Stagecoach: The Texas Jack Story

RELEASED IN 2016 and directed by Terry Miles, "Stagecoach: The Texas Jack Story" stars Trace Adkins as a former stagecoach robber who turns over a new leaf and marries, but feels forced to turn back to outlawry when a one-eyed marshal tries to apprehend him (Judd Nelson). Kim Coates and Claude Duhamel are on hand as his gang members.

Adkins makes for an iconic Westerner, as witnessed in "Traded" (2016) and "Hickok" (2017). The difference between "Stagecoach: The Texas Jack Story" and those two is (1.) Adkins plays the main protagonist and (2.) it's noticeably inferior in overall filmmaking, even though it cost approximately the same amount to make. In other words, as low-budget as "Traded" and "Hickok" were, they worked quite well as made-for-TV (or direct-to-video) Westerns, all things considered. "Stagecoach: The Texas Jack Story" is almost amateurish by comparison.

Nevertheless, it has some points of interest for those who don't mind slipshod productions: Adkins is a likable protagonist; the one-eyed marshal was the dope-smoking rebel in "The Breakfast Club" (1985); Michelle Harrison is stunning as the protagonist's redheaded wife, Laura Lee; Helena Marie plays Bonnie, a striking tall blonde deputy with a penchant for killing; the British Columbia locations are effective; and there's a quality moral about not trusting people of dubious character, particularly LIARS.

THE FILM RUNS 1 hour, 30 minutes and was shot in British Columbia (Mission and Maple Ridge). WRITERS: Dan Benamor and Matt Williams.

GRADE: C/C-

"There's a man coming from and he aims to bury you." Nathaniel Reed (Adkins) lived the life of a stagecoach robber and was successful. After taking down a large score him and his band decide to go their separate ways and live straight. Years later his past comes back to haunt him, and Calhoun (Coates) a former victim turned US Marshall is bent on revenge. In recent years most westerns have been what I call the $5 Westerns, meaning that the movies seem to be made on a budget of $5. This one had higher quality, not a ton, but enough. The thing this really had going for it though was that it was good. Surprisingly good. The movie isn't all that original or amazing, but compared to the recent crop of B-westerns this is easily one of the best. The acting is what you would expect but the story is actually well developed and interesting enough for you to stay interested in. The one down fall of this movie was the time jumping. The movie went from past to future to past to present and it was overly confusing. Some of the events didn't seem to line up, but other than that this is defiantly worth watching. Overall, one of the better westerns lately and one that I liked a lot more than I expected to. I surprisingly give this a high B.

Well as there were no reviews I started to watch this film as I like the genre. I'm generally very tolerant reviewing movies and was prepared to give it a chance. However after 10 minutes I could give no more!

The acting is pretty naff and the shooting scenes (at least those I saw) were pretty poorly done. I usually sit through really crap movies just to see if they get better, but there was no way this looked like it was going to improve.

It looks more like a cheap TV movie. Give it a go if you must but 10 minutes was all I could watch.

...should stick to music.

Saw a few good reviews for this one and assume that they were either part of the cast or watching a different movie.

Lame story. Bad acting. Apparently couldn't even be bothered to come up with new names for the characters. Not engaging, not amusing, not up to the standards of your cheesiest spaghetti western. Fan of B movies and this doesn't even hit that standard. Kept waiting for some redeeming feature...nothing showed.

Way too many minutes of my life gone forever.

Save 1 1/2 hrs of your time and don't bother. We gave it more time than the other review in hopes that it would improve. Unfortunately, it didn't. Trace Adkins' acting was comparable to the other characters but the story line did not have the depth necessary for it to be a good western. We like good westerns but this definitely failed to deliver.