Desolation Canyon

Desolation Canyon is a western that takes some of the themes from the John Wayne classic Big Jake and develops them a bit further. In fact it's quite the family tangle for Stacy Keach who essentially plays the Duke character and admirably fills his boots.

Some outlaws come to the town where Patrick Duffy is the sheriff and his old partner Stacy Keach lives in retirement and raising his two grandkids. The outlaws include his son who is the father of the grand children and on the way out of town grab the boy Drake Johnston.

The boy's mother Kelly Overton is divorced from the son Victor Browne and she's keeping company with David Rees Snell the town banker who is nearly killed in the robbery. He's an Easterner and insists accompanying Duffy and Keach.

In fact when the final showdown comes it's almost a relief because for what should be a straightforward story, the plot has an incredible amount of twists and turns. There are a couple of bounty hunters also on the trail with their own agenda, the outlaws have one aside from the robbery, it's all a bit hard to follow.

Still the players do very well in an extremely and needlessly convoluted story.

I thought it was pretty darn decent western. I've seen a lot worse. I thought there were some great comedic moments. Edwin being a "rooster" was funny. I love Duffy and Steach. The woman who played the mom couldn't act her way out of a paper bag but otherwise, good entertainment.

The movie is a double treat because it offers plenty to those (usually me) who like to nit pick at the flaws in a movie, and it also offers plenty to those who want to sit back and relax and enjoy the movie's complex plot, enjoyable characters and happy family ending (as I do for the film). To enjoy the many fine qualities of the movie, you have to shrug-off the many small absurdities and filler in the plot. For example the story tells us that the two leads are expert experienced outdoors-men and trackers, so I believe it. Thus, it doesn't bother me when I see some amateurish moves on their part — like letting some bad guys walk away from an encounter in a saloon; and being shot at in the open so many times and surviving unhurt. There are a lot of unlikely plot coincidences that I just brush off.

I know IMDb has its own method to get a rating average, but I think this film should have a higher average. I see that about 150 voters gave 6 or better, and about 75 gave it 5 or worse — so how did it end up with a 5.7 average? For me the movie is an unexpected pleasure. I agree with those who laugh at the stupid title to the movie, that has nothing to do with anything in the movie — "Desolation Canyon."

It may not be awarded as a "classic western", but this is a great flick. Albeit simple dialog (to help those woke kids understand what a western is), Keach and Duffy make a great team. Edwin the Eastern wimp turns out to have more grit than anyone expected.

If you are a good-old-boy like me who enjoy's westerns, and want to see one not repeated over the last 40 years, this will not dissapoint.

If you are a anal movie critic and do not care about the "spirit of the west", and western movies in general, then skip it and go get an ice-cream with Joey-Biden. A good movie doesn't have to "rate" with critics to be a good movie, lol.

First off, I enjoy westerns, that said, this is a very interesting modern western with a modern theme. I see how this could happen today and in the past. We don't have many movies that teach good morals these days. This movie brings out the blessings and hardships of having family and being a friend. It is nice to see the horse play and phrases that the cowboys would have used and the settings of the old west. A catchy line or two brings out the charm and creates a feeling of understanding. The directing was a little bland and made it seam like another old western at times. I would look forward to more work like this with a more modern directing theme to it. Look for more work by this writer. I felt it was fresh and witty with very little diversion from the quest we were on. Love, hate, violence, vengeance and of course greed played out well. But also present was duty, honor, family, friendship and the pride of doing what is right also played deep into this production. For a family movie, I would suggest (and I have) to my friends and family. Hallmark has pulled off another wonderful family movie that will entertain and enrich families.