Hard Ground

I didn't think really good Westerns were made any more but I gave this one 9 out of 10. It's that good and, incredibly enough, it's made for TV!

A word of warning however, this film is quite violent. In fact it's the most violent film I've ever seen on the Hallmark Channel.

Burt Reynolds and Bruce Dern play friends/enemies/brothers in law as they track down and kill an extremely savage man who murders men, women and children any time he feels like it which is often. He's supported by a gang of bad guys and a corrupt Mexican general.

The film has it's share of colorful characters as well as Amy Jo Johnson for some female interest. She packs a 10 gauge double barreled shotgun.

Hard Ground is a terribly generic made for TV western. The acting is atrocious all around. Reynolds, who I thought would be good in a western, is bland and boring. The whole cast sucks actually. The shotgun wielding girl came across as absurd and badly casted. As did several other characters,only less so. Maybe the script's to blame. My main issue was the movie never felt real. It felt staged. Actors in period costumes saying their lines is all I could see on the screen. This is a Hallmark western. Due to the excellent Lonesome Dove and the positive comments and decent rating here , I rented this. Don't make the same mistake.

I just bought this movie very cheap..

I don't write many reviews...but i'll go for another try.

I was at least expecting an average & entertaining movie. The movie is not good, and I don't understand the high/average rating on this board, even though there is only a few voters so far, it doesn't even come close to the result of the movie, which is very disappointing. Understand that everyone has the right, to have different taste in movies...but here it goes..

The movie is poorly done. When it comes to acting, it seems kind of wooden or stiff, in this flick. Even for the legendary actors Reynolds & Dern. As for the lesser known actors, they seem mis-casted. Especially the young girl, who through-out the movie seems too pure, when you think about the dusty environment. Her acting was way too obvious, but not in the talented kind of way.

The guy who played the main badguy, was so annoying and kept overacting his part. Martin kove's performance was kind of laughable, which i'm sure he (personally) was aware of. He had a silly accent and a "special" voice. Also the young the young guy, who protects the girl i the beginnin, reminded a bit of paul walker but his acting was worse.

The music was poorly composed, and seemed to be too much in the background. There was also a lack of dynamic during the action scenes. Sometimes, I thought it sounded like a keyboard(synth) either way, it was only helping the movie, to reach the bottom of no-quality.

The script made the movie kind of predictable, very stereo-type kind of characters etc.

For two big screen greats like Burt Reynolds and Bruce Dern, this was an extremely disappointing movie. Knowing this was a Hallmark film I expected more and got less than I ever thought I would. Speaking of Hallmark, this movie had all the hallmarks of a typical shoot em up, save the girl, ride off with perceived grandiose but corny parting words of wisdom, and ride into the sunset visual clichés that Westerns of the 1960's and 70's over-used. If I were Reynolds or Dern I would be ashamed to show my face after viewing this stinker. If these two actors were any younger this movie would definitely be a career sinker from which they could never rebound.

Here we have two fine actors and that's about it. Burt Reynolds and Bruce Dern are back in the saddle, and given nothing to work with. The villain, David Figlioli, is a cartoon-like character. The script appears to have no direction, as it wanders all over the place, leaving the viewer with questions that are explained along the way only to expand the running time. But by far the biggest negative in "Hard Ground" is the total miscasting of Amy Jo Johnson. Instead of looking, sounding, or acting like a frontier woman, she comes across as if she just stepped out of a designer jeans commercial. Whenever she is on screen, she drags the movie right down to the mat. What you are left with is some nice location photography, and Reynolds and Dern struggling mightily to keep things from falling apart completely. - MERK