The Journeyman

Rate this Western film as terrible! It is a "B" movie at best. The storyline is just moronic. The flashback which comes too late in the film attempts to bring this confusing tale together. What was James Crowley, (writer and director) thinking about? What's the point of having one of the characters being a transvestite? The story jumps thirteen years with no explanation of how the characters developed into what they are. James Crowley never gives an explanation as to why the main character (Morphinist) became a cold-blooded killer. What is the purpose of the character role that Dash Mihok plays as the double-crossed bank robber, and why is it important in this film? You can drive a Mack truck through the gaps of continuity in this film. Crowley had better try his hand at something else. Westerns are definitely not his genre. Boring would be the best way to describe this mess. The feeling you get after watching this movie is: …why did I sit through this? Trust me, just skip this one.

I saw this around the time it came out and watched it multiple times. Every few years I try to find it again to rewatch it and finally it showed up on Amazon.

There's a real nice tension throughout the film and I like the way the information in the back story unfolds in bits and pieces.

I found the story and characters quite interesting and the music good. There's not much black and white to be found in this film. All the charaters have their good and not so good, and really bad, and you find yourself not sure who to root for. (My favorite kind of film!)

I'm guessing from the credits that this was funded by asking everyone the writer/directer knew to chip in a little money, which means you've gotta deliver a solid product or you'll disappoint all your loved ones and I think James Crowley delivered a solid product.

I also simply enjoyed the scenery and livestock.

This was a very good film. It is very direct and straight forward with its editing and continuity as well as its haunting sense of realism. The period styling is very gritty and yet also very colorful (many Westerns filmmakers seem to think that there was nothing but washed out colors in the late 1800s). The two main characters are The Morphinist and The Journeyman--two brothers separated at an early age. They meet once again at the climax, which is a well choreographed shoot-out in a graveyard. The drug addicted cowboy, The Morphinist, has some very cool lines such as: "People always remember evil long after they've forgotten good." The character of Walter P. Higgs III is very interesting and (for me) very funny. Walter is sad when Frank the Thief dies (betrayed by the Morphainist), and he is redeemed by the end of the film. I found myself rooting for Walter all throughout the film. The path of death that the Morphinist leaves in his drug induced wake makes him seem unredeemable, but when he weakly grasps the crucifix that the Journeyman places in his near dead hands at the end of the film we know that he too has suffered and needs compassion. But, only his brother could save him, or redeem him. This is among the best Westerns of the past ten years, and certainly ranks up there with Wild Bill, Tombstone, and Unforgiven.

Some good ideas and a pretty impressive score made this a movie I didn't mind sitting through late one night when it came on the Westerns channel.

Problems include an entirely passive "hero" who does absolutely nothing (in fact only the villain does anything, really), and some characters who are introduced only to be forgotten. But Barry Corbin is a beloved character actor, and I found Dash Mihok relatively charismatic in his role as a double-crossed, repentant bank robber. Daniel Lapaine, as the protagonist (I guess), is pretty much a cold fish, and sticking out like he does is no easy task with some of the other awkward actors put to work in this movie. Any energy the movie has comes from Brad Hunt as the pseudo-antagonist and, to a lesser extent, the aforementioned Dash Mihok and Barry Corbin. Willie Nelson's presence on the bill made me wary initially, but he has a very small, brief role, for which I'm grateful (I love Willie as much as the next Texan, but his presence only ever serves to take me out of a movie).

The score had a cool 1970s horror feel to it, and the idea of a morphine addicted outlaw is pretty fresh. Unfortunately the movie forgets to have a second and third act, the entire movie being a fairly linear chase with plenty of sub-plots (and potential sub-plots) not paying off one bit. However, with the drought of modern westerns stretching on, beggars can't be choosers, wasted potential or not. Now if only I could find that neato score...

If you like your westerns gritty and violent, this will be right up your alley. I loved it!

The story of two brothers who end up raised in totally different ways is not like any other western you'll ever see, but that's what makes it so enthralling.

It's always fun to watch character actors like Barry Corbin and Burton Gilliam, and they are both great in this film.

The real star of the film is Brad Hunt. His acting is the kind that makes us all want to take note of his name. If there is any justice at all, Hunt will become a big star. He's that good.

If you don't like violent westerns, you may want to skip this one (it makes Unforgiven look like a bright ray of sunshine, by comparison), but otherwise, you owe it to yourself to see it, if nothing else, to see Brad Hunt's sensational performance.