Tom Selleck Western Collection
by Dick Lowry, Simon Wincer
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Actor: George Eads, Isabella Rossellini, Keith Carradine, Robert Carradine, Tom SelleckDirector: Dick Lowry, Simon Wincer
Brand: Warner Brothers
Writer: Charles Robert Carner
Writer: David Zelag Goodman
Writer: Elmore Leonard
Writer: Jack Schaefer
Writer: Louis L'Amour
Writer: Lukas Heller
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: Unknown
Running Time: 307 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-05-20
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Turner Home Ent
DVD Reviews of Tom Selleck Western Collection
DVD Review: Tom Selleck rides tall in the saddle in this TNT trifecta
Summary: 5 Stars
Tom Selleck starred in three excellent Westerns made for TNT between 1997 and 2003, and all three are now being made available in one collection. Here are brief synopses and reviews of each individual film:
"Last Stand at Saber River" - 4 stars
Selleck is Paul Cable, a Confederate cavalryman who has come home from the Civil War (only slightly) early. He knows the war is lost for the South, he is worn out, and he only wants to take his family back to their homestead in Arizona to live a normal life. His wife, who was told that he was dead, is less than thrilled to have him back home because she is resentful that he left to fight in the war in the first place. Suzy Amis does an excellent job as Martha Cable. She is not the stereotypical beauty who runs around in a bustle under fancy dresses. She is a tough frontierswoman who has experienced many hardships and gets her husband out of some tight spots as the movie progresses.
While the majority of the movie is good at depicting the divisions between North and South that caused the Civil War and which the Civil War then exacerbated, the subplot of the inner struggles that Paul and Martha Cable face is far more interesting. It's a great movie until the end, when we get the additional time-worn subplot of a Confederate soldier who just can't give up the Lost Cause. No, it's not Selleck's character who has this problem, but Selleck already had covered this territory in 1982's "The Shadow Riders" (though it wasn't his character who wanted to keep fighting in that movie either); John Wayne's "The Undefeated" is another well-known Western with the Lost Cause plotline. In spite of the needlessly melodramatic ending, this is a strong Western, and both Selleck and TNT kept getting better and better with "Crossfire Trail" and "Monte Walsh".
"Crossfire Trail" - 4 stars
This is the second of the TNT/Tom Selleck Westerns. Selleck revisited his early Louis L'Amour, TV-Western roots here and also re-teamed with director Simon Wincer, who directed Selleck's best big-screen effort - "Quigley Down Under" - as well as the all-time classic Western miniseries "Lonesome Dove". The result is an excellent film that, while breaking no new ground, contributes to the rich mythology and legacy of the American cowboy.
Selleck plays Rafe Covington who, at the beginning of the film, promises a dying friend that he will take care of the friend's wife and ranch. Selleck and two partners set out to do just that, and they add a new friend from the nearby town (played by Wilford Brimley) shortly after their arrival. The film is predictable: the widow is suspicious of Rafe's motives, the town bad guy has been wooing the widow in order to get at her land, the bad guy hires a hit man to eliminate Rafe, and so on. And yet, even though the viewer can see right through the plot to the end of the film, every element is so well handled that it is a pleasure to watch the movie.
I read several articles just before the film was released about the painstaking efforts made to have authentic costumes, props, sets, etc., and I must say that the filmmakers' efforts certainly paid off. The film is set in Wyoming, but was filmed in Alberta, Canada, which gives the film some of the best mountain vistas in a Western since the real Grand Tetons were featured in "Shane".
The reasons this film only receives four stars from me are the plot's predictability and the fact that it contains some needless strong profanity (which seems oddly out of place in a movie that continually emphasizes values such as honor and integrity). I suppose they wanted to emphasize that the good guys are good and the bad guys are bad (since the bad guys also utter the worst obscenities), but this was accomplished equally well in the other two films without the use of such strong profanity.
"Monte Walsh" - 5 stars
This 2003 remake of "Monte Walsh," also directed by Simon Wincer, was Tom Selleck's third (but hopefully not last) Western for TNT, and it is probably the most stirring film tribute to the end of the Old West and the cowboy way of life. This is saying quite a bit as some fine Westerns like "The Wild Bunch", "The Shootist", and (even more recently) "Open Range" as well as other movies have dealt with the changes resulting from progress as the U.S. was about to enter the twentieth century.
Having mentioned that the film is set during a time of great change in the American West, I won't cover the plot line in great detail. Suffice it to say that, while Selleck's Monte Walsh is the hero of the picture, he is portrayed with character flaws intact as well. Montelius Walsh loves three things in life: horses, women, and drinking (and the order of these things changes at different times in his life). He is stubborn, afraid to commit to Martine (his favorite prostitute whom he does seem to love), and refuses to change. He is also hard-working and loyal to his friends, especially his best buddy Chet (played by Keith Carradine), and these qualities are what make his character heroic and the storyline affecting. "Monte Walsh" is an elegiac tribute to the passing of the Old West and the American cowboy. May both continue to live on in films!
I'm convinced that if Tom Selleck had starred primarily in Westerns throughout his film career, then his movie success would have dwarfed his "Magnum P.I." role. The TNT Westerns, along with his three previous Westerns dating back to 1979's "The Sacketts", establish him as a premier cowboy actor. "Monte Walsh" is the finest of his Western efforts to date, and it is to be hoped that Selleck will 'saddle up' again soon; perhaps he'll even reunite with Sam Elliott with whom he starred in his first two made-for-TV Westerns (1979's "The Sacketts" and 1982's "The Shadow Riders") and who has also made some first-rate Westerns for TNT.
Description of Tom Selleck Western Collection
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