The Shooter

MOVIE DETAILS

Rating: 5.0 out of 10
Director: Fred Olen Ray
Writer: Tony Giglio
Star: Michael Dudikoff, Randy Travis, Valerie Wildman
Genres: Drama/Western
Release Date: October 23, 1997 (United States)

The Shooter

THE SHOOTER is another Fred Olen Ray flick from 1997 (and, as indicated by the “B-movie maestro” moniker, one of many). Fitting in with a run that includes Operation Cobra and Hybrid and Bikini Hoe Down and Masseuse 2, THE SHOOTER is good. It’s great even. One of the best ever directed by Ray [1], if not the very outright best. It’s a western with tight script, beautiful visuals, gripping performances and sure handed direction.

Ray has played around with the genre before in Armed Response (1986), an all chinatown is High Noon ending two fisted tale. He also passed on producer Andrew Stevens’ previous oater Hard Bounty (1995) [2]. Here he gets to play in the cowboy sandbox proper. While old-fashioned and free from reflexivity/revisionism/deconstruction of studio-backed horse operas like Unforgiven (1992), Tombstone (1993) or The Quick and the Dead (1995), Ray still has lotsa fun messing about with western iconography here.

Everything put before the camera is lovingly rendered: shots of spurs and spilt Colt rounds; Leone-esque extreme close-ups of eyes/holsters; slo-mo falls and tumbles as baddies are thumped/popped. Class and elegance are the order of the day, while nods to High Plains Drifter (1973) and any ‘gunfighter’s last ride’-type flick you care to name augment The Shooter’s respectful tone no end.

The film was also lensed by Ray regular Gary Graver who rightly counted it among his finest work with painterly élan; this man was an artist through and through [3]. It boasts uniformly superb performances too. And again, they’re mythic archetypes brought to life by people who clearly relish the opportunity. A quiet, meditative Michael Dudikoff toplines as the eponymous Eastwoodian ‘slinger who treks into town with trouble in tow after rescuing Valerie Wildman’s tart with a heart from a gang of wrong-‘uns affiliated with William Smith’s wicked landowner. Vowing revenge on him for the death of his son, Smith is rapturous submitting a monumental fire n’ brimstone turn and delighting in the Hackman-y flourishes of the part [4].

Of course, as The Shooter rattles along it soon becomes apparent that this growling western legend and his merry band of goons aren’t the only threat to Dudikoff’s reluctant hero. And country music superstar Randy Travis is every bit as captivating as a grinning, serpentine wanderer whose motives are anything but amiable [5]. Ray regulars Cal Bartlett, Robert Donavan, Hoke Howell and Robert Quarry round out the throng; blink and you’ll miss ‘em appearances from Kane Hodder and Nils Allen Stewart; guest spot/narration courtesy of aforementioned Stevens. Naturally being greatest ensemble-centric dramatist in DTV history Ray juggles his colourful troupe hypnotically well.

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