Showdown (1963)

Showdown (1963)

Aka: The Iron Collar

The  border town of Adone is one of a kind: it has no jail, therefore perpetrators are chained to a post in the middle of the town street. This is what happens to two friends, Chris (Audie Murphy) and Bert (Charles Drake), after spending a night in town. Chris was already a bit skeptic about their visit, because his friend has a habit of drinking and making trouble at the card table. Of course his worries come true: a drunken Chris provokes a brawl in the saloon and the two end up in the middle of the street, with an iron collar around their necks.

It's an unpleasant situation, but under normal circumstances they will be released the next day, so Chris tries to get some sleep while Bert is sobering up. Unfortunately, they're not alone: also tied to the pole, is a dangerous outlaw called Lavalle, who forces the others to dig out the pole.  After a brief shootout, the 'prisoners' manage to escape and fly into the hills. Chris and Bert decide to go their own way, but they're caught up by Lavalle and his men ...

Showdown is a stark, grim movie, with a short running time (under 80 minutes), made on a tight budget. The outdoor scenes were shot around Lone Pine, but to save money, the movie was shot in black-and-white, a decision that made Murphy furious. Lone Pine was also a favorite shooting location of Bud Boetticher and there's no doubt that the famous Scott-Boetticher westerns from the Ranown Cycle were a major source of inspiration. There is a hostage situation, a strong-willed yet vulnerable lady, and an undaunted hero, who refuses to give an inch. Murphy's Chris is a man who acts on instinct rather than reason: he risks his own neck when trying to save his friend's life, even though Bert has told him he wouldn't ever do the same thing for him ...

The film was almost completely overlooked and panned by those who had noticed it, but recent comments have been more positive. The script is a bit  over-elaborate and not all twists and turns are believable, but basically this is a B-movie and scripts for these movies were never meant to be scrutinized methodically. Audie Murphy is his usual steadfast self and there are nice cameos by Strother Martin (as the town drunk) and L.Q. Jones (as a silent member of the gang), six years before they became a notorious couple of scavengers in Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch. 

Dir: R.G. Springsteen, Cast: Audie Murphy, Kathleen Crowley, Charles Drake, Harold J. Stone, Skipp Homeier, Strother Martin, L.Q. Jones