Goodnight for Justice

How long can you wait for justice? After being appointed Circuit Judge, John Goodnight (Perry) travels the territory dispensing justice. After returning to a town that brings back memories of his parents murders, he sees someone who looks familiar. After seeing the last two TV westerns (Doc West & Triggerman) I was not expecting much from this one. Although this was nowhere near the caliber of "Tombstone" or "Open Range", this was actually a pretty good western. It is pretty cheesy in some parts and the acting is lacking, but it will keep you entertained and watching. Unlike the "Doc West" series this one will hold your attention and you won't forget what you are watching as you are watching it. The quality of westerns lately has dropped off a lot, this one stands above many of the new ones. Not great, but much better then the latest offerings. I give it a B-. Would I watch again? - I don't think I would.

This movie is a delight. Like the fun old Western novels with good characters, nasty baddies, inevitable gunplay and interesting women. Luke Perry wrote the engrossing story and played the lead, who is a complex character that embodies the American spirit, walking the balance of justice and assuaging his own personal hurts. Not sure why I haven't heard of this before, but I'm glad I stumbled on it. A good western for the collection. And I believe there are two more in the series.

always got an Achilles' ankle, i.e., the lukewarm loose screenplay that just don't count too much. And worse yet, anything from the Hallmark also inevitably hallmarked with lukewarm script, bad dialogs, not-so-good actors, so-so directing and so on. "Goodnight For Justice (2011)" is of course, no exception. What we got here is a so-so storyline with not quite believable characters who always look more modern and also giving a church-going like atmosphere that simply not quite convincing to me almost every time. I cannot qualify this movie as a good "New Western" but a bad one if compares it with "Silverado", "The Unforgiven", "The Quick & The Dead"...those, well, should be categorized as "New Western". Every time I saw a "Hallmark" movie, I got the same unconvincing feeling, no matter it's a romance or not.

Luke Perry saddles up as frontier circuit judge John Goodnight in the first of three films starring Perry as a Roy Bean type judge. Unlike the fictional Bean, Perry's a real lawyer and not a judge because he's got deputies to back up his ruling. What he does have is a passion for justice and will go the extra mile for it.

The film segments into three stories, the first is a prologue showing Perry's character as a youth played by Sam Duke seeing his family massacred in an outlaw raid.

We next see Perry's character unable to dispense justice to a young black kid whose father was hung by nightriders wearing bedsheets like the Ku Klux Klan. Perry does some extralegal work there however.

Finally Perry returns to the town where his folks were killed and takes on a gang that rides for the owner of the local Ponderosa who is going out of his way to persecute Cheyenne Indians. Again the object is justice and Perry has a way of brushing aside troublesome technicalities.

I like Perry's character and hope he does more John Goodnight films in the future.

I cannot be more surprised at how good the Judge John Goodnight films are. Every one is a fabulous surprise at how well they are done and how absorbed I got in the film. I'm not a fan of Westerns to be honest, apart from the Good the Bad and the Ugly that type of thing as every movie buff knows they are essential viewing. For a start I love the fact that Luke Perry shows no vanity whatsover being true to his character plus the hats (they used to wear bowlers more than stetsons!) little things like that are accurate and you get a sense of how tough it was to live in these days, going from town to town sleeping rough, the whole thing is engrossing. I still have one to look forward the third one which if it's as good as the first two I'm in for a treat. I think these film are wasted on UK Channel 5 in the afternoon, they'd hold up well at night as well and I for one would get the popcorn and pop in and look forward to seeing it with friends in the evening. Great stuff from 902 blahblah boys, they should be proud, and Luke your scruffy beard and laugh lines make you sexy as hell compared to Hollywoods swollen faced stars. Has anyone else notice Nick Cage lately. All of them who have 'work' done look like their faces are too big for their heads. Very strange enjoy your wrinkles, laugh lines, marks of honour and of living instead of botoxing the crap out of it. I know what I find sexy and it ain't fish lips Mickey it's ain't fish lips.