Prairie Fever

From the descriptions I'd seen, I picked this up, expecting a cat and mouse game based around transporting a trio of insane women from a small town to the railhead. A horror version of 3:10 to Yuma. Instead, I got a film that seems to have been written by a committee of executives from WE, Lifetime, and the Hallmark Channel.

Neither the writing nor the acting were top notch. Though, between the two, the acting was better. The plot was fairly cookie cutter, and only the mules couldn't have seen everything coming after the first fifteen minutes.

The budget seemed on-par with an episode of Brisco County Jr, and I think they may have shared some sets. Most of the cast was unknown to me, but it was fun spotting familiar faces like Silas Weir Mitchell.

Still, I can't say it was terrible.

I just finished watching this movie and I can honestly say that as of now, this "western" is at the bottom of my list of movies that I've watched this year and the bottom of my list of westerns.

I commend them for trying a "different" approach at a western (or is this just a remake?) but it simply did nothing for me. I am a Sorbo fan however, I feel that this role simply did not allow him to act the way he'd like to act even IF he's kind of bland and generic. That's what makes him Sorbo! I'm glad that other users found that this movie was "the best western" they've ever seen. Everyone is different however, when I think of westerns, I think "Dirty Harry". I was thoroughly disappointed and felt that they could have done a lot better.

When I stumbled upon the 2008 Western movie titled "Prairie Fever", I had only noticed that the movie starred Kevin Sorbo. And that was actually the reason why I picked up the movie.

And then I saw that the movie also had Lance Henriksen and Dominique Swain on the cast list as well, and things were definitely looking all the more brighter. But there were more familiar faces on the cast list here, with the likes of Jillian Armenante, Felicia Day, Don Swayze, Michael Ensign and a couple others.

The storyline in "Prairie Fever" was adequate. Writer Steven H. Berman put together a fair enough script that proved entertaining enough for what it was. Sure, this wasn't cutting edge cinema in the Western genre, and there wasn't really a lot of classic Western elements in the storyline. Instead, you have a drama about a former sheriff who has to escort a group of women to Carson City, and the movie follows their trek across the prairie.

Well, while the storyline was adequate, I have to say that the acting performances in "Prairie Fever", and the many familiar faces on the screen, definitely helped to keep the movie afloat and kept it as a watchable movie.

The movie was struggling somewhat with a lack of proper Western atmosphere, feel and look to it. Everything was just a bit too mint condition and lacking the dirt and dust you would assume that garments would accumulate living in those conditions back in the day.

My rating of directors Stephen Bridgewater and David S. Cass Sr.'s 2008 Western "Prairie Fever" lands on a five out of ten stars.

I've seen this movie a couple of times on TV and thought this movie was very good. Good TV western. The actors play their parts well. Kevin Sorbo plays an alcoholic ex sheriff that needs to make some money quick, so he agrees to take 3 'crazy' women, who were mail-order brides that got the "prairie fever" to the train station. He also meets up with another woman (a card shark) who is running from her husband. Their adventure has a little romance, a little gun action, a little comedy, a little tragedy, and a couple of small twists. I don't like too many westerns, but this one is good. Fun movie for a rainy afternoon.

Drunken ex-sheriff Kevin Sorbo gets a ticket out of the jail-house and a fistful of cash to escort three half-crazed rejected mail-order brides to the nearest train back east. Along the way he teams up with a spunky, crooked lady gambler who wants to go straight and is running from her villainous husband/partner Lance Henrickson.

Fun and a little offbeat, Kevin Sorbo gets to show off his knack for comedy as well as action with help from a good supporting cast. They all certainly interact well together. It helps that the script gives each of the women fully developed, three-dimensional characters to work with.

Great trail scenery makes for a refreshing change of pace from the usually fake looking town sets you see in most modern westerns.