The Shooter (1997)

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

THE SHOOTER is a fairly middling straight-to-video western flick which is pretty good considering that it was directed by Fred Olen Ray, the king of the sci-fi B-movie. The film stars action favourite Michael Dudikoff as the usual mysterious gunslinging hero who rides into town and helps to clean out a gang of bad guys who have been busy oppressing the loyal townsfolk. There are scenes of whipping as well as a heck of a lot of shooting, a graphic and strenuous sex scene, and some overacting from the supporting cast members. By comparison Dudikoff underplays it throughout and is given a bit of a dull character to work with. William Smith's bad guy is better although the film as a whole is strictly average.

Aw, come on, have you ever seen a western, (or any other movie) where the horses do a whoopsie, or have you ever seen a pile of it in the street where they live? Of course not.But there is plenty of "it" here. In the script, the story, the plot, the whole darn 85 minutes of it. Be warned, it is a real struggle to keep watching.The "Hero" rides along, hears screams, finds the "baddies" whipping a poor girl and guess what? BANG, BANG, BANG. and the girl is rescued and taken to Kingston, to Duncan's saloon, where she "works", (as they call it).Alas, one of the bad guys was the son of a local real bad guy, who sets out to revenge the killing of his son. Of course there is the gunfight or three, where "hero" is such a sharpshooter.

Getting away from action movies for awhile, Michael Dudikoff does a western for a change, and the results are one of his best movies. This time around, he plays a mysterious drifter (what else?) who gets more than he bargained for when he comes to the rescue of a woman in the desert and returns her to town. County singer Randy Travis is good as one of the bad guys, and Valerie Wildman does a nice job as the girl. Veteran character actor William Smith is also (as always) a standout, with that gravely voice that just makes him perfect casting for the bad guy. Also nice is seeing Dudikoff play a vulnerable character, one who can't rely on fancy fighting skills to stay alive. One scene that helps to support the vulnerability of his character is when he's overcome by thugs and beaten to a bloody pulp and left for death. Afterwards, he must recover with the help of Wildman, and when he's well enough, he comes back gunning for revenge. Though it sometimes has the look of a film that was made by a bunch of friends wearing costumes gathered from some second-rate clothing stores, it works for what it is. Dudikoff isn't going to replace Clint Eastwood as the next western megastar, but he's good in the film and gets to show off a different side with his character. Worth a rental for those looking for a decent 90 minutes on a dull night.

Action, horror, sci-fi, exploitation director Fred Olen Ray shows he has some talent as a director. Character actor William Smith is one of the best tough/bad guys in the industry. He treats the viewer with the best acting performance of his career. As for Randy Travis he gives his best Lee Van Cleef impression. He's not bad in the film. Smith and Travis make the movie. As for the rest of the cast none of them really stand out. Ray did a great job directing this flick, Smith and Travis were good, I'd give this B western on a scale of one to ten(ten being the best) a seven.