Broken Trail

This made-for-cable miniseries starring Robert Duvall (who also produced) comprises the final installment of what the actor calls his “Western trilogy,” which began with Lonesome Dove and continued with Open Range. Broken Trail is an eminently worthy successor, incorporating all the elements of classic Westerns and expanding on one that typically gets short shrift: characterization. Duvall plays aging rancher Print Ritter, who recruits a long-estranged nephew (Thomas Haden Church) to help him drive a herd of horses to market. En route they encounter a drunken slave trader (James Russo) attempting to deliver five young Chinese girls he has sold into prostitution. The cowboys rescue the frightened young women and try to lead them to safety even as they are pursued relentlessly by the slaver's cronies and customers. At three hours, the film may be a tad too leisurely for some tastes, but much of the excess footage is allotted to the welcome development of relationships. Director Walter Hill, an old hand whose previous forays into the genre have included The Long Riders (1980), Wild Bill (1995), and HBO's Deadwood, handles the complex storyline with great skill, filming gentle dialogue exchanges in an almost perfunctory fashion and reserving more vigorous staging for the periodic, explosive action sequences. The acting throughout is fine, with Church particularly impressive in a role that will surprise fans primarily familiar with his work in sitcoms and feature comedies. All in all, Broken Trail merits inclusion in the pantheon of classic Westerns. DVD extras include a “making-of” featurette. Highly recommended. (E. Hulse)[Blu-ray Review—June 10, 2008—Sony, 184 min., not rated, $28.95—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 2006's Broken Trail sports a fine transfer and Dolby Digital TrueHD sound. The extras on the disc are identical to the previous DVD release—a “making-of” featurette. Bottom line: a fine-looking version of this excellent Western.]