User reviews

This movie is good in the way a Steve Austin action movie can be good if you know what to expect. It feels like a parody of a western because all the stereotypical elements are there but it treats itself seriously. That's why some will like it and others completely hate it so it makes it difficult to recommend to anyone.

I personally found the clothes and sets a little distracting because everything felt slightly wrong for pre-1900. The low budget probably limited what could be custom made so you just have to overlook it. The music was also wrong in a few places, some points have an almost comical tone and don't match the situation.

If you are the type to get bothered by details then this movie would be difficult to get through, otherwise it's a good average western themed movie. I just don't consider it a good western.

What can you say, this movie is what it is. I think the movie's budget went to paying all of the top 4 actors their salary. I must say Jill Hennessy still looks great and she was the best thing about this movie. What's up with the town they live in though? There's only like 10 people that live in this town. They couldn't hire 20 more extras? Gee whiz lol. I mean, Mason couldn't figure out out of the 10 people that lived in the town who the bad guy/guys were from the beginning? Again, I think the budget went to the salaries of the actors.

I loved Christian Slater's early work with True Romance, and Pump up the Volume, but he hasn't been able to play adult roles very well. He never was able to make that transition convincingly. If you want a good laugh though, check this film out.

"Dawn Rider" is a remake of a John Wayne "B" western of the 1930s. The original version ran only about fifty-three minutes, while this remake runs an additional forty minutes - which happens to be one of the big problems. There isn't enough story here to justify a ninety-three minute running time, so frequently the movie runs at a VERY slow speed. But there are other problems with the movie. The movie is also quite dull, and while there are several action sequences, they are very unexciting. While Christian Slater has given some fine performances in the past, he's hopeless here, the last person you would consider being a hardened gunfighter despite not shaving for several days. Donald Sutherland only appears in five brief scenes, indicating he was only hired for a few days so that the movie would qualify for Canadian content rules. The production values are okay, and there are a few well-photographed sequences, but that's not enough to make the movie appealing to even western addicts like myself.

I'm a big fan of westerns and have been since my childhood in the 60's. This is perhaps the worst western i've ever seen. It had such promise, Christian Slater and Donald Southerland are two actors I've always enjoyed. I sought this film out because they're in it, what a walloping disappointment! Stupid plot, flat acting, ridiculous inconsistencies, modern dialogue far removed from period correct, empty characters, the list of bad qualities goes on. The entire production is really lousy. There are giant holes in the story line that get filled with the kind of convenience elements a high school level writer would utilize. i tried really hard to care about any of the characters but they were so thin that there wasn't anything to care about. Phoned in performances from Southerland and Slater were a huge disappointment.

"When my father died he was trying to tell me something, Dos Equis." When fugitive John Mason's (Slater) father is killed by a group of masked bandits he decides to hunt them down and get his revenge. Things get complicated when he realizes that the bandits are closer to home then he thought. I have said a few times now that I don't know what happened to the western genre. After "Dances With Wolves", "Tombstone" and "Open Range" the genre seemed to fall off drastically and is now limited to very low budget cheesy made-for-TV movie type movies. I was looking forward to this one mainly because of the cast. I thought finally a descent western that I will like. While this is a great many times better then 90% if the recent contributions, this felt the same as the rest. This could have easily been another made-for-TV movie if not for the cast. Nothing really original and this is not the return of the great westerns I was hoping for but this is easily one of the better ones in recent memory. Which isn't really saying that much I know. Overall, worth watching and entertaining but it is a little slow and still a B-rate western. I give it a B-.

When I saw the cast I thought I was going to be in for a good western even though the score was pretty low on IMDd. But in the past I saw movies that I liked that ranked low here so I thought I give it a try. Well this time the IMDb ranking was spot on. This western is not really worth watching unless you are bored and have absolutely nothing else to do. If the budget was 5 million it for sure went just to the actors because they didn't spend much on anything else. Another western where there are only like 10 people living in a town. Could you really not afford some extras as bystanders? The plot was also very predictable, what made it quite dull. I was glad when the movie ended and won't watch it again.

Character development was poor. Act wasn't good. But it was a western, guess they thought it wouldn't matter. A few f-bombs thrown in for good measure.

"Dawn Rider" has an overall score of 4.9, which is not very good. However, after seeing the film, I think it's better than a 4.9...just a bit. Now this does not mean I recommend you rush to see it...the story has a few serious flaws. But it is a decent time-passer.

John Mason (Christian Slater) is a bit of an old west rogue. He's definitely not the hero type but whether or not he's a criminal...that remains to be seen. The story begins with some bounty hunters looking for John...and failing. John makes his escape and heads home...only to see that his father isn't particularly thrilled to see him. It seems his dad is a lawman and doesn't approve of John's life. However, when the lawman is murdered by masked crooks, John fights to bring his father's killers to justice.

