Crossfire Trail (DVD)

I thought this was a great story. I like Tom Selleck and Louis L'Amour stories. It is something the kids could watch.

My favorite of the Louis L'amour book to movie adaptations. It's predictable and full of coincidence and the dialogue you can tell is from a book through the repeated use of certain phrases. But it IS predictable which is what you sometimes want. There is a good guy and a bad guy and a girl. In the end everything works out. My favorite scene is where Rafe fights two brothers in the street and wins. It's a good but of western action.

Tom Selleck plays the lead character in "Crossfire Trail" a Louis L'Amour film, that draws together Wilford Brimley, David O'Hara, Barry Corbin, Christian Kane, Virginia Madsen, William Sanderson, Marshall R. Teague, Joanna Miles, Ken Pogue, Patrick Kilpatrick, Rex Linn, Daniel Parker, Brad Johnson, and Mark Harmon to make a western about honor, dishonor, justice, and injustice. Well, of course the bad guy is portrayed as despicable as possible so you as the viewer don't care how he meets his end, and the good guys are portrayed as civilized and talented, educated and Christian with integrity of character, and noble in thought or deed. This is the romantic fantasy we all have of the old west glory days, when unspoiled wilderness was freshly becoming tamed, and Native American Indians still had equality and respect among those who lived there. The story is predictable, stays on track, and ends exactly as it should, with the bad guys dead and all the good guys alive except for one (as final justification for the bad guys dead). "Crossfire Trail" is what I look for in a western, and Tom Selleck has yet to disappoint me in a western; as believable in this film as any I've seen him in. I happily give this film 5 stars, because it never fell short of what I bought it, and viewed it for. Attention to detail, authentic, a strong cast in the right fit for roles, solid performances, photography that never wavers, and easy to follow story that goes precisely as I was anticipating it would - who cares if the story is original or not. I recommend this film because it deserves it. Yes I know it was shot in Canada and says it is Wyoming. I enjoyed this film and want to buy "The Shadow Riders" next, because Tom Selleck and Sam Elliott are both in that one. In "Crossfire Trail" the more interesting metamorphosis of acting ability I saw was Barry Corbin who obviously has some versatility about him, his role in this film is quite different from when he was on "Northern Exposure." Although it is also a point well made that Mark Harmon also portrays a very, very convincing sorry waste of human skin. "Crossfire Trail" was a TV movie, and although violent in the sense of guns and killing, there is no nudity or sexual part to this film. I liked it just fine, anyway, without the "R" rated stuff - and enjoyed how the movie delivers just what it should.

Great movie and actours

This is the second of three outstanding Westerns that Tom Selleck filmed for TNT between 1997 and 2003. Selleck revisited his early Louis L'Amour, TV-Western roots with "Crossfire Trail" and also re-teamed with director Simon Wincer, who directed Selleck's best big-screen effort - "Quigley Down Under" - as well as the all-time classic Western "Lonesome Dove". The result is an excellent film that, while breaking no new ground, contributes to the rich mythology and legacy of the American cowboy.Selleck plays Rafe Covington who, at the beginning of the film, promises a dying friend that he will take care of the friend's wife and ranch. Selleck and two partners set out to do just that, and they add a new friend from the nearby town, played by Wilford Brimley, shortly after their arrival. The film is predictable: the widow is suspicious of Rafe's motives, the town bad guy has been wooing the widow in order to get at her land, the bad guy hires a hit man to eliminate Rafe, and so on. And yet, even though the viewer can see right through the plot to the end of the film, every element is so well handled that it is a pleasure to watch the movie.I read several articles just before the film was released about the painstaking efforts made to have authentic costumes, props, sets, etc., and I must say that the filmmakers' efforts certainly paid off. The film is set in Wyoming, but was filmed in Alberta, Canada, which gives the film some of the best mountain vistas in a Western since the real Grand Tetons were featured in "Shane".There is one small negative element in the film, which is why I couldn't quite bring myself to rate it a 5, and that is occasional strong profanity. I realize that real cowboys weren't always the most genteel people in their society, and I know that our modern society tolerates a lot of profanity; however, in a movie that continually emphasizes honor and integrity, profanity seems unusually out of place. There are DVD players and devices available that filter out profanity; if you are like me, then you can simply get such a player or device and still enjoy this first-rate Western.