Letztes Gefecht am Saber River

Released to TV in 2007 and directed by Dick Lowry based on Elmore Leonard's novel, "Last Stand at Saber River" is a Western starring Tom Selleck as Cable, an aging Confederate who knows the cause is lost and thus comes home prematurely in the last couple months of the war (1865). He picks up his wife, Martha (Suzy Amis), and two kids (Haley Joel Osment & Rachel Duncan) in west Texas and proceeds to their small ranch in Arizona, which they discover has been confiscated by Union settlers. They understandably fight for their homestead. David Carradine and Keith Carradine play the pro-Union antagonists, one bad and the other reasonable. Tracey Needham is on hand as the former's daughter while David Dukes appears as a shady Confederate gunrunner.

This is a solid Selleck Western with a unique plot and awesome New Mexican cinematography. Cable and Martha have an interesting and satisfying story arc, as does the character played by Keith Carradine, at least as far as a secondary character goes. Needham stands out as the minxish babe while the revelation about the Confederate die-hard isn't surprising. This is a quality modern Western about making a bold stand when you have to, doing what's right even when you feel like doing what's wrong, confessing past mistakes or regrets and moving on, inner healing, living and let living. There are numerous tense standoffs and brief thrilling shootouts.

The film runs 95 minutes and was shot in Santa Fe, Las Vegas, Santa Clara & Valle Grande, New Mexico.

GRADE: Borderline A-/B+

Tom Selleck made a couple of made-for-cable TV westerns that were very good, and this is one of them. The always-reliable Selleck is convincig in the lead role and Suzy Amis is fun to watch to in the corresponding female lead. It's also kind of neat to see a very young Haley Joel Osment two years before he became famous in "The Sixth Sense."

Once again, as these westerns tend to be, the viewer is treated to some beautiful scenery and in addition, a good story of a man taking taking family back home to Arizona - not the north or south - after the Civil War and not finding a nice welcome from the home folks.

In this film, we also get two Carradines: David and Keith, villains but not as despicable as many are shown in other westerns. The Carradine family has produced some really fine actors over the years.

It's just another one of these solid, relatively-unknown westerns that I am glad to discover. I'm sorry to see only three other reviews of this as of my writing. Apparently there are many others out there who have yet to discover this gem.

This is a great film that grabs the attention and holds it all the way through. The story is excellent, the history convincing and the acting is superb throughout. It may be a 'made for TV' movie but this is about as good as a Western can get. It should definitely receive more recognition than it does. Perhaps it's movie snobbery because it was made for TV, maybe people don't like Ted Turner or Tom Selleck - who knows?

This is one of those DVD's that doesn't come down in price too often - a sign of a good film. If you watch it you'll know why. This is one for the DVD library. I'll never part with my copy.....

WOW this is a good movie. Tom Selleck joined forces with Turner Pictures for 3 westerns. and all 3 of them are superb. this was the first of the 3 (Crossfire Trail, Monte Walsh).

this has a great plot as Selleck's character, a former confederate soldier returns home and things are what they should be. And he has to put his life back to gether.

I also loved the scenery and the attention to detail. It's not your typical shoot'em up bang bang western. the plot is good the background music is good, its all good

great movie!

The secret of a watchable western is a rugged cowboy and his 'Annie get your gun' moll/wife, a wild west terrain, spectacular scenery and a story like this of a returning "reb" soldier having to make peace with himself, his family and then be involved in a land dispute etc or whatever with the Yankie occupiers.

It is also about people coming to terms with the new order of things if they can.

I like a good Western and this is one even though the tale is in some respects often weak and far fetched yet the stunning scenery and great photography makes up for that, so this is worthy of at least: 6/10