Conagher
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Movie Reviews of Conagher
Movie Review: A Western the way it should be
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a well done, made-for-TV Western based on the Louis L'Amour novel of the same name. There is so much to like in this movie. This is not some grand epic like `Dances with Wolves', the scale and scope of the action are small, and the plot straightforward. The casting and acting are great. Sam Elliot was put on this Earth to play the role of L'Amour's quiet loners. He has such a great voice and presence. Katherine Ross, his love interest in this movie and his wife in real life, is also outstanding. Conagher has some great lines in this movie, as other reviews have alluded to. Ken Curtis (Festus!) also has an important role in this movie. Any Western with Festus can't be bad. The cinematography is terrific. Beautiful shots of the wilderness, the badlands, and the open sky. This movie is also full of atmosphere. Without trying to describe what atmosphere is in a Western, the best Westerns (such as John Wayne's Rio Bravo, and including this film) have it. There is also a certain gritty realism to this movie that is lacking in many Westerns made in the past twenty years. The characters get dirty and tired. One small point about this film that I really found compelling was that the shots and lever actions of the Winchesters sound as they really do. Most gunshots in movies don't sound like real gunshots. This is a small but important detail for realism, and it really adds to the experience of being part of the action, not just a distant observer. The only reason that I don't give this movie five stars is that the editing and transition between scenes are horrible. Perhaps this is an artifact of TV (commercial breaks) or perhaps it indicates that there were more scenes initially shot that were cut from the finished film, I don't know. Scenes just abruptly end, and there are discontinuous, seemingly random jumps, in time and space in the film. It makes the final product somewhat choppy in my opinion. This is a great (and underappreciated) Western in any case, and a worthy addition to any collection.Movie Review: A Definite "Keeper' For Western Fans
Summary: 4 Stars
This was a solid lower-key Louis L'Amour-written western, meaning a little bit less action than the normal film of its genre. The action scenes they did have in here were short, too.
This is mainly a movie/DVD with several stories weaved in it: 1 - Cowhands slowly being sifted out as the times change and they are no longer needed; 2 - traitors among the main group, men who go to a competing gang of rustlers; 3 - a story of a lonely widow who has to take care of two kids after he husband disappears (killed).
Katharine Ross is the mother ("Evie Teale") who turns cook at a lonely stagecoach stop that also is being eliminated. She is a good woman, and it's nice to see the female star of "Butch Cassidy And the Sundance Kid" still looking good out there is the prairie over 20 years later.
Also refreshing to see was her young boy "Laban," one of the nicest, most respectful kids I've ever seen on film: the exact opposite of the many brats I've seen on film in the last quarter of the 20th century. Cody Braun was excellent as the son, and, that's the only movie role he ever played.
The man "Evie" eventually falls for is the hero of the film, "Conagher," played by Sam Elliott. If anyone in the modern era of films ever looked like he was born to play a cowboy, it has to be Elliott. He has the weathered looks and the voice that go perfectly with westerns.
Overall, this is another beautifully-photographed, nice story and a real "keeper" for those who love a good fim of this genre.
Movie Review: Very good made for cable western
Summary: 4 Stars
Katherine Ross and Sam Elliot both did a great job in this quiet, elegiac western. With Barry Corbin as a stagecoach driver and Ken Curtis (who played Festus on "Gunsmoke") this has a sort of "let's-the-get-the-gang-together-and-make-a-western" feel to it, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's full of good, wholesome values--an honest day's work for an honest day's pay, don't steal, don't kill unless you absolutely must--and middle-American common sense and courage.
There are some drawbacks, however. First, this was a made for TV movie, and the commercial breaks are as obvious as in any TV show (although there are no commercials on the DVD). Also, it was shot full frame, and the print this DVD was mastered from was not pristine. But for what it is, it is very good.
Movie Review: Lonesome poems tied in tumbleweeds
Summary: 4 Stars
An hombre very tough meets a ready made family while trailing rustlers as a range cowboy. As westerns go this is probably a new classic.
It has Indian fights, lonesome death on the trail by accident, stagecoaches and real cowboys, fighting rustlers.
To top that off there is a love story...
Movie Review: This is Cowboy Poetry
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a fine movie from a veteran couple. The notes on the tumbleweeds, the romote western desert scenery, the stuggles, and the triumphs are classic cowboy poetry put to film. Look for a great old timer in this movie. Of Course, this is a Louis L'Amour story. It is written right and filmed right.