The Ranger, the Cook and a Hole in the Sky

Jerry O'Connell and Sam Elliot star in this improbably named western, set in Montana in the early 1900s. Forest rangers are clearing a trail over a mountain during one long summer. O'Connell is a 17 year old who learns as he goes, working with a veteran crew. Elliot is the trail boss, and the best mule packer in the group. Before the summer is over, O'Connell's farmboy will have learned a few hard lessons and fallen in love with a gal in town. There's also a humdinger of a bar fight over a poker game involving the camp cook, played by real-life magician Ricky Jay. This is a quiet, introspective movie in many respects, with no gunplay or fancy theatrics other than the bar fight. We can believe this is how forestry people did their job then, and perhaps even now -- with the addition of today's engines, of course. Back then, a lot of it was accomplished by hand. RANGER reminds me of a Hallmark movie, which it probably started out as.