The Sacketts

I wanted to like this movie, but I only found it fair. Nothing new here in regards to a Western film. While the story concept was passable, the dialogue was mediocre at best, except for a few fleeting moments. Glenn Ford stood out briefly, but then overplayed his role and his death scene was way over the top and it was clear as day that a stunt man did the falls for the over 60 Ford. Most of the cast was wooden, stiff and either underplayed or overplayed their parts. Of course this was a television movie and for that, it was entertaining enough on a rainy night or a night with nothing much to do. Like I said, nothing new here.

....you know, Ben Johnson, Slim Pickens, Jack Elam, Sam Elliot, Shug Fisher, James Gammons, etc etc LQ Jones etc. Episodic kinda nature of the show keeps your interest, esp. when you see Sam Elliot come onto the screen.

Nothing ground breaking, but check it out if you like either L'amour or Tom Selleck at the least.

*** outta ****.

Hollywood western so often just leave really behind, but this movie is different. The sets, scenery and buildings really added a lot of realism. Also I liked that the riders lead pack horses, got dirty and didn't always run around clean shaved. Riders didn't leave their horses loose but tied them up and ran out of ammunition and had to reload. Again realistic. The plot has a few holes and leaves some questions unanswered but even if you don't get all fired up about the story, just watching for the set designs is worth it. Firearms, saddles, building construction and costumes for the most part were period correct. And for the most part, the named actors rarely used stand-ins. In my younger days, I had the chance to ride with Slim Pickens, and that man could ride!

This move was made in the late 1970's before TS achieved fame. So you may see a much slimmer and rougher actor than you may be used to. In my opinion, this is the greatest portrayal of Orrin and Tell Sackett to date. The screenplay remained true to the two novels from which it was taken ("The Daybreakers" and "Sackett"). The portrayal of the times was as authentic as we can hope for without having a camera running in the late 1800's. The supporting actors were so real you could smell the trail dust on them. The screen locations were exactly as I had pictured them in my mind when I read the novels. If you love Louis L'Amour novels and want to see the best that Hollywood has to offer, then take the time to watch this.

What's not to love when you have Sam Elliot and Tom Selleck in this old western min-series. Throw in a good classic plot and you have a good movie on hands.