of everyone else until he finds out Bill's wearing a leg brace. Bill doesn't let anyone know about it because he's ashamed of being seen as a 'cripple'.The ending is a real shocker. It's one that comes from out of nowhere, where the real culprit meets divine retribution without Jones having to do anything. You'll have to see the film to find out what I'm talking about because I ain't telling. (heh..)It's a film that makes you wonder what's gonna happen next and I wholeheartedly recommend it.7 out of 10