A Gunfighter’s Deal

• Written and Directed by R.J. Hendricks II
• October 31, 2025

A mysterious stranger promises to make a wannabe gunfighter the fastest there is but with a high price.

There’s an interesting cast in A Gunfighter’s Deal for sure-at least for the 80s or 90s. Today, being older, the best of the crop have lost a step or two. I was excited to see character actor Terry Kiser, best known as the quite dead Bernie Lomax, in the cast. He was slimy yet charming in the roles that were apparently his bread and butter when I first encountered him. What I realized here was that much of that came from his voice which has noticeably aged by the time of this movie’s production. As The Stranger he is evil but the performance lacks that charming scumbag the actor once could bring.

There are a great many well-known (by their faces) supporting character actors beyond Terry Kiser in this that are past their prime in talent or body or both. This is a paycheck movie of the worst kind where actors that once brought the goods in quality productions have gone to the only option left to them to pay bills.

I expected something more supernatural and darker (on a budget), There are definite religious themes in this beyond the don’t-make-deals-with-the-Devil aspect though those do not necessarily play a big part. It tries to be about consequences and taking the easy way but between the acting, script, direction, and meager budget it comes off as empty filler.

Toss on there’s nothing wrong with being a person of peace and you’ve got the makings of a mildly Christian movie. But nothing much is done with them. It just uses these as background noise. Or maybe it doesn’t and it’s just the poor acting of the lead that blunts the whole thing. 

The plot has been done a few times before in one way or the other. A guy makes a deal with the devil, regrets it, and the rest of the story is of leading up to the final confrontation that frees his soul or damns him to Hell for all eternity.

Silas Johnson (Jesse Kove) is a gunfighter with a chip on his shoulder and a girlfriend and not much else to define him. Given that Martin Kove plays a preacher here I am guessing Jesse Kove got the job based on nepotism and not any discernable talent. He just can’t deliver depth or passion. It is all just cold regurgitation of the script in a fashion that sounds as if his character is bored. Maybe he was.

Sorbo plays gunfighter Wesley Harper who essentially bookends the movie. He is supposed to be dark and mysterious but like Jesse he is dispassionate and indifferent. As a character Harper gets no further than a-hole. And that’s all I’ve got to say about that.

Martin Kove as Preacher (is a name too hard to give?) doesn’t have the voice of a religious man. Just because he’s a man of God of undefined denomination, he gets visions and senses the Devil. He vaguely alludes to a dark past and embracing a more Godly way but it never really connects to Silas, Harper, or The Stranger and that is a big sin.

In a sort of twist Harper learns he got the same deal as Silas. What should have been saved for the end was revealed too early. It should have been the big moment of the movie, but it comes well before the shoot out making that moment ‘Meh.’

A Gunfighter’s Deal is a passable idea handled poorly. It never feels ominous or threatening or dark. The lead is probably the biggest crime here because he didn’t care. I say just skip it.