The Legend of Hell's Gate: An American Conspiracy

I REALLY hate scripts that are about an area that the writer knows nothing about. The one that jumped right out at me was when they were going to cross the Brazos river in Granbury and they had to swim. I have a news flash, unless it was right after a heavy rain storm which by all the dust I highly doubt, you can probably walk across the Brazos without getting your ankles wet! Also, they rode horseback from Dallas to Granbury in one night, which is also HIGHLY unlikely since as the crow flies it has to be at least 70 miles. From downtown Fort Worth it is at least 45 miles.

The accents by the actors were so bad, and that goes for the Irish, southern, and the others that were unrecognizable.

Movie Review of "The Legend of Hells Gate" by GW "Bill" Johnson I just saw Tanner Bearden's Legend of Hells Gate: An American Conspiracy. He wrote it; directed it; and helped star in it along with Eric Balfour who also covers the ground he stands on. Star watchers should get a bright red permanent marker and put a big check next to these young men's names. Bearden a 28 year old young man is gifted along with his whole family as I found out. In Texas we would say; "He'll do to swim the river with". This movie has the look and ambiance of Lonesome Dove without vulgar insinuations.

Bill Johnson Flat Rock Crossing on Big Keechi Creek, Texas

This movie was boring and seemed to go nowhere. You keep waiting for the action to break out and it never does. It just kind of limps along the entire time. My husband gave up and went to bed. I stayed up and watched to the end thinking it would pick up at any time. It just never did. Rented it at Redbox, but felt completely ripped off even at $1.20. I would not suggest renting this unless you are completely bored and have watched everything else available. The acting was OK, not good or bad really, but that could have easily been overlooked with a decent story line. All the scenes just seemed very isolated from each other. The characters didn't really interact well either, it was very stilted.

I wanted it to be good, because I like the Western genre, but this wasn't... I wasn't given any reason to like any of the characters... There were no memorable performances... I might even say it was as bad as "Grown Ups"... You might think maybe the lack of budget caused it, but I think the story couldn't have been saved by a larger budget... Other items to not...... The guy playing Doc Holliday tried to sound like Val Kilmer... It didn't work... The guy playing the Irish guy tried to sound like an Irish guy... It didn't work... Movie just seemed to end without rhyme or reason... And they spelled "Enid" as in Enid, Oklahoma "Edin" in the closing 'what happened to these characters' thing they put up to explain what happened to characters when the movie just ended.

I had seen the short and then saw the film at the Newport festival. A good 'indie' western production and the ever glowing Summer Rain is always a favorite! Eric Balfour was interesting to see in this genre. Rest of the cast was good and nice to see some new Indian actors, who can act. All in all a good film considering the budget isn't nearly as much as big studio produced westerns. I would suggest it for those who love westerns, Eric Balfour, Summer Rain and conspiracy theorists. Great to see Henry Thomas - E.T. anyone? I know he's done other films but he had a meaty role finally. Something that was a bit of a stand out role, which he hasn't had a lot of. When and if it is the theaters, I'll suggest my parents to go see it. It's got a wide appeal as the cast is young and now with Cowboys and Aliens, the younger generation will start having an appreciation for westerns again.