The Tracker (1988)
After a series of vicious crimes by a renegade group of cowboys, led by "Red Jack" Stilwell, a legendary tracker, Noble Adams is pulled out of retirement to capture Stilwell, dead or alive. Reluctantly, needing more men, he allows his son, Tom to tag along, revealing to Tom a whole brutal side of ruthlessness Noble thought he left behind.
Watch Trailer
Cast
Reviews
Touches You
Thanks for the memories!
People are voting emotionally.
good back-story, and good acting
I am a big Western fan..and it seems the older I get, the more I like them..However, I had not watched this film before..and I really liked it a lot..It had all the prerequisites of great Western..Terrific scenery..good musical score..a time tested plot..and very good characters..It reminded me greatly of 1 of my favorite films, The Last Hard Men...where Charlton Heston/James Coburn starred as the retired lawman and escaped convict..Both films shared 1 thing that is hard to find in a western..a general sense of foreboding where at every turn there was danger lurking in every turn.. In this film's case 2 terrific actors, Kris Kristofferson and Scott Wilson who as leads developed a personal hatred for each other..Both films had young men finding their way in a world they had not experienced in the manner of the lawman, which made the lawman uneasy for relying on him as a back-up..and both films had the beginnings of a love interest that involved a kidnapped hostage and young apprentice..I highly recommend this film, and then decide which 1 you enjoy better..In my case, for different reasons I give it a tie!!!
Reading the comments here I expected a better movie.The plot is predictable as is the character "development", in particular the father-son relationship. For me, for example, it seems inappropriate that the father denies his son respect after he has beaten up a tough bounty-hunter, but is filled with pride after his offspring has hustled a horse on emeter upon an ascending hill-slope.The dialogues are flat, the action is mostly unconvincing. Kristofferson and Wilson do a good job, but they do not really throw themselves into this movie.All in all, I found the movie boring and, at some points, even ridiculous.Can anyone tell why a Philadelphia-bred lawyer has a punch worthy of a box champion (well, it is mentioned he learned that from his professor, an academic, not a boxer himself, I presume). Well, even if we let that pass, why then can Adams Junior ride a horse like a prairie "indian", sharp-shoot in full gallop, and even draw faster than a die-hard criminal. Well, maybe I wasted my time on the wrong university ...I know this a TV movie, not a big cinema production. Anyway, only 4 stars out of 10.
This western may not stray to far from the norm but it does have a great cast and a good script. Kris Kristofferson is as usual great. So is Scott Wilson (I) who plays a crazed killer who thinks that he is on a mission of God. Mark Moses plays Tom Adams, son of Noble Adams, (K.K.) and does a fine job as the son who learns to believe in his fathers ways as his father learns to count on him. A fine movie made by the people at HBO. If you like westerns then you will like this one.
Kristofferson really put himself on the right track again with this film! After a few years of bombed films there is always one that brings you back and this wa it for him! If Kris made more westerns and stuck to his roots in the films he would be worth an Oscar!!!