The Avenging Angel

If you like horses, Westerns, beautiful scenery & a story filled with intrigue, you should like this film. Co-produced by Tom Berenger (First Corp. Productions) he also stars in this exciting movie made for TNT television. Working along with famed Charlton Heston & James Coburn, Tom's in good company. He shoots, rides & roughs it nicely.

You may not be particularly interested in the trek of the Mormons to Utah in the 1870's but that's what begins the story. Miles Utley (Berenger) is trained form the time he's a youngin' to serve & protect the church's prophet, Brigham Young (Heston). And he does it with a vengeance! (How Bible-totin' people can sanction murder & politcal intrigue is a valid question but...To each his own.)

You have to feel for Berenger's character throughout this whole film. He's on the trail of potential murderers, dallies with Young's daughter in an attempt to get closer to the man he so violently protects, gets left for dead in the Salt Lake, found by one of the usurper's wives & nursed back to health, beginning a relationship with her in the process, rides all over Utah & finally meets up with the prophet himself who knows all along who's got it in for him. He knows Miles is sincere & never doubted his loyalty for a minute. All in all, it's an enjoyable film & will have you guessing & interested throughout. See it!

Note: Berenger's two young daughters get film credit here, too - Chelsea & Chloe Berenger.

Tom Berenger who's a gun totin' sharp shootin' Mormon security man foils an attempted assassination of Brigham Young and is hardly thanked for his efforts. He investigates a little further and finds there's quite a complicated conspiracy at work.

It's good to remember that this film is based on a novel, just as the DaVinci Code is. It's not anything remotely resembling real history of the Church of Latter Day Saints.

For one thing as another reviewer pointed out the Transcontinental Railroad had been completed by 1872. Not only completed, but Brigham Young made money off it in every possible way.

Brigham Young was a complex and charismatic leader who during the Civil War was practically treated like he was a ruling foreign power by both Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis. His task as best he saw it was to keep the spirit of the LDS church alive and not let it get too touched by outside influences. Of course no one plays a complex and charismatic religious figure like Charlton Heston. His Brigham Young is like his Moses if Moses had actually gone into Canaan and had the responsibility of building a nation as Joshua did.

By the way the Mormons here show enough outside influence. They drink, they smoke, they indulge in extra-marital affairs just like a whole lot of gentiles do. Our protagonist Berenger is no exception.

In the film 20th Century Fox did, Brigham Young with Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, and Dean Jagger we saw a bit of the colorful Mormon Scout Porter Rockwell as played by John Carradine. Here the part is played by James Coburn who's older and wiser. Rockwell's place is still hotly debated, he was devoted to Brigham Young for certain and his devotion led to some blood stained hands.

I'm not sure how much controversy this made for TV western has caused among the LDS community. Apparently they were a lot smarter in handling this than other religions were with The DaVinci Code. If you remember this is a novel and not a factual retelling of events, you will get some insights into the LDS community.

I should like this film, but I was more than a little put off by it. I want to be careful here and keep my comments addressed to the film and not its subject, the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints, AKA, the Mormons. The film which takes a VERY sympathetic posture of the Avenging Angels, the well organized and well funded hit squad of the LDS which organized a number of out-right murders of both true believers and "Gentiles (as us non-subscribers to their faith are termed). I was mildly surprised to note that such a murder is treated fairly in the film but that's about all that isn't slanted. The internal struggle of Elders provides us with the good guys/bad guys necessary for a good shoot'em Western and there are some interesting twists, including our old favorite, James Coburn, in a role as the mysterious Porter Rocwell, the organizer of the Avenging Angels. If you are willing to buy the several fictions that exist in the story and the VERY soft pedaling of Mormon polygyny, you will likely find this entertaining. Heston is his old patriarchal self as the "Prophet" Brigham Young and look for Andrew Prine, a promising young actor who never quite made it to the top, in a spot. As a hard-nosed history buff, I had a hard time with several of the religio-political elements of this film but I must confess that I've been so damn hungry lately for a good Western, I'd likely watch it again.

If you are not an over sensitive Mormon, trying to justify your religion, you will enjoy this movie. It's just what a Tom Berenger movie should be, filled with action and interesting characters. The story line is very unique and interesting.

I've been looking for this movie on DVD for years. I remember watching it when it was released, and like many of you I do not understand why it hasn't been re-mastered on Blu Ray or DVD , I've e-mailed turner classic movies and have never received a reply on when this movie might be released again. With the all star cast and action packed sequences this movie needs to be released again on DVD ! Good westerns are few and there's not a lot of actors that can make a great western movie now days, the James Coburns, John Wayne's , and all the great actors are gone and there's very few actors that can make a great western still alive