Westerns All Day
Posted: November 18th, 2007, 1:35 am
For some reason, the Hallmark Channel played a whole day of westerns today. Although I watched most of them, they were either not anything I care to comment on, or have commented on previously. One stood out though, a miniseries that played when I was working afternoons and evenings, so I never even heard of it. At least being written for TV, it fit the time slots and I don't think there were any cuts in it, although it ran for four hours.
The Johnson County War was a typical cattle baron against small ranchers, but with a few twists like last years Broken Range on AMC. In the first place, the bad guy was a very good looking and acting Burt Reynolds. He was a heartless SOB but good enough to make you dislike him right away. I really hate this totally raunchy look in todays' westerns, but I guess it is more true to life but the funny thing is, in this one, everybody except Burt, the bad guy, was raunchy, he was always neat and clean.
Secondly, the hero was Tom Berenger, a long time favorite of mine and I'm sorry he never became more acknowledged. Like Dennis Quaid - always steadily there giving strong, solid performances, but not quite enough to claim any notoriety.
One of the female leads was Rachel Ward who I've never cared for. As a 'lady of the night', she had a kind of quirky playfulness that I DID warm up to.
Some things happened that threw me off guard. One person was hung which shocked me, and another died for no logical reason other than spite.
So, I'm not saying to run out and get it, but if you come across it in the really cheap bins, it's worth a couple of dollars for a good few hours of western excitement.
Anne
The Johnson County War was a typical cattle baron against small ranchers, but with a few twists like last years Broken Range on AMC. In the first place, the bad guy was a very good looking and acting Burt Reynolds. He was a heartless SOB but good enough to make you dislike him right away. I really hate this totally raunchy look in todays' westerns, but I guess it is more true to life but the funny thing is, in this one, everybody except Burt, the bad guy, was raunchy, he was always neat and clean.
Secondly, the hero was Tom Berenger, a long time favorite of mine and I'm sorry he never became more acknowledged. Like Dennis Quaid - always steadily there giving strong, solid performances, but not quite enough to claim any notoriety.
One of the female leads was Rachel Ward who I've never cared for. As a 'lady of the night', she had a kind of quirky playfulness that I DID warm up to.
Some things happened that threw me off guard. One person was hung which shocked me, and another died for no logical reason other than spite.
So, I'm not saying to run out and get it, but if you come across it in the really cheap bins, it's worth a couple of dollars for a good few hours of western excitement.
Anne