(AP Photo/AMC, Chris Large) |
In Broken Trail, Print Ritter played by Robert Duvall and Tom Harte played by Thomas Hayden Church are an uncle-nephew team who drive a herd of horses from Oregon to Wyoming.
During the trip, they rescue Chinese prostitutes from their captors and strive to find them a better life.
Pretty Nola Johns played by Gretta Schacchi is also along for the trip and serves as a surrogate mother for the young Chinese women. Print is also "sweet" on Nola. Henry "Heck" Gilpin played by Scott Cooper joins them on the trail and plays a "mean" fiddle.
Broken Trail is a good vehicle for Robert Duvall just like Lonesome Dove, and Open Range. I recommend that everyone see it, especially if you are into cowboy westerns. Basically, most Westerns are pretty much the same; it is why we like them.
A friend of mine said one of the reasons he likes the cowboy genre is that these movies always have white-hatted guys who do what's right but have their own code. Broken Trail surely has it's share of white-hatted cowboys.
(AP Photo/AMC, Chris Large) | Duvall plays himself in everything like DeNiro, Pacino, Nicholson, and others. These guys are great at playing themselves and are good actors.
If you are a fan of Lonesome Dove; then, of course, you know that Duvall will always be Gus. His mannerisms right down to his philosophies are Gus in Lonesome Dove. In fact, Gus's philosophy, "the older the violin, the sweeter the music," always causes me to smile and I kept waiting for him to use it in Broken Trail.
Thomas Haden Church was good. One could argue with the fact; that, for a simple cowpoke, he was quite handy with a gun. I think we must assume that he spent lots of time practicing. His being the savior of the Chinese girls from a life of horror has to go down as a good story line and, historically accurate, I think. Anyone who is a fan of HBO's Deadwood has seen the raw emotion and banal treatment of the Chinese.
The imported "Heck" is also a good addition. He's a Virginian who plays the violin, spouts off philosophy, and is a set-up man for Print(Duvall).
Broken Trail is typical cowboy fare: driving a herd of cattle, or, in this case, horses, and facing the difficulties along the way, especially the bad guys. The bad guys do horrible acts like infect blankets with disease and then give them to the Indians. Duvall and team make quick work of these men; i.e., kill them.
Broken Trail's world was a horrendous one by any standard. The encore presentation will be July 6 at 8:00 pm on AMC(American Movie Classics) Don't miss Nola, she had the best smile that I've ever seen on TV or in the movies.
Special to AP from Carl Wilson
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