Outlaw Trail: The Treasure of Butch Cassidy

I just caught this movie by accident on the Encore/Wam channel, and I was very pleasantly surprised. Take the legend of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and the never ending mystery of were they, or were they not gunned down in Bolivia.

This movie concerns a young kid, possibly the great-nephew of the infamous outlaw, who believes that Butch Cassidy returned to the United States and buried a treasure somewhere in the Utah wilderness.

The action that follows is good old fashioned clean adventure, as 3 boy scouts and their girl friend go hunting for the treasure, pursued by villains, led by Bruce McGill. Lot's of gunfire, jumping trains, escaping down the river in a raft without paddles. All reminiscent of the old Saturday matinée serials. If you like old fashioned fun, and remember the way movies used to be, then young and old can enjoy this one.

The only thing I would take from it, is the pacing was a little slow, and the very ending was a bit "sappy" and looked "tacked on". Otherwise get ready for action adventure with lots of old cars, trucks, train and even a bi-plane, and relive the old days of the Saturday serials!

Like Young Guns II where a heavily made up Emilio Estevez as desert rat Brushy Bill Roberts reveals to an interviewer he's really Billy the Kid who didn't die at the hands of Pat Garrett, Outlaw Trail has the proposition that Butch Cassidy didn't meet his end in Bolivia with the Sundance Kid. His legacy has been a heavy load for his family to bear, particularly a surviving brother played by James Gammon in Utah of 1951.

For reasons that are not really explained young Ryan Kelley thinks that grand uncle Butch survived and left a lot of buried loot in the legendary Robber's Roost, hideout for the Hole-in-the-Wall gang. James Gammon who is his grandfather discourages that belief rather firmly. But when some thieves loot an excavation site that contains clues to the treasure young Ryan is more determined than ever.

He and Boy Scout buddy James D. Hardy are determined to find said treasure ahead of the thieves. Along for the ride reluctantly are Arielle Kebbel and another Boy Scout Brent Weber who is his rival for Kebbel and son of the local mayor.

Outlaw Trail proves one proposition, that out on the frontier Boy Scout training comes in remarkably handy. At various points in the film the Scouts are trailing the crooks and vice versa. And the law is trailing both as the kids are now missing persons.

Young Ryan Kelley gives a sincere and deeply felt performance. And the rest of the cast backs him up admirably. Outlaw Trail is a good family film that kids of all ages should enjoy.

I am a judge for the Indianapolis-based Heartland Film Festival. This feature film is a Crystal Heart Award Winner and is eligible to be the Grand Prize Winner in October of 2006. The Heartland Film Festival is a non-profit organization that honors Truly Moving Pictures. A Truly Moving Picture "…explores the human journey by artistically expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life."

Remember the ending of the film, "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", when Paul Newman and Robert Redford are in Bolivia and they rush out the front door to escape many armed government troops? The story ends there and we just assumed that Butch and Sundance died and we were spared the gore.

"Outlaw Trail" assumes that Butch didn't die and in fact came back to his home in the West to make amends for his life of crime. Or, at least that is what Roy Parker thinks. Roy Parker is a teenage boy whose great uncle was Leroy Parker, better known as Butch Cassidy. It's 1951 and Roy lives in the same town as all the Parkers have lived, and Butch Cassidy has always been a major embarrassment to the family.

Roy is out to prove everyone is wrong about Butch Cassidy and he inadvertently gets help from the evil local museum director and his two criminal cohorts who Roy spots stealing artifacts from an old mining site. These three criminals are after the treasure that Butch Cassidy may have hidden and revealed in a map that is part of these stolen artifacts. But Roy is just out to clear his family name.

Roy and three friends alternately are chased by the three bad guys or chase the three bad guys in a plot that twists and turns all over Wyoming. The film plays like "Raiders of the Lost Ark." It is complicated, full of adventure, farcical at times, and relentlessly entertaining.

But ultimately it is a story about Roy looking for the good in someone that was always thought of as an outlaw. It's Roy's faith in his family's goodness that drives the story, and relying on this faith, Roy displays courage and heroism far beyond his age and experience in life.

FYI – There is a Truly Moving Pictures web site where there is a listing of past Crystal Heart Award winners as well as other Truly Moving Picture Award winners that are now either at the theater or available on video.