The Long Ride Home

Jack Fowler (Randy Travis) is a common farmer who abandoned his family to protect and carries eight (8) years fleeing because they had to kill someone (drunk Lenny) that it confused with the ruthless, bloodthirsty and famous gunman Jack Cole.

Lucas Moat (Ernest Borgnine) takes more than a month, along with his two sons, following the trail of the real Jack Cole to avenge the assassination of his brother, as well as other crimes including a child.

Abel Hart (Paul Tinder) is a fugitive, mental unwaged, which have an obsession with wanting to be the real Jack Cole. This also confuses Jack Fowler with Jack Cole and takes advantage of his wife (Mrs. Vaughn Taylor) and son (Alec Medlock) to try to kill him.

The character Eric Roberts (sheriff Hank Bowman) is so insignificant and outside sense that coupled with its dismal performance is the only thing that is bad movie.

My wife and I enjoyed this movie on the Westerns Channel. It deserves better than the 5.1 average rating. Some people get hung up on one aspect of a movie, for example the Bible verses being quoted, but if that's the way those people lived, the actors could not portray it any other way. Though the actors were mostly unknowns other than Stella Stevens, Randy Travis, Ernest Borgnine and Eric Roberts it was well acted. It was interesting to see Garry Marshal in a movie, I had only seen him in the Documentary of The Princess Diaries and had only seen Randy Travis in Fire Down Below. I see that Randy Travis is in several other movies and will check them out.

Other reviewers have pointed out good and bad features of this movies, and they all have a point.

The feeling that struck me as I watched this was that it was too long.I found myself watching the clock on my DVD player to see how much longer it would last.When I find myself experiencing something like this while watching a film, it usually means the film lacks focus.I think that is true here. There are just too many subplots and unnecessary twists and turns that detract from the feeling of unity in this film. My recommendation would be that it be taken back to the editing room and severely pared down to give it the film a more distinct direction.

Some good points in the film:

• I thought the actor playing the young boy did a good job, and his scenes held my attention.

• The flirtatious scene(s) where the young lawman envies the light on the leading lady's face was touching, and she did tend to "shine" a bit more in these scenes than others -- she looked better and I thought she was more likable in these scenes.

• The overall tone of the outdoor scenes were appealing....

But I return to my main point... the film needs tighter editing....

This is a movie which held morality and marriage in high esteem. Those who dislike religion will dislike this movie. With that said: I watched it first before reading any of these reviews. I thought it was a very meaningful movie, though the bad guy was a bit over-the-top. (The violence could be disturbing for children, so parents should use caution.) The bible-quoting derisively mentioned by a couple reviewers was not overly-frequent. While it may be surprising that someone can remember such quotes by verse, it's not unrealistic if one is raised in a religious household. This movie held a powerful message about God's forgiveness for our sins. It also treated marriage as something more than shacking-up. If that offends anyone, I don't think the movie is to blame. I didn't give it a 10 because I thought the bad guy and the ending was a bit contrived.

Nothing wrong with a movie without swearing, and without much violence. Eric Roberts is a bit miscast as a literate sheriff, who doesn't ride that well (without stirrups) and the Bible quoting is fairly minimal and welcome.

We need more movies like this instead of the urban crap being thrown out these days. Outdoor scenes are pretty and well filmed. Randy Travis is not bad, and Vaughn Taylor is great. It is hard for me to believe that some complained that some would be offended by the Bible quotations; how PC! Well, we western movie fans not only are not offended, we find it a refreshing change from the secular liberal mantra that Hollywood espouses.