Jericho

Mark Valley's charisma and excellent acting are clearly on display. Leon Coffee is terrific as the itinerant cowboy preacher. Supporting roles by R. Lee Ermey (superb as always), Mark Collie (the country singer), and Lisa Stewart keep the story moving. While clearly a first movie from a young production company, they put together a very good film that is suitable for the entire family. Extraordinarily well-written story that is anything but predictable. Minimal violence but none of it graphic. I'm surprised that Valley didn't get offered additional movie roles on the basis of this. Believe that he and Coffee had excellent on-screen chemistry. There should be a sequel.

It's amazing to see how different people can have such varying opinions of the same movie. One rated it a 10 and called it a great "family" film. I guess they missed out on the scenes about the man getting his head blown off with a shotgun or the rape or the hanging. And some rated it a 1. Come on! It wasn't going to win an academy award, but it was entertaining. I think it was somewhere in the middle. I just found interesting that Jericho could make it through all he did, spend all that time on the trail and remain so good looking and clean shaven.

I saw this movie in a theater, with a Q&A by the director, in Springfield, MO, which is one of the places the director calls home and where one of the actors (Woody P. Snow, a local radio DJ) is from. It was a decent movie for its essentially shoe-string budget. Not really what you'd call a Western...it's more of a character study or psychological drama that dresses itself in Western trappings. (Sort of like how "Little House on the Prairie" was set in the west without having the constant gunfights and things that you associate with a Western.) It also had a few problems with the pacing, particularly toward the end where it suddenly and without warning drops into a 15-minute flashback. Had a few interesting ideas in it, though...particularly in regard to how what you think you see at the beginning isn't what you really see at all.

Mark Valley (who?) stars as a cowpoke suffering from amnesia, trying to regain his memory in this low-budget STV job shot on location in Texas and New Mexico. Along the way, he works as a cattle drover, a gold panner and a ranch hand before discovering his true identity in a twist ending. One thing for sure: he knows how to handle a pistol, and does so frequently in this gritty but clichéd western. The costumes and general look of the characters and settings feel authentic enough. What's missing is a Sam Elliott or Tom Selleck to give the movie a certain zing. I will say I stuck with it to find out the guy's true identity, which for most viewers likely will come as a complete surprise.

The movie "Jericho" has a different twist to the bad guys. It is really a mystery with a lot of western action. I saw it at the Houston Film Fest and would love to see it again. The actors all did a great job and it was easy to believe what was happening.The sound, lighting and directing was excellent. I would recommend this film to anyone who enjoys the old west and a good mystery.