Miniseries TV Movie Review: **** The Sacketts (1979)

Three brothers head west for their individual reasons, Tell, Orrin and Tyrel Sackett (Sam Elliott, Tom Selleck and Jeff Osterhage).   Orrin and Tyrel get in the cattle business while Tell seeks gold.  Tell accuses a gambler of cheating and the gambler draws on him and kills him, Wes Bigelow (James Gammon).  Consequently the Bigelow brothers, Ira, Benson and Jack (Jack Elam, Gene Evans and Slim Pickens) are all after Tell.  Tell has a partner, Cap (Ben Johnson) who was on a cattle drive with Orrin and Tyrel.  They find gold, and find a young woman, Ange Kerry (Wendy Rastattar) who has been living in the mine for a couple years since her father died.  

After the cattle drive Orrin and Tyrel go after abandoned cattle in the mountains with a former lawyer, gunslinger Tom Sunday (Glen Ford).  The are near Santa Fe where there is a young woman (Ana Alisia) who attracts Tyrel, and another golden haired woman who attracts Orrin.  Her father is Jonathan Pritts (John Vernon) who hopes to control Santa Fe now that it is part of the United States.  He hires gunmen to assert his claim.  The Mexicans are being bullied.  They decide to hold an election for sheriff hoping they can assert their rights instead of being bullied by Pritts.  Orrin and Sunday run, and when Orrin wins Sunday becomes bitter.  He eventually decides to kill Orrin, and Tyrel has to stop him.  Pritts attempts to hire a murder and this is divulged and he is arrested.

In the meantime the Bigelows and their hired men have Tell, Cap and the girl cornered in their mine.  The girl gets away on a horse of the Bigelows, head to town and sends telegram to the brothers in Santa Fe. The Bigelows did not catch up with Orrin, and decided to wait for him in town.   Consequently we have a big gun battle to end the show.  This is a Louis L'Amour book and he is the narrator.  

Movie Review: ***^Shadow Riders (1982)

 A Louis L'amour after the Civil Ward movie.  Mac (Tom Selleck) fought for the North and his brother Dal (Sam Elliott) for the South.  When they get home they discover a band of "Rebs" has stolen their sisters and headed to Mexico as they are not yet prepared to give up the war.  They make a deal, trading the cattle the stole, and the women and men for slaves to a businessman from Mexico who promises to give them guns to continue their war.

Of course Mac and Dal decide to go after and find them on the beach.  They meet a brother, Jesse (Jeff Osterhage) who was also taken prisoner but manages to escape.  The women and a couple Confederates have already sailed to Mexico.  They also come upon Kate (Katharine Ross) who was also taken, but left behind for fear she would be trouble.  She was the fiancé of Dal before the war.  They also recruit Uncle Jack Black (Ben Johnson) who is a bit of a criminal.  They have to break him out of jail.  But he knows Mexico from his criminal days.  

This movie is great fun with three brothers working together to save their family.  It has dynamite and gun play, and dressing up like a num to effect the rescue.  

Movie Review: ***^Crossfire Trail (2001)

 This is a western movie with two men set for the same property and the same woman.  Rafe Covington is aboard ship coming into San Francisco when the captain beats his friend,  Charles Rodney, to death.  He promises his friend to look after his wife and his Wyoming ranch.  Two boat mates join him in the trip to Wyoming, Rock (David O'Hara) and J.T. (Christian Kane).  Upon arriving in Wyoming he meets an old friend of Rodney's who helped on the ranch, Joe (Wilford Brimley).  On the other side Bruce Barkow (Mark Harmon) has been wooing Mrs. Rodney (Virginia Madsen).  She is convinced her husband died a year ago rather than just a few weeks.

They take to the ranch and begin improving things and herding up the scattered herd.  However Barkow with the sheriff says they have three days to vacate.  Covington in the meantime has been wooing the widow, and trying to convince her of the story that her husband was shanghaied, by someone who wanted his property.  There is oil on the property.

Barkow hires a killer to take care of his problems--meaning the new ranchers.  He forces Mrs. Rodney to marry him even though she does not say "I do."  She also murders the bar tender, and his hired gun murders one of Covington's friends, J.T.  There is bound to be a big fight at the end.

I always like Tom Selleck, and Mark Harmon makes a very bad guy who is use to getting his way.  The Louis L'Amour movies are always entertaining.

Movie Review: **^Conagher (1991)

This is another Louis L'Amour Sam Elliott made for TV movie.  It tells the story of Evie Teale (Katherine Ross), who has moved to the West with her husband and children.  Her husband leaves them to buy cattle for their new ranch.  He does not return as has an accident which claims his life.  She is struggling in the middle of Indian territory, and cattle rustler territory.  In the mean time Conagher (Elliott is messed up in a hairy situation with a group of cattle rustlers who are stealing from Conagher's boss.  This movie has some serious drama, until Teale takes control, realizing she needs a husband in this territory.
I must admit, I had some difficulty following the plot, and understanding the motivations.

Movie Review: ***^The Quick and the Dead (1987)

This is a Louis L'Amour book made into an HBO movie starring Sam Elliot as Con Vallian.  Elliott portrayed a Westerner who befriended a new migrant family, and took them under his wing in protecting them from a gang of outlaws, because a Ute, he was trying to get revenge with, was part of the gang.  The gang starts out as eight, but their numbers slowly dwindle.
The migrant family includes an ex Union Sargent from the Civil War, his beautiful wife and their son.  This movie is about family, and family loyalty, and finding inner reserves and strengths.  It is also about friendships, and supporting each other when there is need.

Movie Review: ***^Conagher (1991)

This is a made for TV movie based on a Louis L'Amour novel.  This film centers around two people, a widowed frontier woman (Katharine Rice) with two children, who lives on the edge of society, in Indian territory.  This lead to a confrontation.  At first, her home is used as a stage station, until the station moves.  Conagher (Sam Elliott) is the other character.  He is an honest cow hand, but faces many cattle rustlers and other outlaws who want to get ahead off of the efforts of someone else.  His loyalty to his boss leads to several interesting situations.  They are both lonely.  The widow writes poetry, and places them on sage brush to ride the wind.  She has to talk to someone.  They both live in separate worlds, and the question is if they will ever get together; will the even survive?