Review of:Broken Trail (2006)
Director:Walter Hill
Starring:Robert Duvall, Thomas Haden Church
Where have all the good westerns gone? Well, if you are looking for a good western AMC movie channel is bringing one to the small screen, appropriately named Broken Trail. Starring Robert Duvall and Thomas Haden Church, Broken is a story about two men who are driving 500 horses from Oregon to Wyoming. This storyline would suffice in making good television, but the addition of a storyline with five enslaved Chinese girls makes it a story appealing to everyone.
As AMC’s first original movie, Broken Trail serves as a notice to the rest of television in general. One, that AMC can put together high quality entertainment which could easily have went the way of the Cineplex, and two, that if you can present a western in new, exciting ways that it is a genre that can inspire.
Broken Trail is set at the close of the 19th century under the capable guidance of Director Walter Hill (Directors Guild and Emmy Award winner for his work on the pilot for Deadwood). Veteran cowboy Print Ritter (Robert Duvall) and his nephew Tom Harte (Thomas Haden Church) undertake a horse drive that will take them some 1,000 miles. The story is set up by the death of Print’s sister. She leaves him all of her land and livestock. There seems to have been some sort of animosity between Harte and his aunt, and Print feels bad about the younger man being left with nothing. Out of a need to give the younger man a chance in life he decides to run 500 horses to Sheridian, Wyoming, hoping that they can sell the horses to the Moncrieffes, who are buying horses for the army. With the proceeds Tom can at least have a stake to start a new life.
Along the way they run into a human trafficker who has five Chinese girls in his possession that only speak the mandarin language. Through events that will not be exposed the three men (they pick up another man along the way) find themselves as escorts to these young ladies. That is, until they can find a place to drop them off. Add to this fact that the owner of the women, Big Rump Kate (Rusty Schwinner), has sent a man to retrieve them.
Broken Trail is a film that should be enjoyed by the whole family. It is a story of the American West at its best. I in particular liked the emotions and the story that the Chinese women brought to the story. In my humble opinion they provide some of the best acting in the film, but it is a comment that can be disputed. There is good acting throughout.
