Broken Trail

Just finished watching part two. Great story. I can not wait to read the book. Both Duvall and Church brought so much to their characters and the story. I really hope that the "great west " was settled by men like these. Men who were not afraid to do the right thing. Men who showed courage, morals, kindness, and stood up to those who would bring harm and injustice to the innocent. . The kind of men that I would consider it an honor to "ride" with. I could not help sharing in the pain and confusion that the girls felt. I feel ashamed as a man to know that we treated innocent women that way and still do. I am glad the story ended as it did. Duvall's character showed that he could be tough as nails but still have a heart when it came to the girls. Church's character showed true grit and also had a soft side that he could not hide. Overall it was a truly great story brought to life by two men who did an excellent job portraying their characters.

The film starts in 1898 , Ritter (Robert Duvall) a veteran cowboy sees declining the ending days of Wild West era and the transition to a new century . Ritter along with his estranged nephew Tom (Thomas Haden Church), and another cowboy (Scott Cooper) transport a herd of horses across the northern , when save five Chinese girls kidnapped by a villain (James Russo). As Ritter along with Tom Harte become the reluctant guardians of five abused and abandoned Chinese girls . The local madame (Rusty Schwimmer) sends a gunfighter (Chris Mulkey) to chase the girls for her own aims . Print Ritter and Harte's attempts to care for the Chinese are complicated by their responsibility to deliver a herd while avoiding a group of enemies intent on kidnapping the girls for their own objectives .

This melancholic picture is acclaimed like one of the best Western TV of the last years with several prizes and various nominations for Gloden Globe . It's an excellent Western with adventures , noisy action , shootouts , breathtaking scenarios ; but also melancholy , friendship , unlovable camaraderie and emotionalism . The movie was shot in Calgary, Alberta, Canada location with marvellous outdoors . Sensitive and moving Western where cowboys must say goodbye to the lives they know and undergo an extraordinary and dangerous travel . Great acting for all casting with magnificent main roles by Duvall and Haden Church . Special mention to Greta Scacchi as an aging prostitute who falls in love . Gorgeous landscapes , reflecting wonderfully the wide open spaces, they are splendidly photographed by Lloyd Ahern II , Hill's usual cameraman . The movie follows the wake the last Television Westerns starred by Sam Elliot or Tom Selleck, such as ¨Monte Walsh¨, ¨Crossfire trail¨ and ¨Quigley Down Under¨. The motion picture was well directed by Walter Hill , a Western expert , such as he proved in ¨Geronimo¨, ¨Will Bill¨ and ¨Long riders¨. Rating : Better than average for the proficient film-making . It's a magnificent movie , and an unforgettable , unchallenged classic TV western.

The film opens in Chinatown San Francisco, 1898 where we five exotic virgins from the Celestial Empire are bought by Captain Billy Fender (James Russo) to be sold as slaves and introduced into the brief and violent life of prostitution…

Robert Duvall stars as "Print" Ritter, an old cowhand whose sister left a will inheriting all to him rather than to her own son, Tom Harte (Thomas Haden Church) who lives in John Day Country Oregon...

Print ignores why she has done it, or why was crossed between the two, but his sister done it…

Print got the idea to buy a team of tough, high-desert mustangs—three to eight years of age—to take them to Sheridan, Wyoming to sell to the British Empire; the money they'll earn will be to increase their capital… And on the shares, Print figures a 25-75 split on profits after expenses and loan repayment to the bank…

From this point, Hill's Western becomes a road movie, with all kinds of odd characters, from ugly villains to a friendly musician, but the key to "Broken Trail" is that through a series of circumstances, fate has placed the five Chinese innocent girls in the hands of Tom and his uncle… But the reality is another… Their families sold them to that rat captain heading out to the mining camp, where Kate, an odious saloon owner, bought them from an associate in San Francisco…

Our two cowboys save the girls' lives from rape and take them along on their journey…

With great photography, gorgeous vistas, perilous ground, sensible brave girls, good and decidedly courageous men, great action when it is necessary, and a big confrontation at the climax of the movie, Hill's Western is a must see film for the fans of the genre

I gave this 10 stars.

Both parts of this 2 part mini series deserve 10 stars. It was an extremely well done film.

I got the impression at the end of the film that this was based on real people and their experiences, which I had no idea was the case when I began watching it.

Robert Duval as Print Ritter carries the film, although all of the performers did good jobs.

The storyline was fresh, original and interesting, something I see so seldom these days, it really made it stand out. Another thing that made this stand out from the usual garbage that passes for entertainment in film these days - was the heroes really were heroes. These men were brave and did the right thing. They had values and ethics.

The story revolves around Print Ritter (Robert Duval) and his nephew Will, I think was his name, (and sorry but I didn't know who any of the actors were except for Duval)driving a herd of horses north to sell.

They end up with people they didn't count on being along for the trip--4 or 5 young Chinese girls, who do not speak a word of English, a fiddle player, and a couple of other people who join the group later in the story.

The Chinese girls are very young, the oldest might be 18. They have been sold by their parents and sent to America where they will be forced into prostitution.

None of the 4 men who eventually travel with the girls and protect them, try to take advantage of them, and the two romances in the story, are kept low-key.

The bad guys in the film are just that - they're wicked through and through. No explanation or psycho-analysis given or needed. This picture is getting back to the basics of the American western, good vs. evil.

There's gunfire when needed, confrontations when needed, and great characterizations, as our group journeys along and encounters various people and adventures.

And yes, there's even a plot! Another element I've discovering missing all too often in films of late.

How does an honest man make his way in a corrupt world? Walter Hill has been investigating this question since his days as a screenwriter, with a couple of stopovers in Dashiell Hammett country (his dauntingly unsuccessful version of Hammet's RED HARVEST, filmed as LAST MAN STANDING), comedies (48 HOURS), but here, in this leisurely western, he has found a perfect vehicle for this problem, and the right actor for the role in the ever-watchable Robert Duvall. And the answer is that you wind up accumulating a pack of people as wounded as yourself, ducking your head against the storm and slogging on through: a nephew estranged from his mother, your sister, a Virginian who can't stop traveling, five Chinese virgins intended for a mining camp's whorehouse... the list goes on. In the midst of a beautiful land -- the magnificent Canadian plains, west of Calgary where they rise to the Rockies -- they slog on, doing their best.

To what end? When death and violence surround you, then the wise man comes to recognize that the effort is all he can offer.

It is a pleasure to watch canny old pro Duvall at work, and to watch Thomas Haden Church, as his nephew, play off against him. And the beauty of moving horses across the Canadian plains is the revival of a seemingly lost art; the westerns, once the myth of America and bedrock of the film industry, are now an occasional production from people nostalgic for the form. But their nostalgia is suffused with a strong sense of film-making and this mini-series should not be missed.