Conagher

If you think you see some similarity between this film and the John Wayne classic western Hondo you're a sharp person. That's because both were written by Louis L'Amour and both have a cowboy hero aiding a woman alone on the frontier with her children.

Katherine Ross plays the woman who has a small ranch that also serves as a stagecoach station.. But that small amount of base income is about to be cut off as a new station is being built, As for her ranch, Ross's husband is gone for some months now on a cattle buying trip with no word when or if he's returning.

Sam Elliott is our title character hero and he's riding line for Ken Curtis's ranch and doing his best to keep thieves off the range. Curtis is beset by rustlers and Elliott does get tempted to look the other way. But like Hondo Lane, Conagher is your straight up cowboy hero, the kind we seldom see in our more cynical age.

Real life marrieds Sam Elliott and Katherine Ross have some tender scenes as she and he would like to get together. But as long as the missing husband's status is still missing they will be true to their moral code.

The supporting cast has a several familiar western faces. My favorite is Barry Corbin the stagecoach driver who even with his company not subsidizing Ross, he has a great personal concern for Ross and her kids.

Conagher answers in a positive way the question of whether we see westerns like we used to see. Most affirmatively with this one.