The two main problems with the film are the lack of emotion (especially in Slater's performance) and an ending that is a bit too perfect. Still, the story is a bit unusual and kept my interest. Not a great film by any standard, but a decent one.

Jill Henessey is looking old, as is Sutherland, because he is. Slaters constant drinking, smoking and quotes got old fast. Henessey as an Annie Oakley wanna be, finally gets a chance to use the gun she keeps displaying to shoot her worthless criminal brother and doesn't. Why in the world didn't any of the fools who saw the masked marauders during the day put two and two together on their clothes and hats? They looked the same in town except no masks. Even in those days, you didn't just pull the badge off a dead man and become his replacement. A bounty hunter who is also a US Marshal is tracking a man who cheated at cards in a Mexico prison resulting in the death of one prisoner and the release of another for a family that wants revenge. Wow, talk about a reach. The only thing I find mildly good about this is the ending. Everything from opening credits to that point was a waste of time.

In this day and age when the genera of the true Western movie is becoming a rarity, it's difficult to see any which are memorable. Some good examples are 'High Plains Drifter, The Wild Bunch and Unforgiven' where a gunman is remorseful of his past. To that group is this new addition called " Dawn Rider." Growing up I remember the same title on another movie, but nothing as memorable as this offering. Director Terry Miles who also co-wrote the story relates the western tale of a man (Christian Slater) who returns home to his father who unfortunately is killed in a hold-up. His son, being a former Pinkerton detective, silently ponders who might have been responsible. At the same time the son is tracked by a shadowy, but persistent lawman (Donald Sutherland) and his posse who have an outstanding though dubious arrest warrant for him. In addition, the rider has set his eyes on a woman (Jill Hennenssy) who becomes a nurse and friend to him, unaware she is set to marry another man. The rider has a persistent problem in that a group of cowboys in white masks is making themselves known as a ruthless band of killer robbers who are planning for their final confrontation with the law, while the rider remains vaguely unaware how close the danger really is. The movie appears to have been hewn from an authentic western photograph. Indeed, the rustic town is rough-cut, thread bear with all the black and white images of early Americanna, complete with colorful names for the citizens and multiple uses of buildings. The movie itself is believable in mannerism, costumes and even dialog. Slater does well to carry the film to it's inevitable conclusion with Donald Suttherland giving a convincing performance with a surprise ending. Excellent Film. Recommended. ****

A newly appointed Marshall (Doc Scurlock's daddy) from the civilized East hunts a once-fine Sheriff (eerily similar to Arkansas Dave), with crimes in Missouri and Mexico (where Arkansas Dave lost his head), into Promise, Wyoming. Ben McClure loves Alice Gordon. Alice loves John Mason. Rudd Gordon is moonlighting with a rag-tag crew and doesn't care for government affairs. A double-X branded (Dos Equis/Double Cross) crew of robbers cause murder and mayhem, especially of government affairs. John has been a Ranger in Texas and a Pinkerton in New York City, but he's never been to Cincinnati. He's a killer when need be, while others are needlessly killing. At some point-in-time, they all cross paths, beds, or shallow graves for a simple complexity that isn't a bad tale to endure.

Lately John Wayne films have been getting lots of remakes. Offhand I've seen remakes for Stagecoach, The Alamo, The Sons Of Katie Elder, The Angel And The Badman, True Grit and now a film from his early B western period, Dawn Rider. John Wayne was one of a kind, no one should expect to emulate him. But Christian Slater, you shouldn't have tried.

Several of the plot elements are the same and Slater and the rest of the cast use the same character names, but there's no way unless you were a John Wayne fan you could possibly guess this was a remake of one of his films.

Slater, a man of some notoriety in the west comes home to visit his father who runs the local Express company office in his town and shortly afterward is there when his father is killed in a robbery attempt. It's a quest for vengeance after that and the killer is closer to him than he thinks.

One new element that was introduced was Donald Sutherland as a bounty hunter also after Slater. His character seemed to superfluous in a way. But this remake is certainly not a true remake of the Lone Star western the Duke did in his B western period where the good guys and bad guys were fairly obvious. Then again that western was for the Saturday matinée kid's trade in 1935.

Slater is an actor who specializes in quirky and sometime unstable characters. John Wayne's boots were too big to fill.

Using most of the character names as was used in the original Tom Tyler film (Monogram) and the remakes starring John Wayne (Lone Star-Monogram) and Bob Baker (Uinversal), it would appear that such an outright theft should have also been noted when the writing credits appear on this film...but try as I may I fail to find one line on any frame of this film that mention this film was base on an original story and screenplay by Wellyn Totman, and also on subsequent screenplays by Robert N. Bradbury and George Waggner. Evidently, the use of previously-written copyrighted material, without crediting any of the original story or screenplay writers is no problem in Canada. A simple based-upon-by nod would have been honest, at least.

