Tony Mastroianni Review Collection
Better you should call it "Slowdown"
Cleveland Press September 14, 1973
"Showdown" is a tired western.
Everyone in it is tired. The only suspense in the film is watching a tired Dean Martin and a tired Rock Hudson getting on their horses. Sometimes you think they won't make it. Martin wobbles a bit in the saddle but hangs on.
It might have been a better picture if they hadn't gotten on their horses. That just allows them to gallop off in all directions, which is what the movie does.
"Showdown" has that weary old plot about good friends who grow up together, compete for the same girl, fight each other's battles but eventually drift apart.
One (Martin) goes wrong and breaks the law. The other (Hudson) is the sheriff and has to go after his friend.
Old timer George Seaton is credited with directing, and anything he has done is better than this. Maybe no one could have done better. The script isn't the only thing that isn't any good.
Neither are the actors.
Hudson just looks stern most of the time. Martin's acting is just plain sloppy; an I don't care attitude all over it.
Susan Clark as the woman who marries Hudson isn't given much to do but at least she tries.
Which is more than the others managed to do.
