This film begins with a deputy marshal from St. Louis named "Luke Welsh" (Charles Bronson) riding into a small town to apprehend a fugitive by the name of "Con Maynard" (Thomas Browne Henry) who is wanted for several murders. Not wanting to be taken in to face justice Con Maynard decides to go for his gun and Luke shoots him dead. Naturally, since the bounty states that Con was wanted "dead or alive" Luke figures that there will be no problem collecting his reward as all he needs to do is get the coroner or somebody else in town to identify him in writing before he heads back to St. Louis. What he doesn't count on, however, is that everybody in this small town liked Con Maynard and as a result they all refuse to help. Not only that, but their animosity for bounty hunters is so bad that they also notify Con's brother "Charles Maynard" (George Douglas) who they fully expect to come and extract some measure of revenge. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was an okay grade-B western made somewhat interesting by the presence of Charles Bronson in the lead role. And while it certainly had some slow scenes here and there, I thought that it was good enough for the time spent and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Average.
Review of Showdown at Boot Hill
