Broken Trail

Just finished watching part two. Great story. I can not wait to read the book. Both Duvall and Church brought so much to their characters and the story. I really hope that the "great west " was settled by men like these. Men who were not afraid to do the right thing. Men who showed courage, morals, kindness, and stood up to those who would bring harm and injustice to the innocent. . The kind of men that I would consider it an honor to "ride" with. I could not help sharing in the pain and confusion that the girls felt. I feel ashamed as a man to know that we treated innocent women that way and still do. I am glad the story ended as it did. Duvall's character showed that he could be tough as nails but still have a heart when it came to the girls. Church's character showed true grit and also had a soft side that he could not hide. Overall it was a truly great story brought to life by two men who did an excellent job portraying their characters.

I can only hope they someone keeps making Westerns because the few that have been made the last few years have been outstanding. This one, a TV miniseries, is just great. I can't enough good things about it. I saw it recently on DVD. It was a three-hour film. I thought I read somewhere that it was four hours, so I don't know if this version has been down. I only know what I saw, and I liked about everything I saw.

Looking at the IMDb reviews here before making a rental helped me out a lot. It prepared me for a slower film. In other words, I knew what to expect.....and that helped. I didn't expect a rough film with a ton of violence and nasty characters, language, etc.

What surprised me was just how interesting a film this was for being three hours long and not having a lot of action. I attribute this to the dialog, the acting, characters you care about and the wonderful cinematography. It's hard to beat the scenery in a nicely-filmed western.

The words coming out of the two stars of the picture, Robert Duvall and Thomas Haden Church were extremely believable material. These guys were tough, but not abrasively- macho, compassionate but not sappy. As "Prentice Ritter" and "Tom Harte," respectively, they fascinating to watch. I liked what they said throughout the movie and they were extremely believable characters. They looked and talked the part.

This story is different because it's mainly about helping five young Chinese women, who are destined for prostitution, slavery and who knows what else. Ritter and Harte didn't volunteer for the job; it accidentally came upon them as they were escorting horses North for a nice payday. The two men showed wonderful compassion for these girls, despite the fact they slowed their mission down and had a problem with communication.

There has to be some villains in a western and we have them here with "Big Rump Kate" and others but they are not overblown and we don't see so much of them they they get annoying. For a Walter Hill film, this was astonishing in how low-key it was told.

We also get a bit of a romance, just a glimpse between Duvall's character and one played by Greta Scacchi ("Nola Johns"). It has a different kind of ending to it, one I didn't expect and one that will emotionally affect you.

It simple terms: this is a nice movie, a good story about good guys doing a good deed for the right reasons. Watching them do it, under adverse conditions, was almost a privilege. A big thank you to all involved with this movie and giving us fans of this genre hope that it isn't completely dead.

As a Chinese-American, I had no doubt I would schedule my life around the two nights BROKEN TRAIL was airing. Having seen part 2 last night, I am still reeling from the beauty of the backdrop, the vastness and the loneliness--something I remember from the film, A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT, which was also in Wyoming I believe and definitely featured fly fishing but I digress.

Robert Duvall said in an interview on CBS' Sunday Morning that BROKEN TRAIL represented the finale to his western trilogy (Lonesome Dove, Open Range and now Broken Trail) and that's sad but what a body of work he's left us and countless generations to enjoy! I loved the economy of language because that's how I imagine life was among men in those days. The leisurely pace of the film might have pulled the story down but not in this case. I applaud AMC for going forward with this production and the minimal intrusion of commercials. I truly hope this comes out on DVD because I know I will have to have it. I found the casting to be perfect and disagree with the reviewer who lamented the exclusion of Tom Selleck or Keith Carradine among others. The familiarity I felt for Robert Duvall and Thomas Haden Church was enough without being overwhelming--they just seemed to lend honesty and truth to their performances--more known actors weren't needed. I appreciated the fact this wasn't a cast of thousands, although there were suppose to be 500 horses or so...

My final comment to all who enjoyed this mini-series and to those who did not know much of the Chinese who came to the 'Golden Mountain' in the 1800's--please look for Ruthanne Lum McCunn's book, "THOUSAND PIECES OF GOLD" which is based on a true story (I'm still not sure if Broken Trail is, although I believe the writer was somewhat influenced by this book since there are common threads i.e. Chinese girls sold into prostitution and setting roots in far flung states--Idaho in the book and Wyoming in the mini-series). THOUSAND PIECES...has also been made into a film but is not as good as BROKEN TRAIL.

I can't wait for AMC to show repeat airings--for any of you who didn't get a chance--WATCH IT!!!

How does an honest man make his way in a corrupt world? Walter Hill has been investigating this question since his days as a screenwriter, with a couple of stopovers in Dashiell Hammett country (his dauntingly unsuccessful version of Hammet's RED HARVEST, filmed as LAST MAN STANDING), comedies (48 HOURS), but here, in this leisurely western, he has found a perfect vehicle for this problem, and the right actor for the role in the ever-watchable Robert Duvall. And the answer is that you wind up accumulating a pack of people as wounded as yourself, ducking your head against the storm and slogging on through: a nephew estranged from his mother, your sister, a Virginian who can't stop traveling, five Chinese virgins intended for a mining camp's whorehouse... the list goes on. In the midst of a beautiful land -- the magnificent Canadian plains, west of Calgary where they rise to the Rockies -- they slog on, doing their best.

To what end? When death and violence surround you, then the wise man comes to recognize that the effort is all he can offer.

It is a pleasure to watch canny old pro Duvall at work, and to watch Thomas Haden Church, as his nephew, play off against him. And the beauty of moving horses across the Canadian plains is the revival of a seemingly lost art; the westerns, once the myth of America and bedrock of the film industry, are now an occasional production from people nostalgic for the form. But their nostalgia is suffused with a strong sense of film-making and this mini-series should not be missed.

The film opens in Chinatown San Francisco, 1898 where we five exotic virgins from the Celestial Empire are bought by Captain Billy Fender (James Russo) to be sold as slaves and introduced into the brief and violent life of prostitution…

Robert Duvall stars as "Print" Ritter, an old cowhand whose sister left a will inheriting all to him rather than to her own son, Tom Harte (Thomas Haden Church) who lives in John Day Country Oregon...

Print ignores why she has done it, or why was crossed between the two, but his sister done it…

Print got the idea to buy a team of tough, high-desert mustangs—three to eight years of age—to take them to Sheridan, Wyoming to sell to the British Empire; the money they'll earn will be to increase their capital… And on the shares, Print figures a 25-75 split on profits after expenses and loan repayment to the bank…

From this point, Hill's Western becomes a road movie, with all kinds of odd characters, from ugly villains to a friendly musician, but the key to "Broken Trail" is that through a series of circumstances, fate has placed the five Chinese innocent girls in the hands of Tom and his uncle… But the reality is another… Their families sold them to that rat captain heading out to the mining camp, where Kate, an odious saloon owner, bought them from an associate in San Francisco…

Our two cowboys save the girls' lives from rape and take them along on their journey…

With great photography, gorgeous vistas, perilous ground, sensible brave girls, good and decidedly courageous men, great action when it is necessary, and a big confrontation at the climax of the movie, Hill's Western is a must see film for the fans of the genre