Prairie Fever

Genius Products recently made 3 made-for-TV westerns. Last night we saw "Aces N Eights" which I overrated at "1". "Prairie Fever" is light years better. This one has a reasonable plot, character development, and a situation you can get interested in. It does not have any of the idiot's delight tricks (jumparound camera work, bad editing, computer generated musical score) that wreck so many 2008 films.

17 mail-order-brides arrive out west, but not all find bliss with the rough-n-tumble men they marry. Three are headed home, and have to be taken to the railroad at Carson (City) Nevada. The alcoholic sheriff is given the job, and the journey is the story. New westerns are few and far between, so this one might fill your need.

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.

For fans expecting this movie to be another "Quick and the Dead, High Noon" type of western drama, don't expect it because this adventure is different!!! "Justice may be only one bullet away" according to the story but justice is also the right to have freedom of choice that these women deserved and for the men who held their fate to do the right thing.

I believe the heart of the story belongs to the three mail order brides out of seventeen, who for some unknown reason have "Prairie Fever" and so they are transported out of town by a reluctant sheriff Preston Biggs (played by Kevin Sorbo) who had a debt to settle with the owner of the "Pure Luk Casino". It seemed an easy enough task to do and he reluctantly agrees to do it.

These three fine actors, "Dominique Swain" (Abigail), "Jillian Armenante" (Lettie) and "Felicia Day" (Blue) deserves credit for their performances!! They did a terrific job at playing the part of women who were as crazy as they were difficult to understand and for one man to be in the company of these three very strange women, you could imagine how difficult the task was going to be on that long, slow journey, until help unexpectedly arrives making the adventure more intriguing.

Olivia Thibodeaux (Jamie Anne Allman) appeared on the scene once again and you can tell that she was not a welcome member to the party of travelers since sheriff Biggs was not in the mood to be charitable and he was even less inclined to add more to his already burdened load since he recognized Olivia from an earlier encounter, but with three unstable women in tow, he had no choice but to include her in his journey.

Needless to say sheriff Preston Biggs now finds himself in the company of four women instead of three and things begin to get interesting as the story unfolds as we learn about the fate of these women and why Olivia was found wondering alone at the side of the road.

As we get to know these women, things get complicated for sheriff Biggs who not only finds himself in close proximity of a beautiful woman but thinks she is a callous card sharp, but is unprepared to find her comfortably at ease with the women no one cares about, and as Olivia begins to care for them she is also concerned about their fate as well as her own and tries to convince Preston not to abandon these women.

What made this movie so terrific is the conflict between all the characters and how each one of them becomes more important and how sheriff Biggs' simple plans appear to be heading the wrong direction and though the women resign themselves to their fate, sheriff Biggs becomes more uncertain about his own future thanks to a beautiful distraction named Olivia.

This story isn't about crazy women and a drunken sheriff, this story is about finding despair and bringing it to life, feeling shamed and unworthy and finding pride. We have a story with a tragic past with promises of a better and hopeful future making this simple adventure even more warm hearted than when it first began. Four strangers traveling alone together lost in the battle of demons, but as those demons fade, the story takes an unexpected delightful turn.

As charming and heart warming as this story is, what would a western be without its usual villains, and actor Don Swayze did a fabulous job as gun fighter James, who was every bit as mean and troublesome as you would imagine!!! So the clashes he has with Preston in two scenes were tense, dramatic, and both men were poised to get into a nasty fight.

Lance Henriksen as the cold hearted husband played a character typical of that time, mean and arrogant, but in this case, Monte James was prepared to show a good side when he realized he lost the woman he loved to another man and reluctantly agrees to let her go. All too often I've seen Mr. Henriksen as a much hated villain but seeing a little good side was a treat, and he did a fantastic job with it!!! Kevin Sorbo was an outstanding lead with his character Preston. He connects with the characters opposite him perfectly and there were many amusing moments and many instances that seem so typical of Kevin's characters, the stubborn trait, difficult, surly and at times impossible and funny is always around when its needed and his character Preston was well defined and easy to relate to and then there are more wonderful moments when he can be wonderfully nice, gentle and kind especially with characters like these vulnerable women. He has a natural way of bonding with them.

He is never in short supply of natural charm which oozes out of him so effortlessly so when we see that warm wonderful, caring side with a little touch of vulnerability in his character to make him feel real is a treat well worth waiting for and that passionate steamy scene was an added bonus in the end. No one does that better, he puts everything of the best in those moments, a perfect finish to a wonderful movie which is undoubtedly another treasure to behold!!! In conclusion, just want to add that it was a great script with a terrific story, fun action moments with gunfights and fist fights, terrific cast and a wonderful production. My only pet peeve is for the ending to have a few more extra minutes before fading to dark. The best moments are always the shortest but the sweetest!! I thank the entire production!! It was a great movie and I loved it!!

Wasn't expecting a lot from this movie given other user reviews and I was mainly interested in watching Kevin Sorbo, but I was pleasantly surprised. Its a very typical and predictable plotline, but the pacing was good and entertaining throughout. As I expected, Sorbo added his terrific on-screen personality with humor which made his character, Preston Biggs, extremely likeable as the protagonist. Lance Henriksen did a solid job as the villain as he usually does in other movies. I was a little skeptical at the primary plot being centered around three women experiencing "Prairie Fever", but as the movie continued, it was well-explained and somewhat plausible.

Overall, this is a short and enjoyable western and you'll enjoy it if you are a fan of Sorbo or just westerns in general.

Probably the most famous big screen film about mail order brides is the MGM classic Westward The Women starring Robert Taylor who brought a wagon train of brides to a new western settlement. Well some marriages don't work out and in Prarie Fever Kevin Sorbo gets to return some of the brides. Sorbo gets a job to deliver Dominique Swain, Jillian Armenante, and Felicia Day back to whence they came.

Sorbo's an ex-sheriff who took to drink when he killed his own wife who was being held hostage by a bad guy. This is the only job he can get. But being an ex-sheriff he still has enemies like Don Swayze and Blake Gibbons who are looking to gun him down for the prison sentence they served courtesy of Kevin arresting them.

He's also got along for the ride Jamie Anne Allman who is fleeing her gambler husband Lance Henriksen. That proves to be the most troublesome of all.

The women seem to be suffering from some kind of psychotic breakdowns which is called Prarie Fever. The average person seems to think it's a bad adjustment to frontier life. But as we meet the women and hear their individual stories they've been stuck with some real losers for husbands.

Prarie Fever is a pleasant enough western with Kevin Sorbo showing he can play more than Hercules.