The Last Cowboy

Jennie Garth has a grudge against her father (Lance Henriksen), but comes back home to attend her mother's father's funeral. When she inherits part of the family ranch, she must make peace with Dad if they are to ward off the debts and developers trying to take their land.

Formula stuff, but played well by a terrific cast, especially Henricksen, M. C. Gainey with a show-stealing turn as a laid-back ranch hand and "Alias" sidekick Bradley Cooper. Garth is better than I've ever seen her and rides a horse credibly.

If this is what Hallmark is going to do with their TV network, it could make up for the "Touched By an Angel" reruns.

I watched the TV movie The Last Cowboy with very few expectations and ended up unimpressed.

It is the usual stressful father/daughter relationship who find out that the need to come together through the tough circumstances, including the loss of his wife and her mother and the possible loss of his farm. Lance Henriksen (The Right Stuff, Millennium) and 90210 alum Jennie Garth play the bickering father and daughter. They do as good a job as the material given to them.

The actor who really impressed me was M.C. Gainey. Playing the farm foreman and friend of Henriksen's character and a middleman between the father and daughter, it was nice to see Gainey in a role where he is basically a nice guy. Because of his physical presence, he typically plays gruff, villainous rednecks, bikers or criminals. Sometimes they are all the same character. His appearances in movies like Con Air and Breakdown and his role in "The Last Cowboy" shows that Gainey can play different types of roles and do it well when casting directors give him a chance.

They may be better looking than most ranchers but the story is what rings the bell sweet and true. Even if it never happens quite like this except in the movies, it is still worth watching and believing that it is possible to have work that one loves and save it with an idea and with love, love of the family, love of friends and love of the land. I loved this movie and everyone associated it with it. I especially love Lance Henriksen, who proves that a man can keep his charm for a very, very long time. Great fun to watch and enjoy. This is worth a thousand "rom-com" movies that fall flatter than the proverbial pancake. It may be more of a rom-life but I'll take it any day. Love the feeling it gives and the love that it shares.

Grumpy farm guy wants to keep his land, and the money folk trying to take it are all treated as reprehensibly greedy slickers (even though the money people are behaving reasonably and the farm guy is belligerent, violent, and unreasonable). Just once, it would be nice to see one of these movies where the hero is the banker... just trying to do his job and even help the farm guy, while the farm guy is recognized as an intractable jerk (No disrespect to the farming community, it's just that the banking community has had to endure such a beating from these sorts of films, that it would only be fair turnabout!) That said, this film is pretty solid for the genre. While the countryside bears more resemblance to California than Texas, it's still pretty and beautifully shot. By contrasting the three leads' different approaches, the movie actually addresses the fundamental flaw in these movies. The heroine wants to update her father's farming practices, while he is married to tradition. And I may not be a Hallmark Channel kind of guy, but it nice to see a project that is morally clean without totally whitewashing its issues.

The production's greatest strength, though, is the casting of Jennie Garth, Lance Henriksen, and M.C. Gainey. Fine actors all; it's nice to see them cast in roles with the complexity that thespians of their talent deserve. And they all look halfway plausible with the horseriding, as well.

All in all, I wouldn't watch it again, but it certainly is better than a lot of the stuff you might run across on the Hallmark Channel.

The Last Cowboy tells a story with a predictable plot we've seen many times, but still find interesting. A large landowner with property held by a family for years is now in jeopardy, sought after by greedy bankers, financiers, and other bad guys who plan stealing and subdividing the valuable land to make an ill-gained fortune. The family patriarch has recently died, and it's up to the remaining family members to "save the farm." Two required components of any good movie are the screenplay (the script writers' product) and the acting/direction (the actors and their director). Both are successful in this movie. The screenplay and dialogue are very good and believable, and the actors (this movie has a bunch of exceptional actors) do a very good job executing their roles under some excellent directing.

This is an excellent movie to watch with your children. Although the main female character is unmarried but has a child (and she is initially estranged from her father), parents watching along with their children will have an easy time explaining the situation because the female leading character is so "at ease." This movie does a great job showing different family arrangements and interactions, and even young children will understand and not be disturbed.