The Long Kill

Country singing legends Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, and Travis Tritt form their own posse to go after Sancho Gracia who has killed one of their friends, Waylon Jennings. Even though Tritt is a sheriff now and the other two are kind of mellowed out outlaws, they all ride to get even for Jennings and administer their own brand of Outlaw Justice.

I found elements of such big screen western classics as The Searchers, Ride the High Country and Valdez is Coming all mixed in with the plot structure of Outlaw Justice. All of these guys do fine jobs and create some interesting characters. But the holes in the story as well as the lack of credible motivation for some characters leave Outlaw Justice really lacking.

Released to TV in 1999, "Outlaw Justice" (aka "The Long Kill") is a low-budget Western featuring Kris Kristofferson and Country & Western stars Willie Nelson, Travis Tritt and Waylon Jennings, the latter in a cameo at the beginning who narrates through the rest. These guys play noble outlaw-types who team-up with the son of Jennings' character (Chad Willett) to apprehend -- or, more likely, kill -- the murderer of a former gang member (Sancho Gracia).

The plot is reminiscent of "The Wild Bunch," but with likable protagonists rather than the contemptible dirtbags of that classic Western. Unfortunately, "Outlaw Justice" doesn't have the budget of that major release and this is readily apparent in the opening scene. The style of the movie also takes the mythical approach of Spaghetti Westerns and throws in some humor. As such, the tone is part-serious and part-joke, which was hard for me to embrace. In fact, the first couple of times I tried to watch "Outlaw Justice" I quit before reaching the 30 minute mark. However, once you catch a grip it's entertaining enough; the Western sets are good (although the effects are weak) and the stars are charismatic. Nelson may not be the best actor, but he's amiable. Kristofferson stands out with that "cool" Eastwood vibe and the fact that he's intimidating without even saying a word. Unfortunately, with the exception of a cameo by Leonor Watling, this is strictly an all-dude flick.

If you're a fan of the stars and their music this is a must. If not, it's a mediocre, but likable, modern TV Western.

The film runs 96 minutes and was shot in Almeria, Andalucia, Spain.

GRADE: C+

T V movie western that looks like it might pull it off in the early stages but then just gets bogged down and plods along to an unconvincing climax. The two veteran stars look old here, and are no Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott in " Ride The High Country".There are four country & western singers in the cast, so it gives an indication of what to expect.Could have been worse but just isn't very good.

I stumbled upon the 1999 TV movie "Outlaw Justice" by random chance here in 2024. Actually, the copy of the movie that I got a hold of was titled "The Long Kill", so go figure.

With this being a movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I opted to sit down and watch it. Sure, I am not all that keen on Western movies, but I have to say that I figured with country legends Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson in the leading roles, I was sort of drawn in.

Writer Gene Quintano actually put together a good and entertaining script for director Bill Corcoran to bring to the screen. Sure, one can argue that the script is rather generic for a Western movie, but it actually proved to be a rather enjoyable movie to sit through. I was genuinely entertained by the story here.

While I am not particularly a fan of neither Willie Nelson or Kris Kristofferson, then I will say that they carried the movie quite nicely. And they were joined by the likes of Chad Willett, Waylon Jennings and Jonathan Banks on the screen.

If you enjoy an archetypical Western, then "Outlaw Justice" is well-worth checking out.

My rating of "Outlaw Justice" lands on a six out of ten stars.

I had not realised these singers acted too until this The basic plot has a lot of promise to be a classic enjoyable straight 'action western' with possible 'feel good' or comic possibilities as well. The singers have surprising screen presence and the production runs along quite well and logically until the last shootout But the violence was generally more graphic than I like or necessary, with the usual questionable American popular romanticisation and simplification of vigilante-ism or ' a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do '. Some bits made no sense or were clearly unrealistic or fantastic so the film seemed undecided between being a straight classic western or a 'feel good' Good Guys Always Win and Are Heroes to Boot show The final scenes were rather illogical in terms of behaviour and spoilt an otherwise consistent plot. Not much more is needed to make this an 'above average' film so the unfulfilled promise is disappointing and surprising given the actors involved