If you liked Quigley Down Under, this is more of the same. It's a western with all the trimmings. A ranch, a man from out of town with a gun, a nasty well dressed villain, some cattle driving, a pretty widow, a tiny frontier town way out in the middle of nowhere, a bad guy with a black hat, sixguns, and a fancy rifle in a big leather case, some romance, and of course a big showdown with lots of shooting. Good fun to watch, few socially redeeming features. Tom Selleck wears the same big black 'stache and white floppy hat he wore in Quigley Down Under. He also uses the same understated dialog that is always good for a few chuckles. Wilford Brimley puts on a great old codger role. The movie is based upon a book by Louis Lamour.
The movie opens with Tom Selleck promising to look after a dying buddy's ranch and widow. When he finally gets out to the ranch he finds it deserted and overgrown in weeds, and the widow is living in town. Everybody in town thinks the buddy died at a different time and place than Selleck knows is the truth. Things develop from there in directions that any fan of westerns can probably guess. It's all well done, well filmed (no shake the camera shots) , good sound (all the dialog is understandable), and fun to watch. Brought to me by Netflix and USPS.
About the only quibble I have, is the nasty well dressed villain has a bit too much hand rubbed walnut paneling in his office and too much fine furniture including a grand piano in his house for the fresh built in the wilderness kind of town he is doing bad in. This tiny burg doesn't even have a railroad yet and the thought of lugging all that stuff that far into the boondocks on horse back kinda breaks into my "willing suspension of disbelief".
All in all a worthy western.
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