Western starring Sam Elliott, Tom Conti and Kate Capshaw. 1876: when the McKaskels' wagon rolls through Bender's Flats in wild Wyoming the family meets with trouble and a rugged stranger. Relentlessly pursued by a violent gang, the tenderfoot settlers come to rely on the straight-talking sharpshooter, but can he be trusted?
With a spaghetti-style plot and its overtones of Shane and Friendly Persuasion, this is a superior TV-movie western that only lets itself down with its uncertain re-creation of the frontier of the 1870s. The story is involving and well told by director Robert Day, but it is the performances that elevate this above the pack. Tom Conti is admirable as the Indian War veteran whose pacifism is put to the test, and Sam Elliott obviously enjoys picking off baddies and smouldering around Conti's wife, played with some vigour, considering the shallowness of the part, by Kate Capshaw.
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Con Vallian | Sam Elliott |
| Duncan McKaskel | Tom Conti |
| Susanna McKaskel | Kate Capshaw |
| Tom McKaskel | Kenny Morrison |
| Ute | Patrick Kilpatrick |
| Doc Shabitt | Matt Clark |
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Director | Robert Day |
