The Sacketts (1979)

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Tom Sellack as Orrin Sackett (the learned one) and Sam Elliot as as the oldest brother Tell (the toughest one). Jeff Osterhage is a very pleasant surprise as the youngest brother, Tyrel, (good with a gun to say the least). Any movie with Tom Sellack and Sam Elliot in it is bound to be good in my opinion.I am really surprised by how closely the movie actually follows the book. It tracked the book very closely. Ben Johnson as the old timer is very good, but then he almost almost has been. The fact that he was first a champion rodeo star makes his roles even better. Glen Ford plays Tom Sunday and while he educates the three Sackett brothers he is destined to die by one of them. Not in this movie but later down the line. This is a very well done movie.

This is pretty much standard Western fare with a cattle drive, gold prospecting, town taming and gun play. Sam Elliot, Tom Selleck and Jeff Osterhage play the three Sackett brothers. The oldest one, Tell (Elliot) is the one looking for gold. In the meantime, the other two leave their home in Tennessee and head west, hooking up with a cattle drive. When the cattle are delivered, they head to racially divided Santa Fe to help a beautiful Mexican senorita whose family is threatened by a dishonest businessman.Much of the strength of this story lies in the supporting cast, including Western veterans Glenn Ford, Ben Johnson, Jack Elam, Slim Pickens and Gene Evans. Ford is Tom Sunday, ramrod of the cattle drive. He and the two younger Sacketts go into business together rounding up stray cattle before taking them to Santa Fe. Then Sunday's relationship with the Sackett boys begins to spiral downward, and when Orrin (Selleck) gets the sheriff job Sunday has his heart set on, a grudge develops that will not abate. Ben Johnson is a hoot as Cap Roundtree. He was going to join in the stray cattle venture, but when he meets up with Tell, his eyes light up with gold fever and off they go to the mountains. Elam, Pickens and Evans are the Bigelows. They aim to get revenge against Tell for the slaying of their brother and this leads to the final confrontation. Elam, with his long handlebar mustache and black garb, including gloves, looks especially menacing.The Sacketts is not the best Western to come along, but it is always a pleasure to watch those guys who appeared in so many of the bygone classics and have since passed on.

I really felt sorry for some of the classic western actors who ended up participating in this drivel. The whole thing seemed like it was written, directed and edited by a bunch of eighth-graders! It also seemed that it might have been severely edited to reduce the running time, and if that's the case, my criticism might be bit too harsh. Was this perhaps originally a 6-hour movie that was cut down to 4 hours?I can't believe that, at the time this is being written, that IMDb readers have given this an average rating of 7.5. I'm giving it a 1 in hopes that others will too to keep serious movie-watchers from wasting four hours of their time as I did last night.

Funny, I like westerns but have never take the time to read a Louis L'Amour book. If this script is any indication, I don't see what all the fuss is about. While better than 99.9% of the fare on TV in the last decade, this is a definitely no-surprises made-for-TV movie, with the proper breaks in the proper places and everything wrapped up neat and tidy. *Way* too neat and tidy. Those expecting "Lonesome Dove" will be disappointed. Those expecting a few hours of Sam Elliot and Tom Selleck will be happy. Good sneering and facial quivering by Glenn Ford. Always love seeing Ben Johnson in anything. John Vernon always makes a good bad guy, but I would have appreciated seeing him get his towards the end. Being led off to jail wasn't enough. I also liked the bad guy in the bar, blonde, two guns which he (attempted to cross-draw)who Sam Elliot informed he'd have to kill and it would ruin his supper. Don't know the guy's name though.