The Legend of Hell's Gate: An American Conspiracy

Movie Review of "The Legend of Hells Gate" by GW "Bill" Johnson I just saw Tanner Bearden's Legend of Hells Gate: An American Conspiracy. He wrote it; directed it; and helped star in it along with Eric Balfour who also covers the ground he stands on. Star watchers should get a bright red permanent marker and put a big check next to these young men's names. Bearden a 28 year old young man is gifted along with his whole family as I found out. In Texas we would say; "He'll do to swim the river with". This movie has the look and ambiance of Lonesome Dove without vulgar insinuations.

Bill Johnson Flat Rock Crossing on Big Keechi Creek, Texas

This movie was boring and seemed to go nowhere. You keep waiting for the action to break out and it never does. It just kind of limps along the entire time. My husband gave up and went to bed. I stayed up and watched to the end thinking it would pick up at any time. It just never did. Rented it at Redbox, but felt completely ripped off even at $1.20. I would not suggest renting this unless you are completely bored and have watched everything else available. The acting was OK, not good or bad really, but that could have easily been overlooked with a decent story line. All the scenes just seemed very isolated from each other. The characters didn't really interact well either, it was very stilted.

Sadly the least I could give this (film?) was one star. Had there been anything less, I'd have clicked it. I've seen every cowboy ever made and this is right up there with the worst.

The best part of the movie was that a lot of it was so dark that I couldn't see what was happening. I understand that dimming the lights is supposed to set the mood but,,,, total darkness??? It was so dark that the plot was also hidden from view. I've seen the sepia thing done before, especially interior shots, to try to give the film a period, old time, down and out, depressed look but in this case, it came off as if it was a copycat move and pressing to make up for a lack of,,, everything a good movie should have. There may have been some good scenery shots but any parts of the movie that you could actually see, looked as if they were all shot on a foggy day, 10 minutes before sundown. The scenes jumped around so much that I couldn't make any connection. And the individual scenes were filled with,,,, filler; unrelated, irrelevant, clock eating junk. In all honesty, I watched only 45 minutes and I had absolutely no idea what it was about. There was no suspense, no drama, no continuity, no plot, nothing to keep me watching.

I know nothing at all about anyone connected with this movie, except Buck Taylor, so they may all be first timers. The production quality, sets and costumes were all pretty good. The acting, direction, editing and camera could use a bit of work but wasn't bad. It was easy to see that there was a lot of effort but,,, without light bulbs and a story,,, it was all for naught. I think they all should give it another try, but for God's sake,, next time,, wait for a story. See: Shane, High Noon, Unforgiven, The Tall T, Hondo.....

What could have been a good movie was let down by bad acting,particularly by the Director/Actor. A terrible Irish accent and "hammy" at the best of times. Others weren't much better. I understand that this was a low-budget indie film and applaud the effort, but surely there's more acting talent than this. Apart from the acting, the events leading to the "main plot" do not get there until halfway through the movie and then fade away almost as quickly. What we are really watching is a movie about three bad guys on the run; and that could have worked,but didn't have enough character development to make us care.

I REALLY hate scripts that are about an area that the writer knows nothing about. The one that jumped right out at me was when they were going to cross the Brazos river in Granbury and they had to swim. I have a news flash, unless it was right after a heavy rain storm which by all the dust I highly doubt, you can probably walk across the Brazos without getting your ankles wet! Also, they rode horseback from Dallas to Granbury in one night, which is also HIGHLY unlikely since as the crow flies it has to be at least 70 miles. From downtown Fort Worth it is at least 45 miles.

The accents by the actors were so bad, and that goes for the Irish, southern, and the others that were unrecognizable.