Purgatory

Purgatory plays like a ninety-four episode of "The Twilight Zone", that despite a few predictable twists, is still a lot of fun to watch and a cut above the usual made-for-television western of the last twenty years or so.

Production values are good and so is the familiar cast of character actors, led by baddies Eric Roberts and Peter Stormare, with Sam Shepherd, Randy Quaid, Donnie Walberg, and R.G. Armstrong in his last western appearance so far. They all do a great job, with Roberts and Stormare playing it nice and rowdy.

Interestingly enough, co-stars R.G.Armstrong and John Dennis Johnston appeared together eighteen years earlier in the southern-fried horror flick The Beast Within.

Purgatory is a conscience western you can compare to 'Unforgiven', or more likely 'Pale Rider.' It seems adapted from a scifi short story, meaning it is not dominated by its wild west setting.

Someone at TNT Originals has a great skill for making movies for the small screen. They can port a plot from the big screen and scale it down to the small screen. They reduce it from "larger than life" size to "life" size. That's what you get with this movie 'Purgatory.' It's a TV movie with characters that are serious but not ridiculous, a pace that's neither too fast nor too slow, a soundtrack that unique but not overbearing, and is a story that is epic but understated. This movie is a rare gem in TV viewing: something that makes you feel good about watching TV.

This was a really satisfying story with great performances from the actors, even Eric Roberts who usually annoys me.

The basic story is that a band of outlaws heading for Mexico get waylaid in a town called refuge where no pone carries a gun and everyone welcomes them with open arms. But like the rattlesnakes they are, instead of accepting and appreciating this hospitality the outlaws decide to take the town for all it's worth not realising exactly what kind of place they have ridden into.

This film is exactly the type of thing you get when an interesting premise is properly executed. A real treat that I only found by accident on late night TV!

Outlaws heading for Mexico stumble across a small town called Refuge, where no one carries a weapon and everyone welcomes strangers with open arms. Problem is, these outlaws aren't having any of it, and decide to burn down the place. Refuge, as we quickly discover, is actually the Purgatory of the Bible, and is populated by such western stalwarts as Wild Bill Hicock and Doc Holliday. For these familiar figures, there is a vexsome problem: if they take to violence, they will get shipped off to Hell post-haste. What's a man to do? A wonderful TV western, fanciful and dramatic at the same time. Several familiar actors including Sam Shepherd (erroneously listed as Sam Elliott on some electronic TV guides), Eric Roberts and Randy Quaid keeps things hopping.

Purgatory is a little gem of a movie of which i really enjoyed. I am always a little weary of TV movies they nearly always teld to have low budget scripts and low budget acting but not this film. The film is about a gang of outlaws who ride into a town way in the middle of nowhere. The occupants are over hospitable and are extremely law abiding,they dont carry guns and they visit the church every day. The bandits start to take advantage of their hosts genourosity and start tearing up the town. This is when the residents true identities are revealed. Great entertainment. 8 out of 10.