The Desperate Trail

This western starts out very well, then gets too Rambo-ish, meaning the bad guys can't hit the side of a barn with their shots. Despite that credibility problem, it's a pretty good film with excellent sound, nice cinematography, some interesting special-effects and sound with the gunshots and wounds and a different kind of soundtrack. I needed the TV Guardian with this because there is an excessive amount of Lord's name in vain in here.

Actually, this is a modern-day film noir put in a western setting. Edgy characters played by Sam Elliott (the ultimate cowboy face), Craig Sheffer, Linda Fiorentino (hard-nosed, as always), Bradford Whitford and Frank Whalley.

Sam Elliot and Linda Fiorentino go toe to toe in this very entertaining TV western. Elliott plays Marshall Bill Speakes, a lawman obsessed with catching Sarah O'Rourke (Fiorentino), his fugitive daughter-in-law. It seems that Sarah killed her husband. Speakes is understandably rather upset and tears up the west pursuing her when she escapes his grasp. Along the way, Sarah allies herself with a dandified highwayman and the story becomes a rather quirky Bonnie and Clyde story. But things aren't always what they seem as Speakes' tactics for catching the pair become increasingly ruthless as Elliott goes against his usual good-guy image. The audience sympathies are fully with the outlaws in this story. Writer-Director Pesce gives the story a relentless pace as the antagonists maneuver around each other. Visually, the film owes a lot to Leone and Peckinpah (right down to the slow motion death scenes) but the plot is so fast-paced and the characters are so interesting, the pyrotechnics never over-shadow the story. If you are a fan of either Elliott or Fiorentino, The Desperate Trail is a must see.

I guess this is supposed to be a feminist Western. While I liked Linda Fiorentino's performance, I also have to wonder what her husband did to her to justify so many murders, so much mayhem. I guess it just spiraled out of control and she did what she had to do to avoid being executed, but some characters were killed who didn't really seem to deserve it. Sam Elliot and Craig Sheffer did decent work, and even Bradley Whitford was OK overdoing a brogue. Like so many Westerns, everybody sure seemed to have an awfully lot of ammunition. The cigarettes and some of the weapons seemed a little bit anachronistic, but the time setting was never really explicit, so never mind. I can't really say see it, but I can't say avoid it either. It depends.

P.S. I don't know if this was a deliberate part of the realism of this film, but about the brief topless scene by Jill Scott Momaday. Her breasts are a bit sagging, noticeably real. I'm not putting down Ms. Momaday, as I prefer that to the more common huge mounds of silicone. Just thought it was interesting.

Linda Fiorentina develops from sexy seductress in The Last Seduction into a merciless killer in this effort, and it's a world away from Jessie the happy cowgirl from the Toy Story films. She'll blast your brains out without so much of a second glance, and she wears them Western clothes like she was born in the outfit. Partnering with a smart mouthed confidence trickster, she's on the run from the always excellent Sam Elliott, who plays a grizzled old sheriff. She committed the unpardonable sin of killing his son (Who she was married to, and he knocked seven bells out of her, hence the reason for her slaying him) so needless to say, this lawman is slightly more persistent in pursuing his target than most...

There are no signs of this being a straight to video effort, as the productions values are decent throughout. There are also some well staged and fast moving shootouts, but in terms of gore this ain't no The Wild Bunch, so the 18 certificate is a bit of a mystery. Like the film I last watched, The Kentuckian, this is hardly going to go down in history as one of the genre classics. But it'll pass 85 minutes, and you won't feel you've wasted your time. Which is good enough for me. 6/10

It's too bad that Sam Elliot was born about 30 years too late and was not on the scene in the 40s and 50s when westerns began to change to more adult themes. He was as born to the saddle as a Joel McCrea or a Gary Cooper was, Elliott would have been a superstar then.

Not that he's done too badly now as The Desperate Trail shows. It's just that westerns have limited release for a specialized audience now. When we meet Elliott he's a marshal escorting a handcuffed prisoner for a date with a hangman. His prisoner is Linda Fiorentino and a holdup interrupts the journey.

When all is said and done another passenger Craig Sheffer makes off with several grand in Wells Fargo money and Fiorentino is loose and Elliott in a most embarrassing position. Naturally the marshal rounds up a posse and pursues the outlaws.

But this is a western with modern and adult themes, more modern than was discussed even in those beginning days of adult westerns. Sam and Linda do have a relationship of sorts and Linda is a battered spouse. As the film progresses Elliott is shown not to be the upstanding marshal that he professes to be and what we expect in the usual type of westerns.

If you like action there are more than enough shooting incidents to satisfy your craving. Elliott, Fiorentino, and Sheffer give fine performances in the leads.

A western with some very modern themes.