Dawn Rider

I'm a big fan of westerns and have been since my childhood in the 60's. This is perhaps the worst western i've ever seen. It had such promise, Christian Slater and Donald Southerland are two actors I've always enjoyed. I sought this film out because they're in it, what a walloping disappointment! Stupid plot, flat acting, ridiculous inconsistencies, modern dialogue far removed from period correct, empty characters, the list of bad qualities goes on. The entire production is really lousy. There are giant holes in the story line that get filled with the kind of convenience elements a high school level writer would utilize. i tried really hard to care about any of the characters but they were so thin that there wasn't anything to care about. Phoned in performances from Southerland and Slater were a huge disappointment.

Using most of the character names as was used in the original Tom Tyler film (Monogram) and the remakes starring John Wayne (Lone Star-Monogram) and Bob Baker (Uinversal), it would appear that such an outright theft should have also been noted when the writing credits appear on this film...but try as I may I fail to find one line on any frame of this film that mention this film was base on an original story and screenplay by Wellyn Totman, and also on subsequent screenplays by Robert N. Bradbury and George Waggner. Evidently, the use of previously-written copyrighted material, without crediting any of the original story or screenplay writers is no problem in Canada. A simple based-upon-by nod would have been honest, at least.

This movie is good in the way a Steve Austin action movie can be good if you know what to expect. It feels like a parody of a western because all the stereotypical elements are there but it treats itself seriously. That's why some will like it and others completely hate it so it makes it difficult to recommend to anyone.

I personally found the clothes and sets a little distracting because everything felt slightly wrong for pre-1900. The low budget probably limited what could be custom made so you just have to overlook it. The music was also wrong in a few places, some points have an almost comical tone and don't match the situation.

If you are the type to get bothered by details then this movie would be difficult to get through, otherwise it's a good average western themed movie. I just don't consider it a good western.

"Dawn Rider" is a remake of a John Wayne "B" western of the 1930s. The original version ran only about fifty-three minutes, while this remake runs an additional forty minutes - which happens to be one of the big problems. There isn't enough story here to justify a ninety-three minute running time, so frequently the movie runs at a VERY slow speed. But there are other problems with the movie. The movie is also quite dull, and while there are several action sequences, they are very unexciting. While Christian Slater has given some fine performances in the past, he's hopeless here, the last person you would consider being a hardened gunfighter despite not shaving for several days. Donald Sutherland only appears in five brief scenes, indicating he was only hired for a few days so that the movie would qualify for Canadian content rules. The production values are okay, and there are a few well-photographed sequences, but that's not enough to make the movie appealing to even western addicts like myself.

Jill Henessey is looking old, as is Sutherland, because he is. Slaters constant drinking, smoking and quotes got old fast. Henessey as an Annie Oakley wanna be, finally gets a chance to use the gun she keeps displaying to shoot her worthless criminal brother and doesn't. Why in the world didn't any of the fools who saw the masked marauders during the day put two and two together on their clothes and hats? They looked the same in town except no masks. Even in those days, you didn't just pull the badge off a dead man and become his replacement. A bounty hunter who is also a US Marshal is tracking a man who cheated at cards in a Mexico prison resulting in the death of one prisoner and the release of another for a family that wants revenge. Wow, talk about a reach. The only thing I find mildly good about this is the ending. Everything from opening credits to that point was a waste of time.