Jericho

Mark Valley did a good job of portraying a man trying to figure out who he is. Leon Coffee became an instant likeable character and did a very good job. R. Lee Ermey did the job that would be expected of someone who can portray a great bit character on a constant basis. Of course Buck Taylor did his great job as always and you learn quickly to like the character he plays. Mark Collie improves with each film he is in. Once again he can surprise you with the character in him. The storyline was great and it took me almost a third of the way in to start realizing what was going on. You couldn't stop watching it just to see the ending. A couple of odd part were left hanging but I really don't think they would have made a difference in the production. This was a very enjoyable western and for our time now it was completed with good thought and acting. Rare nowadays with all the blood and guts being shown. You'll enjoy it.

Mark Valley (who?) stars as a cowpoke suffering from amnesia, trying to regain his memory in this low-budget STV job shot on location in Texas and New Mexico. Along the way, he works as a cattle drover, a gold panner and a ranch hand before discovering his true identity in a twist ending. One thing for sure: he knows how to handle a pistol, and does so frequently in this gritty but clichéd western. The costumes and general look of the characters and settings feel authentic enough. What's missing is a Sam Elliott or Tom Selleck to give the movie a certain zing. I will say I stuck with it to find out the guy's true identity, which for most viewers likely will come as a complete surprise.

From its mysterious, Hitchcock-style opening to its satisfying conclusion, Jericho is a delightful and intriguing movie. Set in the old west, Jericho is a suspenseful story of friendship, loyalty, and determination. Filmgoers will find themselves sharing the fast-paced adventure of the main character who is searching for his true identity. Along the way, be prepared to experience a wide range of emotions. Beautiful cinematography and a stirring soundtrack suit this heartwarming story well. Our family enjoyed watching this movie twice!

Although very obscure and a little hard to locate, "Jericho", a film which has nothing to do with the city of the same name, is a combination of the genres of mystery and Western that results in something that is quite delightful, however not extraordinary.

The story feels more like it should be set in the 1940s as opposed to the 1880s and it has some truly bad dialogue and ridiculous moments such as in the opening third of the running time and a few spotty performances, but in the end, I thoroughly enjoyed "Jericho" and the mean reason was because obviously the writers had clearly outlined their story a few times to create a fairly complex, but understandable mystery film that really shows its true colors in the final act.

Typically when I review a film, I go into a deep analysis, but this time I'm going to cut short, because "Jericho" was not a film that had my enormously involved or incredibly disinterested. I was somewhere in the midpoint between these two verdicts. I basically liked the movie but more or less as a guilty pleasure. The story is good, but the screenplay is a patchwork of good and bad dialogue, there are some mediocre performances save Mark Valley, Leon Coffee, and some of the supporting cast, and the music score was completely off-kilter. It does make up for this when the mystery of the story is solved towards the end, but then it's sort of ruined when the movie reaches an abrupt, non-conclusive resolution. In the end, if you like Westerns, or better still, if you like mysteries, you may or may not enjoy "Jericho." This is a film that will find its reviewers split right down the middle.

I saw this movie in a theater, with a Q&A by the director, in Springfield, MO, which is one of the places the director calls home and where one of the actors (Woody P. Snow, a local radio DJ) is from. It was a decent movie for its essentially shoe-string budget. Not really what you'd call a Western...it's more of a character study or psychological drama that dresses itself in Western trappings. (Sort of like how "Little House on the Prairie" was set in the west without having the constant gunfights and things that you associate with a Western.) It also had a few problems with the pacing, particularly toward the end where it suddenly and without warning drops into a 15-minute flashback. Had a few interesting ideas in it, though...particularly in regard to how what you think you see at the beginning isn't what you really see at all.