khupp1 The Showdown. I will pit this Western against any other movie world wide that cost $100,000 USD to produce. I have read complaints about the sound of the guns and the cleanliness of the saloon. Please! give me a break this movie was filmed 100% in Central Illinois not on some multi million dollar sound stage. Every outdoor scene was filmed outdoors (OMG what a novel idea). Real horses not some special trained stunt horses. Every actor did his or her own stunts. Granted it may not have been the best western ever made and some of the acting sucked. But the men and women that acted in it never claimed to be Hollywood actors. I dare any of the complainers that ragged on this movie to make a better one for the same money. The fact that none of the actors have received more then a copy of the movie in exchange for their performances doesn't change the facts that each one put in a lot of hard work creating this film. I bought it after seeing it. I am very proud of a Film made in little old Peoria.

aussiemade This has to be one of the worst movies I ever hired. It's not about the money I spent on hiring it, I can always make more money ... but I will never get my time back!Lets get down to the nitty gritty. Costumes and sets, as well as make-up and some of the effects are quite good ... and that's about as far as it goes. The lighting is very bad, it does not enhance the moods in various scenes but instead works really hard at destroying it. The clothes are too clean, as are various furnishings. I've never seen a Western Saloon so squeaky clean you could almost eat off the floor!The acting is less than second rate, the actors (if you can call them actors) sound very wooden and almost like they're struggling to remember the script with such intensity that they forget all about actually acting. The lines of the script itself are very lame and often cliché, which in many instances could make the movie funny ... but it's not a comedy. Some of the extras in the background just stand there like wax dummies (in fact in one scene I actually thought they were wax dummies until they moved slightly). There are movies in which the actors will draw you into their story and make it believable, this isn't one of them, I didn't feel or care about any of the characters at all.The background music is also very cliché. If they had elevators with music back in those days, they would play some of the music from this movie.All in all The Showdown has a very home brewed quality about it, which is fine if it was made as a home movie for the family to watch or for the re-enactment society to screen on a slow Saturday afternoon. I just wish that such a waste of time hadn't been unleashed on the general movie-watching public. I cannot recommend this movie ... and I want my time back!

mcpts This was a wonderful western, with a very sweet love story mixed right in. The characters were believable in their roles, and did a great job with sincerity. I have always loved westerns, and lately there hasn't been very many western movies coming out. These days just about every new movie coming out is a horrible blood and guts horror movie that I totally don't care to see, so you bet it is nice to see a great western pop up with lots of beautiful horses and scenery accompanied by incredibly great music. This is a real-good, feel-good movie, and you know there hasn't been very many of those out as of late. Check it out, you'll be glad you did. There is nothing better to make for an enjoyable evening than watching a movie such as this. Well done everyone, well done!

alsmith46 This is a really great western. Hard to believe it was shot entirely in Illinois. I am from Texas and it sure fooled me. This is a truly wonderful experience and I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. We need more of these independent films that show that people can make a movie an act of love and dedication. You can see that the folks that made this movie really cared about doing the best job possible and without being paid or having some kind of contract. It was created in their spare time and definitely took many hours of their free time to make it. Again all I can say is job well done folks, this is truly a labor of love. Hope to see more of these great endeavors.