Giustizia a Oak Hill

The railroad is coming and not all people want to sell their ranch to make way for the new rail line. The local officials working for the railroad are violently encouraging the families to sell their ranches at the railroad's price. A railroad official from Chicago has come to help speed matters up, but in a non-violent manner.

Ernest Borgnine is one of the ranchers who are refusing to sell. Working for Ernest Borgnine is a former gunfighter (Luke Rivers / Casper Van Dien) who has tried to leave his violent past behind, and a teenage boy (Michael H. Barnett). Among those working for the railroad is a former gunfighter friend (D.C. Cracker / Bruce Boxleitner) of Luke River.

I generally liked this movie as I favor Westerns. I did feel the script needed more work. I thought there may be a connection between Luke Rivers and the teenage boy - and if there was - I missed the explanation.

Connections/relations/conflicts between other characters could have been developed more. I am uncertain if this is because of the script, the direction, or if the actors didn't have the 'heft' to pull it off. James Stewart, or other 1950s Western actors, had the gravitas to imply much with little.

Because a Mexican shawl is so reminiscent of Clint Eastwood in his 'Man With No Name' spaghetti westerns, Casper Van Dien looked 'wrong' when he took to wearing one late in the movie. Instead of enhancing his gunfighter status, it diminished him in my eyes as he could not compare to Eastwood.

The director has a different visual style. Occasionally his tilted camera angles was distracting. I disagree with his overuse of tight closeups - especially during fight/brawl scenes. I couldn't get involved in the fight/brawl when I only saw the person who threw the punch or the person who received it with no good establishing shots as to which person was fighting who.

I also felt the violent scenes of the railroad enforcers terrorizing the families were too many and went on too long. It was more than I expected from a TV movie. It says something when the credits lists as an actress: "Terrified Woman".

On the plus side, the movie did try to present people on both sides of the conflict being right and wrong, good and bad. You may be right but sometimes it is hard to stop progress. I believe the "Aces and Eights" referred to losing with a winning hand. Within the Western clichés the movie tried to be different, and while it didn't always succeed, at times I admired the effort.

Howard (William Atherton) is in charge of the construction of a railway line. With a few properties in the way and with farmers refusing to sell because their properties are worth more than they're offered, Howard resorts to drastic measures to 'eliminate' the farmers. Tate (Jeff Kober), a ruthless man with no conscience, seems to enjoy torturing and killing the farmers.

Casper van Dien stars as Luke Rivers, who helps Thurmond Prescott (Ernest Borgnine) on his farm. He used to ride with Tate, but resorted to a new, peaceful life. His romance interest is the school teacher, Jo Tanner (Deidre Quinn). I found their romance subtle and beautiful.

The film's opening scenes set the tone for what Tate and his henchmen are capable of. This elevates the tension as negotiations with Prescott fails, and Tate planning to 'deal with him.' In the middle of all the chaos is Jess Riley (Jack Noseworthy) from the Railroad, who is trying to settle matters peacefully.

'Aces 'n Eights' is an action-packed, and fairly violent Western.

Far too much concentration on a relentless series of bloody, sadistic atrocities, committed by pantomime villains, against stock character, seemingly helpless farmers who are trying to resist a railroad land- grab. Even Borgnine, Boxleitner and Van Dien fail to lift this beyond the hackneyed, mundane and largely predictable horse opera which it patently is. Character development is shallow and unresolved, and the limited dialogue also limits any engaging plot development. Even the slight twist at the end, as regards the ultimate demise of the chief "badhat" comes across as a desperate, but ineffective ploy to at least try to depart from total predictability. Just about worth a watch on a rainy afternoon, but not if you've anything even remotely more interesting to do... which would not be hard to find.

Yes, sadly, we have a look into DVD Perdition, where ex-actors who used to be something are consigned to doing bad films.

This film has three guys who used to have name recognition- Casper Van Dien, Bruce Boxleitner and Ernest Borgnine. Hell, Ernie won an Oscar. (He's also 91 and still acting, that says a lot.)

The plot is that the railroad is coming through, and Ernest doesn't want to sell his land. The railroad hires a bunch of thugs, who used to know ranch hand van Dien. A bunch of clichéd western themes, you aren't going to mistake this for Deadwood, that's for sure.

The movie is plodding and slow, there is little chemistry between the characters. The ending is the typical showdown that John Wayne did 50 years ago and much better. Boxleitner could have been John Wayne 40 years ago, but maybe we've outgrown a need for John Wayne.

I've been watching western in my whole life mainly the classics and B-movies of fifties and sixties, but new productions using former actors to sell the picture like this is a crying shame, the plot is usual, however the Kober's gang massacre is absolutely senseless, killing for killing is totally lack of intelligence and reason, Carper Van Dien is a regular actor doesn't hold the picture, already Boxleitner has a decent acting together with Borgnine after all not enough among such mediocrity, finally the lack of beauty women in the story is another weak point, although in beginning has some they didn't participating of the movie itself and Deirdre Quinn isn't quite beauty and looks like a nun, anyway a bad movie!!