Reviews

As a longtime Joel McCrea fan, I thought I had seen most all, if not all, of his westerns. But I evidently was wrong (for once in my 75 years!!!), as I had never seen this one until it showed up on the Western Channel recently.

As westerns go it was "Ho-um", which was surprising considering the cast: Joel McCrea, Luscious Yvonne De Carlo, and the always hilarious Alfonso Bedoya; who's animated performance steals every scene he is in.

Other reviewers have criticized this film for its sympathetic portrayal of Southern rebels trying to get stolen Yankee gold to the Confederacy, but this is not the first film to do a similar story. Virginia City with Errol Flynn & Randolph Scott, and Great Day in the morning with Robert Stack are two that come to mind. All three of these are fanciful Civil War out west tales about a Confederate scheme at the last minute to smuggle several millions in gold bullion into the South for supplies to keep the war going. And what happens in the end of all of these strains credulity to say the least.

BUT, these are movies, NOT documentaries, and made for entertainment, to sell tickets & popcorn, not to pay homage to the South, and not to be to closely analyzed as there are plenty of ridiculous plot holes and unreal situations.

Since this film was directed by George Sherman I had expected it to have the same quality great action scenes that he had been known for in all his many westerns from the 30's & 40's. Needless to say it fell flat there for the most part.

One area that they tried to be accurate on was the type of handgun every one carried: the Remington 1858 Cap & ball, fairly correct for the period. Except during the final showdown/shootout they more conveniently substituted the Single Action Colt, which was modified to look like the Remington. My guess is that this was more economical as it allowed used of the then popular 5-in-1 blanks used in most Westerns. For the uninitiated, these were blanks that would fit & fire in any revolver of 38-40, 44-40, 45 Colt calibers, and lever actions of 38-40 or 44-40 calibers.

The best part of any western, especially ones shot in color, are the beautiful outdoor location scenes, and here they almost overshadow the weak script.

This could've been a really good western, it's a shame it didn't live up to its potential, but its worth watching if only for the two leads.

This second of a two parter was after "Kate" was killed, and the NCIS team goes full bore after her killer. Throughout the episode her "ghost" either appears to the crew, or is in their thoughts, as they try and work thru her demise. There has been some discussion in other postings about not caring much for the Kate character, but I thought she provided a level balance between the wide range of emotions of the others, and I still miss her, and look forward to the re-runs she is in. The new character of "Ziva" eventually becomes Kates replacement in the series, and she is completely different from Kate, more emotional. It took me awhile to like her since I was never sure at first where her loyalties really were. At the end of the episode., as they are all walking away from the grave-site, Abby has a music player (MP3?) that plays some New Orleans Jazz style music. What is the song, and what group??

I recently saw this movie on a cable western channel, and I thought it would be great as it had Lee Van Cleef, Jack Palance, and Richard Boone together, all three who had made some great westerns. It also had a good premise: A retired gunfighter returns to find the killer of his brother, a priest, and avenge his death . I got some popcorn, settled in and watched it, and couldn't believe what I was seeing. This one should not only be in the top ten list of the 100 WORST movies ever made, it should be number one. It was so bad I had to watch it to the finish to see if it could possibly get worse. I've seen fifth graders do better acting. Jack Palance seemed like he either didn't know what his lines were, or was wondering how he had got into this mess. It certainly wasn't up to Shane, or City Slickers quality. Richard Boone must have been at a low point of his career and needed the money for the few short disappointing scenes he was in. Either his great sounding voice was shot and he was poorly dubbed, or he couldn't remember his lines and was poorly dubbed. In any event his performance was worse than "The Last Dinosaur", which he did after this one, in his normal voice. The only halfway credible performance was turned in by Lee Van Cleef, as both the priest and gunfighter brother. He really didn't have to do much to top the other two. The budget for this must have been really low as they used the same outdoor street to depict two different towns! All they did was cover over the name on the town sign and move some wagons, barrels and boxes around. All in all this was a big disappointment, and I couldn't recommend this film other than to a film study class as an example of how-not-to-make-a-movie.

I'm a long time fan of Jerry Orbach, and all the Law & Order series, and couldn't wait for this to start, even tho Jerry had died before it was aired. Based on the second half of the title "Trial by Jury", I was expecting to see jury involvement as they deliberated to reach their verdict. That never happened. I watched the entire run and what I saw was disappointing. Outside of Jerry, and Amy Carlson there were no likable characters. The BIGGEST problem was the lead actress Bebe Neuwirth. While she was great on Cheers and Fraiser, she looked, and came across, cold and hard and unlikeable - and this show needed "likeable" after it lost Jerry. Her wardrobe, makeup, and hair style didn't help either, she just appeared as a cold hard Bitch. What this show needed was Angie Harmon, or Carey Lowell to keep your interest and hold the show together. For me it just came across as a watered down copy of the original, and I wasn't surprised when it died.

My wife and I have watched every episode so far (5), and have found this to be not only great entertainment, but also have found the fictional Wheeler families in the thick of many historical events, which seem to have been portrayed with as much realism and accuracy as possible for Hollywood.

Spielberg has done an excellent job of creating the look and feel of the time, the history, and how the Indians, and other minorities, were used and subjugated in the development of the Western lands.

This is the best mini series of this type since "Centennial" (1978), which covered some of the same history, but primarily that in Colorado.