John wayne did this western in 1935 and this piece of garbage has no business of being released for viewing .. some peoples idea of a western was badly misjudged ... mostly trite and pretentious without any redeeming value.

It's better than watching golf, pro football or commercials. Beyond this, the movie is weak-uneven acting and cliche ploys.

Some pretty bad writing puts to waste some talented actors in this unnecessary western yarn. I've been to Old Tucson many times and seen better stories acted out in the street performances. 3/10.

Well, but it's not contagious, something is missing, that spark that brings us passion, because the film is like love, chemistry has to happen, it didn't happen, but it's not bad ...

It is like a high school drama on tape, even the horses didn't want to play their role.

Mediocre at best. I really like Christian Slater and Jill Hennessey.

I like Donald Sutherland ...however, none of these great actors shines in what is at best a poorly written screenplay. Also, even though it has the xray feature, it only shows Robert Downey Jr, who is not even in this movie! Very disappointing considering the caliber of the main actors.

This was a remarkably well done western with class performances by Christian Slater and Donald Sutherland as well as the rest of the cast. The authenticity of the era the movie represents is excellent. The plot is involving and complex with well thought out character development. No canned music or banal stereotypes, typical in such movies as The Quick and the Dead. I found the movie thoroughly enjoyable, with a moderately paced action and well done action scenes. The music enhanced the plot without manipulating the viewers emotions. The hero/villain roles are complex.If you like Westerns, this movie is definitely worth watching.

(2012) Dawn Rider WESTERN

Another straight-to-rental Christian Slater movie starring in a forgettable western centering on his father getting killed as a result of a group of criminal outlaws attempting to score something big while stealing mail from unsuspecting post offices. The ironic thing is that the father that was just killed also happens to be one of the rustlers dad as well except that he didn't know about that until after he was shot and killed since he was outside guarding the horses. He did however killed the guy who shot him but is still part of the group. In terms of the shooting scenes in this movie is amongst the worst and the most unconvincing I had ever seen since everybody including the ones who are supposed to be really good all look like lousy shots, since they're many close scenes of people shooting at one another at close range and yet, they still miss, like how bad is that if a kid in real life, can aim better than the adults shown in this film. I stopped at half way before shutting it off and was unable to watch anymore, but I think I'm going to use the fast forward button while playing the rest of the way. Don't bother to waste your time. Bomb.

terrible western screenplay with lousy storyline and deadbeat plot, bad directing and bad acting. this western should not be made into production because it's worthless. pretentiously tried very hard to be cool but turned out to be so hollow. first, we got a close up of the guy urinated with a projectile urine line in the very beginning when it showed 'Dakota Territory, 1883", then we heard the title song kept singing in the background, then the song went on vaguely, then when the so-called 'Cincinnati Kid' open the door, the volume of the song suddenly became louder. well, did you see what wrong with such stupid arrangement? no? well, let me to tell you: it's like that there's a phonograph (record player) playing the album inside, the volume was blocked by the door, so when the door was opened, the volume suddenly came out of the opening; such arrangement of directing was just....!@#$! then the guy kept drinking out of a bottle, then three bounty hunters came and sneaked up, two of the low-level no-brains started shoot at the cabin built with lumbers, they shot the door, the glass windows...and the leader said when the shoots ended: "alive worth $500 more....now you killed him". give me a break, will you? shooting at a lumber/timber cabin from afar thru the windows and the door would kill the target? and later when the so-called Cincinnati drinker/drunk came to town, he found the robbers in front the post office then he started shooting WITH HIS TWO GUNS at very close range, his shootings were so lame, the way he held his guns was so funny, and his two guns kept shooting, at such close distance, his double guns....? well, i just can't go on to tell you how bad this movie is

In 1883 Dakota Territory, John Mason (Christian Slater) barely escapes bounty hunters led by Cochrane (Donald Sutherland). He goes home to his pa and falls for Alice Gordon (Jill Hennessy). He doesn't know that Alice's brother Rudd Gordon (Lochlyn Munro) has been robbing the mail with his masked bandit friends in order to save the family farm. During one of the robberies, Pa Mason is killed and John vows revenge.

This movie starts with watering the fern. It's trying to be a gritty western. It's got some top level acting talents. It's not the worst thing in the world. It tries. The difficulty is that it doesn't have the filmmaking skills. It's at best TV movie level or less. All in all, there is some good but it doesn't reach the level of cinema. The intensity is simmering at medium low. It's not worth more than a late night watch.