Morgan's Ferry

Wow. My girlfriend and I just bought this VHS at our local Salvation Army, for $2.00. It was still in the "Blockbuster Video" preowned shrink wrap! But with Rollins and Zane, who could pass it up? It isn't spectacular, with dialog and plot that are consistent with a Lifetime original. The acting is pretty bad, with Johnny Galecki delivering the only passable Southern drawl. Rollins's accent is sporadic, as is Galecki's limp(the film opens up after he has an established foot injury).

Hey, it was only 90 minutes long, so if you're into Henry Rollins or Billy Zane, then you should give it a watch.

Much of this movie falls somewhere between GHOST (1990) and the more surreal INCUBUS (1965), without any of the supernaturalism.

An owner of a remote farm has her home invaded by three dangerous convicts. There are times when the innocent farm owner is fully aware of the three invaders, and there are times when she seems completely unaware of their menacing presence. Just like an advanced Alzheimer's patient, she seems to easily and frequently forget that she is surrounded by ill-tempered criminals. Weird or surreal -- take your pick.

"Morgan's Ferry" is simple movie about simple people in a simple place and a simpler time. At the center of the story is a spartan middle-aged spinster and her austere, deep South, backwater existence. When she crosses paths with an escaped convict on the run, the awakening within her is thing of grace and beauty to behold.

I only checked this out because Henry Rollins has a lead role in it, and to be truthful, I didn't expect too much from plot other than a typical 'cons turn on each other for a violent climactic battle' kind of a deal. How wrong I was. The whole film plays out with a gentle whimsy evocative of the Waltons, or the great TV serialisation of The adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. They make good use of the 'deep south' setting, with no need for making out that the inhabitants are inbred cannibals or sodomites, the music score is perfect, and the performances across the board are solid. The story loses momentum around 2/3rds of the movie, but is replaced by a rather nicely done bitter/sweet ending.

Its never going to be considered a classic, cult or otherwise, but if you liked 'Crossroads' or the above TV shows I mentioned, or just want a well put together, unpretentious, engaging film, then you could do far, far worse.

I thought this movie would be like a lot of the other escaped convict takes a hostage movies. Except it wasn't McGillis' character was never intimidated by these men and actually felt a little responsible for them. I love Billy Zane and he has such an untameable personality and smoldering sensuality that even as a dirty old con, he comes through as a sweet sensitive nice guy and you end up really wanting the best for this guy. I liked it, and it's a good date flic.