L'angelo della vendetta

Tom Berenger who's a gun totin' sharp shootin' Mormon security man foils an attempted assassination of Brigham Young and is hardly thanked for his efforts. He investigates a little further and finds there's quite a complicated conspiracy at work.

It's good to remember that this film is based on a novel, just as the DaVinci Code is. It's not anything remotely resembling real history of the Church of Latter Day Saints.

For one thing as another reviewer pointed out the Transcontinental Railroad had been completed by 1872. Not only completed, but Brigham Young made money off it in every possible way.

Brigham Young was a complex and charismatic leader who during the Civil War was practically treated like he was a ruling foreign power by both Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis. His task as best he saw it was to keep the spirit of the LDS church alive and not let it get too touched by outside influences. Of course no one plays a complex and charismatic religious figure like Charlton Heston. His Brigham Young is like his Moses if Moses had actually gone into Canaan and had the responsibility of building a nation as Joshua did.

By the way the Mormons here show enough outside influence. They drink, they smoke, they indulge in extra-marital affairs just like a whole lot of gentiles do. Our protagonist Berenger is no exception.

In the film 20th Century Fox did, Brigham Young with Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, and Dean Jagger we saw a bit of the colorful Mormon Scout Porter Rockwell as played by John Carradine. Here the part is played by James Coburn who's older and wiser. Rockwell's place is still hotly debated, he was devoted to Brigham Young for certain and his devotion led to some blood stained hands.

I'm not sure how much controversy this made for TV western has caused among the LDS community. Apparently they were a lot smarter in handling this than other religions were with The DaVinci Code. If you remember this is a novel and not a factual retelling of events, you will get some insights into the LDS community.

Along my lifetime I'd learned that Salt Lake City in Utah is essentially is the heart of Mormon community, this TV movie exposes the Mormons pioneers moving in that area in Utah due they were steadily persecuted in mid-west in America leading by the president of the church Brigham Young (Charlton Heston), for security reasons they team up a bunch of men called "Destroying Angels' lately changing as The Avenging Angels to protect themselves against the evil invaders made raiding at their lands, actually those Angels were a kind of lowest positions at Mormon society carefully select for this dirtiest job, Miles Utley (Tom Berenger) is one of them, he also a co-producer as well.

Everything changing when someone tried kill Brigham Young inside the own church on a Mormon's meeting concerning political matters, in fact others are get ready to kill the older leader as well, for unknown purposes, so Miles a devoted follower of Brigham whereby used to call him by father starting making a research aiming for find out the truth, due something does not fit properly, slowing he got the whole picture regarding this abrupt assignment to annihilate an upright and legendary Mormon's leadership.

Also it brings to the light that infamous and controversial polygamy fully accepted in the such religious community, it sounds really weird for us lesser mortals in a worldwide religion that just accepts a monogamy on sacred matrimony, as the Mormons used to regarding us as true sinners, such odd behavior on multiple sexual relationship openly consent in this self-called mutual agreement in a society that refuses all Americans dealing them as unholy and decaying society, whereof they avoid us by any means, keeping at their own closed community, this unusual western has many fine actors as James Coburn, Kevin Tighe, Jefrey Jones and the eye-candy Fay Masterson among others.

Thanks for reading.

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First watch: 1996 / How many: 3 / Source: TV-Youtube / Rating: 7.

I've been looking for this movie on DVD for years. I remember watching it when it was released, and like many of you I do not understand why it hasn't been re-mastered on Blu Ray or DVD , I've e-mailed turner classic movies and have never received a reply on when this movie might be released again. With the all star cast and action packed sequences this movie needs to be released again on DVD ! Good westerns are few and there's not a lot of actors that can make a great western movie now days, the James Coburns, John Wayne's , and all the great actors are gone and there's very few actors that can make a great western still alive

There was an organization that existed in Utah after the Danites were disbanded. They were known as the Destroying Angels. The Mormons did kill people who were no threat to them in southern Utah. This was the Mountain Meadow Massacre on 11 September 1957. They killed over 100 men, women, and children on a wagon train from Arkansas. The only ones spared were children younger than 7. Even children as young as 9 were killed after the party was promised safe passage after turning over their weapons. Those left alive were given to Mormons in Utah to raise but eventually returned to their families back East. This was "The Crime of the Century" in the 1800's. There are some great books and many websites about it.

I should like this film, but I was more than a little put off by it. I want to be careful here and keep my comments addressed to the film and not its subject, the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints, AKA, the Mormons. The film which takes a VERY sympathetic posture of the Avenging Angels, the well organized and well funded hit squad of the LDS which organized a number of out-right murders of both true believers and "Gentiles (as us non-subscribers to their faith are termed). I was mildly surprised to note that such a murder is treated fairly in the film but that's about all that isn't slanted. The internal struggle of Elders provides us with the good guys/bad guys necessary for a good shoot'em Western and there are some interesting twists, including our old favorite, James Coburn, in a role as the mysterious Porter Rocwell, the organizer of the Avenging Angels. If you are willing to buy the several fictions that exist in the story and the VERY soft pedaling of Mormon polygyny, you will likely find this entertaining. Heston is his old patriarchal self as the "Prophet" Brigham Young and look for Andrew Prine, a promising young actor who never quite made it to the top, in a spot. As a hard-nosed history buff, I had a hard time with several of the religio-political elements of this film but I must confess that I've been so damn hungry lately for a good Western, I'd likely watch it again.