Thoroughly Enjoyable TV Western With Great Cast!
Trevor William Douglas | Gorokan, NSW Australia | 04/20/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Timeless Media Group have done it again with their release of this rare Universal TV Western from 1976. A top cast headed by the always reliable Bill Bixby and Bo Hopkins. The duo are joined by John Hillerman, Billy Green Bush, Stephen Elliott, M.Emmet Walsh, Alan Fudge, Luke Askew, Edward Winter, Robert Donner, Ted Gehring, Barry Cahill, Mills Watson, Dennis Burkley and Brion James in the story of a footloose Bostonian and a Wyoming cowboy, who team up in the old west to block a private army's land-grab scheme against a bunch of small time ranchers.
An excellent print (as always). Buy it now!"
I like it. Good fun and educational, plus we get some Bixby
Lawrence Brown | HOUSTON, TX United States | 09/30/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Synopsis: Western style dramatized true story about big money cattle ranchers that put together a private army and march to exterminate small ranchers in Wyoming. Bixby plays a highly educated, decent, and sensible rambler that goes along so as to get a reporter's fee, ultimately interfering in the plan in an attempt to avoid bloodshed.
Lar-ry-view: A. I like it. It's 90% drama, 10% fun. Bill gets a buddy and they play the buddy act throughout the movie. He also does some bar tricks for us, reprising his "The Magician" persona. The movie starts out with Bill standing an egg on its end, then later he balances two forks on the end of a toothpick.
Just like with his Tony Blake character from "The Magician," and his Dr. David Banner character from "The Hulk," Bixby plays an intelligent, reasonable, decent man. I take this character as being similar to Bill's real personality. A leading man, as opposed to character actors, essentially play themselves in every role. Others have pointed out to me, however, that Bixby's talent allowed a large dramatic range as shown in some other presentations that were not Bixby starring vehicles. Sure, I can buy that. Anything he does is golden.
This movie is a stereotypical western: horses, saloons, sheriffs, trains, card games, gunfights and all. I could list a few places in which the script could have been better, but I won't bother. What matters is that this movie is entertaining, fun, and even contains educational history. You might want to invest your time and money in this movie if you: like Bixby, like bar tricks, like westerns, like buddy movies, or are interested in the historical events covered by the movie.
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Great Fun and Entertaining
L. Van Ellis | Texas County, Missouri | 02/04/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is a fun, entertaining movie to watch. The interaction between Sam Lowell(Bill Bixby) and George (Bo Hopkins) is terrific. The cast, story line, scenery, and script are all very well done. Based on the Johnson County War, the movie focuses more on individual characters and events than on the 'war' itself. The movie moves well and is not too short or too long. (one of my pet peeves is length of a movie needs to tell the 'story', entertain, but never leave me short or bored). I actually enjoyed this movies 'lighter hearted' and somewhat cliche'd perspective more than Tom Berenger's Johnson County War(which by the way is also an excellent movie)."