Broken Trail

The film opens in Chinatown San Francisco, 1898 where we five exotic virgins from the Celestial Empire are bought by Captain Billy Fender (James Russo) to be sold as slaves and introduced into the brief and violent life of prostitution…

Robert Duvall stars as "Print" Ritter, an old cowhand whose sister left a will inheriting all to him rather than to her own son, Tom Harte (Thomas Haden Church) who lives in John Day Country Oregon...

Print ignores why she has done it, or why was crossed between the two, but his sister done it…

Print got the idea to buy a team of tough, high-desert mustangs—three to eight years of age—to take them to Sheridan, Wyoming to sell to the British Empire; the money they'll earn will be to increase their capital… And on the shares, Print figures a 25-75 split on profits after expenses and loan repayment to the bank…

From this point, Hill's Western becomes a road movie, with all kinds of odd characters, from ugly villains to a friendly musician, but the key to "Broken Trail" is that through a series of circumstances, fate has placed the five Chinese innocent girls in the hands of Tom and his uncle… But the reality is another… Their families sold them to that rat captain heading out to the mining camp, where Kate, an odious saloon owner, bought them from an associate in San Francisco…

Our two cowboys save the girls' lives from rape and take them along on their journey…

With great photography, gorgeous vistas, perilous ground, sensible brave girls, good and decidedly courageous men, great action when it is necessary, and a big confrontation at the climax of the movie, Hill's Western is a must see film for the fans of the genre

If you're looking for a good view of the old West, this movie is well worth your time.

Great storyline, great acting, and fantastic scenery.

Duvall seems to be timeless, as always, this time in a story that's all about time. Thomas Haden Church adds his best performance ever, showing he's ready for more serious roles.

The plot develops with a made-for-TV pace, which on occasion doesn't develop a scene as deeply as it could, but it does not fail to develop the characters to a fine pitch.

On balance, it's the characters and the fantastic western setting which make this a western that should stand time.

I'll enjoy watching it again in a few years.

Just finished watching part two. Great story. I can not wait to read the book. Both Duvall and Church brought so much to their characters and the story. I really hope that the "great west " was settled by men like these. Men who were not afraid to do the right thing. Men who showed courage, morals, kindness, and stood up to those who would bring harm and injustice to the innocent. . The kind of men that I would consider it an honor to "ride" with. I could not help sharing in the pain and confusion that the girls felt. I feel ashamed as a man to know that we treated innocent women that way and still do. I am glad the story ended as it did. Duvall's character showed that he could be tough as nails but still have a heart when it came to the girls. Church's character showed true grit and also had a soft side that he could not hide. Overall it was a truly great story brought to life by two men who did an excellent job portraying their characters.

A good Western is a treat, like comfort food for the soul. Robert Duvall is a favorite of mine, and he is wonderful in this movie, as always, but the surprise factor here is Thomas Haden Church, who I remember as a Mechanic in the sitcom, Wings. Watching him playing a 19th century cowboy in this project, well,- he seems made for the part: serious, soft-spoken, and a little too lean from trying to eke out a living in tough times. Wonderful! I hope to see more of him in the future.

The scenery is as beautiful as I expected, and I don't care that it was shot in Canada instead of the U.S. I do wish there had been a little more emphasis on the horses, though. The promos advertised the movie as being about a horse drive, but that was only a premise for the other story lines. They were supposed to be herding 300 to 500 horses, but it sure didn't look like that many to me. But, I guess I'm getting pretty picky there. It was satisfying to watch, regardless of whether there were hundreds of horses, or only about 75, as it looked like to me.

There is one scene in the movie that is almost a reverse "Man from Snowy River"-type scene, where they herd their horses UP a steep hill, and that was interesting. I'm not actually comparing the riding in this movie to the incomparable Charlie Lovick's downhill riding in the most famous scene from Snowy River, but it did bring that movie to mind.

If you like western movies, you'll like this mini series, and it might spark an interest in a part of our American history that is not particularly well known,- the Chinese immigration during the gold rush of the 1800s.

How does an honest man make his way in a corrupt world? Walter Hill has been investigating this question since his days as a screenwriter, with a couple of stopovers in Dashiell Hammett country (his dauntingly unsuccessful version of Hammet's RED HARVEST, filmed as LAST MAN STANDING), comedies (48 HOURS), but here, in this leisurely western, he has found a perfect vehicle for this problem, and the right actor for the role in the ever-watchable Robert Duvall. And the answer is that you wind up accumulating a pack of people as wounded as yourself, ducking your head against the storm and slogging on through: a nephew estranged from his mother, your sister, a Virginian who can't stop traveling, five Chinese virgins intended for a mining camp's whorehouse... the list goes on. In the midst of a beautiful land -- the magnificent Canadian plains, west of Calgary where they rise to the Rockies -- they slog on, doing their best.

To what end? When death and violence surround you, then the wise man comes to recognize that the effort is all he can offer.

It is a pleasure to watch canny old pro Duvall at work, and to watch Thomas Haden Church, as his nephew, play off against him. And the beauty of moving horses across the Canadian plains is the revival of a seemingly lost art; the westerns, once the myth of America and bedrock of the film industry, are now an occasional production from people nostalgic for the form. But their nostalgia is suffused with a strong sense of film-making and this mini-series should not be missed.