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If you think you see some similarity between this film and the John Wayne classic
western Hondo you're a sharp person. That's because both were written by Louis L'Amour and both have a cowboy hero aiding a woman alone on the frontier with her children.
Katherine Ross plays the woman who has a small ranch that also serves as a stagecoach station.. But that small amount of base income is about to be
cut off as a new station is being built, As for her ranch, Ross's husband is
gone for some months now on a cattle buying trip with no word when or if he's
returning.
Sam Elliott is our title character hero and he's riding line for Ken Curtis's ranch
and doing his best to keep thieves off the range. Curtis is beset by rustlers and
Elliott does get tempted to look the other way. But like Hondo Lane, Conagher
is your straight up cowboy hero, the kind we seldom see in our more cynical age.
Real life marrieds Sam Elliott and Katherine Ross have some tender scenes as she and he would like to get together. But as long as the missing husband's status is still missing they will be true to their moral code.
The supporting cast has a several familiar western faces. My favorite is Barry
Corbin the stagecoach driver who even with his company not subsidizing Ross,
he has a great personal concern for Ross and her kids.
Conagher answers in a positive way the question of whether we see westerns like we used to
see. Most affirmatively with this one.
score 7/10
bkoganbing 27 February 2021
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw6641128/ |
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6-4-2021 02:54:24