Goodnight for Justice

Luke Perry saddles up as frontier circuit judge John Goodnight in the first of three films starring Perry as a Roy Bean type judge. Unlike the fictional Bean, Perry's a real lawyer and not a judge because he's got deputies to back up his ruling. What he does have is a passion for justice and will go the extra mile for it.

The film segments into three stories, the first is a prologue showing Perry's character as a youth played by Sam Duke seeing his family massacred in an outlaw raid.

We next see Perry's character unable to dispense justice to a young black kid whose father was hung by nightriders wearing bedsheets like the Ku Klux Klan. Perry does some extralegal work there however.

Finally Perry returns to the town where his folks were killed and takes on a gang that rides for the owner of the local Ponderosa who is going out of his way to persecute Cheyenne Indians. Again the object is justice and Perry has a way of brushing aside troublesome technicalities.

I like Perry's character and hope he does more John Goodnight films in the future.

This movie is a delight. Like the fun old Western novels with good characters, nasty baddies, inevitable gunplay and interesting women. Luke Perry wrote the engrossing story and played the lead, who is a complex character that embodies the American spirit, walking the balance of justice and assuaging his own personal hurts. Not sure why I haven't heard of this before, but I'm glad I stumbled on it. A good western for the collection. And I believe there are two more in the series.

always got an Achilles' ankle, i.e., the lukewarm loose screenplay that just don't count too much. And worse yet, anything from the Hallmark also inevitably hallmarked with lukewarm script, bad dialogs, not-so-good actors, so-so directing and so on. "Goodnight For Justice (2011)" is of course, no exception. What we got here is a so-so storyline with not quite believable characters who always look more modern and also giving a church-going like atmosphere that simply not quite convincing to me almost every time. I cannot qualify this movie as a good "New Western" but a bad one if compares it with "Silverado", "The Unforgiven", "The Quick & The Dead"...those, well, should be categorized as "New Western". Every time I saw a "Hallmark" movie, I got the same unconvincing feeling, no matter it's a romance or not.

How long can you wait for justice? After being appointed Circuit Judge, John Goodnight (Perry) travels the territory dispensing justice. After returning to a town that brings back memories of his parents murders, he sees someone who looks familiar. After seeing the last two TV westerns (Doc West & Triggerman) I was not expecting much from this one. Although this was nowhere near the caliber of "Tombstone" or "Open Range", this was actually a pretty good western. It is pretty cheesy in some parts and the acting is lacking, but it will keep you entertained and watching. Unlike the "Doc West" series this one will hold your attention and you won't forget what you are watching as you are watching it. The quality of westerns lately has dropped off a lot, this one stands above many of the new ones. Not great, but much better then the latest offerings. I give it a B-. Would I watch again? - I don't think I would.

A fast living city lawyer gets press ganged into being the Circuit Judge in the backwater State he originated from. This brings the opportunity to search for the killer of his family.

Not a profound or deep movie I felt there was a lot of opportunity missed in the development of some characters and situations. It seemed the director could not work out what the main point of the movie was, John Goodnight finding himself through representing law in tiny rural communities or the quest to avenge the death of his family. The result is a slightly disconnect piece where it does not run smoothly.

Lara Gilchrist puts in a respectable performance as the female lead in the second half and Luke Perry does a reasonable lead. It is a lightweight Western which will appeal to fans of the genre but probably not excite wider audiences. Worth watching but not destined to become anything beyond an unmemorable Saturday night in.