Decent Western , but neither extraordinary , nor notable , but acceptable ; dealing with two tough men who had been friends from infancy , until they fell out over attentions of their intimate sweetheart whom one of them married . After a train robbery committed in New Mexico, a small bunch sets-out to divide the loot . However , a disagreement over the shares causes one gang member , Billy Massey (Dean Martin) , to take the whole loot and run towards the Mexican border , being pursued by the remaining band formed by revenge-seeking outlaws . Unfortunately , band member Billy Massey is a very close childhood friend of the sheriff Chuck Jarvis (Rock Hudson) who's married to their beloved sweetheart (Susan Clark) . Now it's up to Chuck to bring Billy to Justice ....when the running stops and the bullets begin . Together they fought for survival...now their guns must turn against each other!

This is a tremendously exciting story of two men who have been friends since childhood - Damon and Pythias lookalike- , as they find themselves on opposite ends of the law , as Chuck became the honest town sheriff , while Billy took to train robbing . It begins as a sluggish , slow-moving Western but follows to surprise us with peculiar , rudimentary characters and solid plot . The tale is almost routine , and full of clichés , an upright sheriff and his old partner turned into a bandit come to join and separate , just in time to confront enemies but later the events get worse . The highlights of the film are the facing off between Rock Hudson and Dean Martin and the climatic showdown on the ending . Sober and adequate acting by Rock Hudson , but Dean Martin is better as the rebel and unconventional outlaw , his performance and role bear similarity to the one he played in ¨Rough Night in Jericho (1967)¨. It displays a vivid and lively musical score by David Rose and atmospheric cinematography by Ernest Laszlo . Watchable results for this offbeat Western.

The motion picture was professionally directed by George Seaton. This craftsman was a nice professional and a polish writer and a director who occasionally rose well above his average standard and was twice rewarded with Academy Award for so making . Seaton formed a partnership with William Perlberg , was to produce all Seaton's movies for several years . Both of them produced and directed the following successes as ¨Miracle on 34th Street¨, ¨The country girl¨, a monster Box office as ¨Airport¨ , the warlike movie : ¨Counterfeit traitor¨ and , another unusual War film as ¨36 hours¨ . Rating : 6/10 , acceptable and passable . The flick will appeal to Rock Hudson and Dean Martin fans. Worthwhile watching .

Following a series of flashbacks, boyhood friends wind up on opposite sides of the law in this by the book Western tale. Fans of Dean Martin and Rock Hudson will probably get some enjoyment out of this picture but the story has been done time and time again, so be forewarned if you haven't seen it yet. One thing that caught my interest was the names of both men's horses - Chuck Jarvis (Hudson) had one named Almanac, and Bill Massey's (Martin) mount was named Tops. Both kind of unusual, I'm thinking that those might have been their real names.

A couple of other interesting elements popped up as well. After having watched a few hundred Westerns by now, I don't believe I've ever seen a rider mask his horse's footprints by covering them with rawhide the way Jarvis did. That was an unusual maneuver to prevent his being tracked. There was also that bizarre shotgun load being fixed up by attorney Wilson (John McLiam),consisting of busted glass and scrap iron. I was waiting for that tease to play out but it never happened. Probably a good thing.

What was really cool though was that 1890's version of a Sears Roebuck washing machine Kate Jarvis (Susan Clark) was using to wash her clothes for the first time. It seemed to me that laundering by hand might have been easier considering the amount of muscle expenditure required. I guess modern appliances had to start someplace.

So the showdown of the title didn't turn out the way one might have expected between the former childhood friends. Actually, I had a bad feeling about Massey when Jarvis headed out for the last time to track down his man. Not that I thought the two buddies would have it out between them, but that outlaw posse was pretty single minded about hunting Massey down. Too bad for Dino.

Old friends and partners Rock Hudson and Dean Martin unwillingly collide when Martin is wanted for train robbery and Hudson is the sheriff who has to catch him, which he does when his wife, Susan Clark, stands between the two men.

George Seaton's first western and last movie is an oddly paced affair. Both men seem to be uncomfortable at all time, and Miss Clark very relaxed. I attribute this to the idea that it seems a more more calculated to show off Ernest Laszlo's stunning cinematography than a story film. True, westerns, the most conservative of movie genres, was always more about the camerawork and vistas of the old western than stories; western writer Frank Gruber said there were only seven plots for westerns, so what else was a western movie supposed to be about other than the pictures? Yet even the great color westerns of the 1950s always had an artificial look to them. Laszlo's camerawork is seemingly more casual and gorgeous for that.

The print and transfer I saw were both carefully done. That always helps.