Movie Review: 'Showdown at the Grand'

Showdown at the Grand (2023)

Directed by Orson Oblowitz

Written by Orson Oblowitz

Starring Terrence Howard, John Savage, Amanda Righetti, Dolph Lundgren, Piper Curda

Release Date November 10th, 2023

Published November 3rd, 2023

An evil developer threatens a beloved old movie palace in the new action thriller, Showdown at the Grand. It's an old trope and it's perfectly fitting for this old school B-Movie. Written and directed by Orson Oblowitz, Showdown at the Grand celebrates classic B-Movies while embodying all of the things we love about classic B-Movies. It's a wonderfully meta-action flick with a big beating heart and deep love for the kind of drive-in classics that made cult heroes of Roger Corman, Russ, and stars like Ken Foree and Shannon Tweed.

Showdown at the Grand stars Terrence Howard as George Fuller, the solo proprietor of the Warner Grand Theater, a southwestern staple of B-movie presentations. Fuller has grown up at the Grand, inheriting the business from his father who sank the family's entire fortune into rescuing the Grand after George's uncle nearly ran it into the ground. Now, George is facing a reckoning of his own. A wealthy and duplicitous developer named Lynn (Amanda Righetti), is buying up properties around the Grand but she needs the land where the grand stands to complete her development.

Aiding Lynn in her hostile takeover of the area are a pair of thugs, Reed (Mike Ferguson) and Burton (Jon Sklaroff). Burton, though he is purely malevolent, happens to be a fan of the Grand, matching George movie quote for movie quote during their multiple encounters. That won't stop Burton from trying to kill George and destroy the Grand. Standing alongside George and the Grand are his longtime best friend, Lucky (John Savage) and George's only employee Spike (Piper Curda).

George may have one other ally, if he decides to show up. Dolph Lundgren co-stars in Showdown at the Grand as legendary B-Movie star, Claude Luc Hallyday. From the 70s through the 90s, Hallyday became one of the biggest stars in the world while starring in some of the trashiest exploitation action movies imaginable. George is Hallyday's biggest fan, having collected props and posters from Hallyday's most popular films. Now, in a last ditch effort to save the Grand, George has spent his savings to bring Hallyday to the Grand for a sold out screening of some of his greatest hits.

Orson Oblowitz clearly loves the drive-in cinema of the 60s and 70s. Showdown at the Grand features numerous clips from fake movies from the oeuvre of Claude Luc Hallyday and they are delightful recreations of classic B-movie tropes. Hallyday battles Nazis, vampires, he's a robot in one movie, and plays Moses in another. My favorite though is a war movie called Iraq-naphobia. Oblowitz announces the introduction of one of these Hallyday movie clips with a change to aged film stock and brilliant approximations of B-Movie, exploitation title sequences, accurate right down to the title font.

Showdown at the Grand is a bloody, grimy, and quite fun celebration of the great B-Movies of the past. It's also a loving celebration of going to the movies, that wonderful, communal experience that can only be had in one of those great movie palaces of the past. The Warner Grand of Showdown at the Grand is the kind of old movie house that needs preservation and likely manages to exist via historic designations. They don't make movie theaters like The Warner Grand anymore but that only serves to make these places even more special. The makers of Showdown at the Grand understand how special these movie houses are.

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