The Sacketts

The three hour plus two part mini-series was just about the right time that was needed for Louis L'Amour to tell his tale about the Sacketts. His fictional family encompassed a few of his many western novels and the ground covered here is covered in two of his stories.

One brother Sam Elliott has already gone west and now Tom Selleck and Jeff Osterhage have to go west because of a killing of a family member who have a feud going with the Sacketts. Their mother played by Mercedes McCambridge sends the boys off with her blessing and a promise that they'll send for her when they can.

One thing I liked about this film is without being sanctimonious or preachy The Sacketts does manage convey the strong moral values the men were raised with. That slips all too often in the rough and violent west when it could become a dog eat dog matter of survival.

Elliott is involved with prospecting and he runs afoul of a band of brothers named Bigelow when Elliott shoots one of them for being a card cheat. Selleck and Osterhage sign on to a cattle drive that is ramrodded by Glenn Ford who is wise in frontier ways. They settle in Santa Fe where they get caught in the middle of a feud between the new American immigrants led by John Vernon who includes among them a number of gunfighters and Gilbert Roland leader of the Mexican settlers who were there before.

Let's say that the brothers help each other out in their different situations.

A lot of familiar western names support Selleck, Elliott, and Osterhage and it's always a pleasure to see any one of them in a film. Ben Johnson plays another grizzled veteran of the frontier. Glenn Ford's character is probably the most morally ambiguous of the lot and in his long career Ford did play a few people who were not heroes, Lust For Gold and The Man From Colorado come immediately to mind. And Mercedes McCambridge's few scenes at the beginning are memorable.

Fans of Louis L'Amour novels and western fans in general will enjoy 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.

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.

This is pretty much standard Western fare with a cattle drive, gold prospecting, town taming and gun play. Sam Elliot, Tom Selleck and Jeff Osterhage play the three Sackett brothers. The oldest one, Tell (Elliot) is the one looking for gold. In the meantime, the other two leave their home in Tennessee and head west, hooking up with a cattle drive. When the cattle are delivered, they head to racially divided Santa Fe to help a beautiful Mexican senorita whose family is threatened by a dishonest businessman.

Much of the strength of this story lies in the supporting cast, including Western veterans Glenn Ford, Ben Johnson, Jack Elam, Slim Pickens and Gene Evans. Ford is Tom Sunday, ramrod of the cattle drive. He and the two younger Sacketts go into business together rounding up stray cattle before taking them to Santa Fe. Then Sunday's relationship with the Sackett boys begins to spiral downward, and when Orrin (Selleck) gets the sheriff job Sunday has his heart set on, a grudge develops that will not abate. Ben Johnson is a hoot as Cap Roundtree. He was going to join in the stray cattle venture, but when he meets up with Tell, his eyes light up with gold fever and off they go to the mountains. Elam, Pickens and Evans are the Bigelows. They aim to get revenge against Tell for the slaying of their brother and this leads to the final confrontation. Elam, with his long handlebar mustache and black garb, including gloves, looks especially menacing.

The Sacketts is not the best Western to come along, but it is always a pleasure to watch those guys who appeared in so many of the bygone classics and have since passed on.