Uno squarcio nel cielo

Jerry O'Connell and Sam Elliot star in this improbably named western, set in Montana in the early 1900s. Forest rangers are clearing a trail over a mountain during one long summer. O'Connell is a 17 year old who learns as he goes, working with a veteran crew. Elliot is the trail boss, and the best mule packer in the group. Before the summer is over, O'Connell's farmboy will have learned a few hard lessons and fallen in love with a gal in town. There's also a humdinger of a bar fight over a poker game involving the camp cook, played by real-life magician Ricky Jay. This is a quiet, introspective movie in many respects, with no gunplay or fancy theatrics other than the bar fight. We can believe this is how forestry people did their job then, and perhaps even now -- with the addition of today's engines, of course. Back then, a lot of it was accomplished by hand. RANGER reminds me of a Hallmark movie, which it probably started out as.

Jerry O'Connell gets a life changing experience when he does a summer, I guess you would call it an internship, as a forest ranger in the post World War I years in the Bitteroot mountains of Montana with British Columbia providing that background in the filming of The Ranger, The Cook, and The Hole in The Sky. O'Connell comes under the tutelage of Sam Elliott who is acknowledged to be the best when it came to the job of Forest Ranger.

Looking at the film which does convey some of the attitudes of the times I saw O'Connell as someone who as millions did admire the recently deceased Theodore Roosevelt. Remember it was TR who was our first conservationist president and many went into that profession because of him and his Chief of the Forestry Service Gifford Pinchot. TR was a proponent of 'the strenuous life' of which you see these guys are definitely living.

Except for the camp cook played by Ricky Jay who O'Connell feels is kind of a soft moocher and whom he develops a dislike for. There are a select in all our lives who rubbed us wrong at first meeting and we never change or minds. Jay is someone though that O'Connell learns to respect for at least one skill besides cooking he has.

Sam Elliott is also the kind of westerner that Theodore Roosevelt would have considered his ideal westerner. Sam was born 30 years too late what a cowboy hero he'd have made back in the day.

If you're a Theodore Roosevelt fan check this film out.

This is a family movie, but not trite. The story, and especially the details, ring true, about Norman Maclean's young life in Montana in the early 20th C. There is a bit of scenery (actually British Columbia), all beautiful, and a story about a 17-year old who is full of himself, and who doesn't like the Forest Ranger's cook. We find out about the cook, and about the boy, and a lot about being a forest ranger in the Montana/Idaho wilderness of 1919. Not to be missed by anyone who loves the western mountains, and who was full of himself as a boy.

In the summer of 1919 young Mac joins the Forest Rangers. The summer that follows teaches him to be a man as he learns the meaning of hard work on the trail. He also clashes with the cook who turns out to have a secret talent beyond cooking and bonds with Ranger Bill Bell. During the summer he falls in love, experiences all types of weather and gets involved in a high stakes game of poker.

This is a very slow coming-of-age tale. Mac joins the Rangers and gets into several situations that help him grow up. Some of them are dull and meaningless, such as some of the walking scenes and the love interest, however some are very well done such as the relationships developing between the lead actors and the final poker game. The lessons he learns are not forced or overstated and there is something quite nice about a film with recognisable faces that is gentle with no violence, swearing or sex in it.

The main performances are good. Sam Elliot is good in his usual "weary" role, Jerry O'Connell is also good, he hasn't had much mainstream success yet but he can give good performances when necessary. The best performance (and best role) is by Ricky Jay. Always watchable in the surprising number of big films he's done, he not only gets to show off his card skills here but also his acting skills - he really is always interesting to watch and he's very good here. The worst performance is the off-screen narrator (an old Mac) who gives one of those traditional wise-old-American men things.

The film is very light on plot and it may be a bit boring for many. For me there were many bits that felt pointless. But overall it's an undemanding family film that has some good scenes, good performances, but you really wish that more actually happened during the film!

I immediately liked this movie for its period sense and of course Sam Elliot and Jerry McConnell, as well as being written by Norman Maclean. The first time I watched it I felt it was a bit "light" in story. It drew me back to watch it again, though, and now having seen it quite a few times I have come to love it. It is simple and clean and tells the story of a small piece of a young life that is really quite large. Young Mac is 17 and full of himself, as many 17 year old men can be when they feel they have to prove themselves. He is the jerk in the movie, but he takes us on his journey of "becoming." There are many wise "turns of phrase" in this movie, and the more I watch it the more I find. So the story I thought was "light" turns out to be quite profound and deep. The cast, crew, directing, writing, and cinematography are all beautiful. Don't sell it short... watch it a few times.