Showdown (1973 film)

Showdown is a 1973 American Western film produced and directed by George Seaton and starring Dean Martin, Rock Hudson and Susan Clark.

Showdown
1973 Theatrical Poster
Directed by	George Seaton
Screenplay by	Theodore Taylor
Story by	Hank Fine
Produced by	George Seaton
Starring	Dean Martin Rock Hudson Susan Clark
Cinematography	Ernest Laszlo
Edited by	John W. Holmes
Music by	David Shire
Production company	Universal Pictures
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	June 20, 1973 (1973-06-20)
Running time	99 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Plot

Childhood friends Billy Massey and Chuck Jarvis go in opposite directions after Chuck ends up married to Billy's former sweetheart. Billy becomes a bank robber, Chuck a lawman. But they end up joining forces against common enemies in a final showdown. A series of life circumstances put two close childhood friends pitted against each other. The seemingly inevitable ending takes a twist that allows the friendship to continue after Billy commits an act of bravery that he knows is suicidal but saves Chuck's life.

Cast

• Dean Martin as Billy Massey
• Rock Hudson as Chuck Jarvis
• Susan Clark as Kate Jarvis
• Donald Moffat as Art Williams
• John McLiam as F.J. Wilson
• Charles Baca as Martinez
• Jackson Kane as Clem
• Ben Zeller as Perry Williams
• John Richard Gill as Earl Cole
• Philip L. Mead as Jack Bonney
• Rita Rogers as Girl
• Vic Mohica as Big Eye
• Raleigh Gardenhire as Joe Williams
• Ed Begley Jr. as Pook
• Dan Boydston as Rawls

Production notes

It was the final film for Seaton, who three years earlier had directed Martin and an all-star cast in the blockbuster hit Airport. It was also Dean Martin's last western.

In a November 1972 episode of the TV series McMillan & Wife called "Cop of the Year," McMillan (played by Hudson) visits the set of a Western film titled "Showdown" that is in production (directed by Seaton, who plays himself) to ask the special-effects supervisor about how to make a gunshot wound appear on the chest of a gunman—who, in the shot being filmed, is the victim in a showdown.

Reception

Quentin Tarantino later wrote that "the slightness of the whole project is surprising. But along with the pairing of Hudson & Martin, who share the screen for the first time, it's the films low-key modesty that ends up being one of its most charming features."^[1] Leonard Maltin awarded this film two-and-a-half stars out of four, calling it "agreeable but unexceptional."^[2]