A somewhat muddled Western with Glenn Ford in the credits, "Border Shootout" often keeps you wondering when he might actually appear on screen. The picture has the flavor of a made for TV Western, and there are enough 'huh?' moments to keep you off balance. Like the first time new deputy Kirby Frye (Cody Glenn) rides out of town, gets shot at, and all of a sudden there's Indian Jim (Michael Horse) right there beside him firing back at the bad guys. With no explanation, Kirby talks Jim into giving himself up, and I had to ask myself, well, what did Jim do except try to get the deputy out of a fix? Stuff like this seemed to go on throughout the movie, and if you weren't paying attention, you might have missed that the central story had to do with hot head Phil Sundeen (Jeff Kaake) stealing his own cattle and selling them to the cavalry. Sundeen seemed to have the members of the town council of Randado in his pocket, but they wavered back and forth constantly, so you had a sense that someone would eventually break from the pack, the mystery being who would go first. On top of all that, a mysterious gun for hire is introduced about mid way through, and once again, you start wondering where this is all going to play out.
The surprise of the flick had to be Charlene Tilton as a mail order bride for a character more than twice her age. She has some rather suggestive scenes with town boss Sundeen, and you have to pay attention when she delivers that 'hot poker' line the first time they appear on screen together. It had the feel of a page out of the 'Dallas' play book.
I can't really go on record making a pitch for this film as a must see; Glenn Ford's worth it for the few times he makes his presence felt. It was kind of cool seeing him portray the kind of character he had done many times before, and doing it in his seventies makes one appreciate the effort. But all in all, I'd have to go with old Haig Hanasain's analysis to his fellow town council members. He suggested what the critics might have been thinking when he came up with - "I hope you all realize we're in trouble".
The surprise of the flick had to be Charlene Tilton as a mail order bride for a character more than twice her age. She has some rather suggestive scenes with town boss Sundeen, and you have to pay attention when she delivers that 'hot poker' line the first time they appear on screen together. It had the feel of a page out of the 'Dallas' play book.
I can't really go on record making a pitch for this film as a must see; Glenn Ford's worth it for the few times he makes his presence felt. It was kind of cool seeing him portray the kind of character he had done many times before, and doing it in his seventies makes one appreciate the effort. But all in all, I'd have to go with old Haig Hanasain's analysis to his fellow town council members. He suggested what the critics might have been thinking when he came up with - "I hope you all realize we're in trouble".