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This three-film set doesn’t offer the best of western star Sam Elliot, but it does have two good and one terrific movie for your viewing pleasure.

I love Sam Elliot. For those who don’t know him, Elliot is a ruggedly-handsome guy who voiced the Beef Council commercials for years. Doesn’t matter how old he is, his voice is always going to have that roughly-sexy edge.

Though his early years included stints on Mission: Impossible and in recent years The Golden Compass, he is best known - to me, at least - as a gun-slinging fighter in western films and Gunsmoke and The Sacketts.

Recently, three TNT Original films starring Elliot were released into the Sam Elliot Western Collection. This set doesn’t offer the best of western star Sam Elliot, but it does have two good and one terrific movie for your viewing pleasure.

Rough Riders
1997

Lots of battle scenes, cool old weapons, focus away from what real historical events and an over-acted Teddy Roosevelt make up this movie.

Teddy Roosevelt was determined to take down Spain for imprisoning Cubans and bombing an American Navy vessel. He invented a war that would ultimately united the states against a common enemy - something needed after the Civil War.

One division of soldiers who fought in the four month Spanish-American War of 1898 were known as the Rough Riders - men from all walks of life who got down and dirty in the trenches. (The name was borrowed from Buffalo Bill, so it had recognition among the American people.)

Elliot plays a lawman who becomes the leader of this team. This film focuses on the formation of the Rough Riders and their battle for San Juan Hill.

As a war movie, the film was pretty good. Personally, I did not feel like it was historically accurate enough. It was rah-rah America - sort of like Independence Day in that sense. It would be a good movie to watch around July 4 for an 1800s patriotic spin. When you do a little research, however, you discover that this was a contrived war to bring together the North and the South, which still hated each other after the Civil War. It was also a terrific way for businesses to open up overseas commerce.

This two-part miniseries barely touched on the Yellow Journalism that helped rally Americans to war, or the crooked deals among Congressional elite to make it happen. Teddy Roosevelt - played by Tom Berenger - was made to look like an overzealous, bumbling fool at times - which was a little disconcerting. The ignorance is bliss theory kept his dumb butt alive during the battle, if you believe this adaptation.
For information on the four-month war, visit Small Planet Communications, which offers a teaching resource on it. Wikipedia has some information, but not nearly as much.

Two-disc set includes commentary by director and co-writer John Milius and executive producer William J. MacDonald. Includes French and Spanish subtitles for the film.

You Know My Name
1999

Based on Matt Braun’s book One Last Town, this film portrays the final law enforcement assignment of Bill Tilghman, a major lawman of the Wild West.

Elliot - who produced the film - portrays Tilghman, who was one of Wyatt Earp’s buddies from the Dodge City War. After a stint in the Oklahoma Senate and producing the film, The Passing of Oklahoma Outlaws, Tilghman decided to take one last job to clean up the corrupt Cromwell, Okla. His wife is adamantly opposed to this job, but he takes it, anyway, because he wants to prove himself as a lawman once again - and, of course, to get the money he needs to finish the movie.

It costs him his life, but the death of the lawman helps the town’s people finally rise up against corrupt Prohibition agents. The film Tilghman produces in this movie is real and was one of the first attempts to not glorify outlaws.

This movie is solid, but I think it could have been cut a bit from the 94 minutes. My father - who thoroughly loves westerns - really enjoyed it.

Arliss Howard played a terrific corrupt agent. He was simply crazy - and the actor’s actions and facial expressions solidified his underground con man status to the audience.

This DVD includes a special featurette, “Law Makers of the West,” with writer, director John Kent Harrison. He talks about some of the making of the film. I thought it was really cool that they took the original film by Tilghman (what was left of it, anyway) and used it to recreate on film - using a hand-crank camera.

Also includes French and Spanish subtitles.




The Desperate Trail
1994
The best of this collection, this film is about a corrupt lawman who plans to hang his daughter-in-law for murdering his son.

Linda Fiorentino plays fiery Sarah O’Rourke. At first, you think O’Rourke is a bitch, but you quickly learn that she was beaten by her husband and that is why she killed him. While Bill Speakes (Elliot) transports O’Rourke to be hanged, the coach is robbed by con man Jack Cooper. He and O’Rourke make a terrific team as they continue to flee marshal Speakes and his posse.

I found myself continuing to root for the crooks. There was one scene where both O’Rourke and Speakes could have killed each other during a shoot out, but neither takes the shot. That told me that Speakes didn’t really want to kill her.

The film ends in a bloody battle at Cooper’s farm.

I could not stop watching this movie. I loved it. There was danger, romance, a little mystery. I don’t often think of Sam Elliot playing a bad guy, so that was a welcome switch. I’d love to see Linda Fiorentino in more films. Her last biggie was MIB. Her portrayal of this beaten woman who would not allow life to take her down was simply amazing.

The Sam Elliot Western Collection is a good watch for western and history lovers. It would be a terrific boxed set to place in a stocking at Christmas for fans of the actor of these genres. They also make excellent starting points for discussion of historical events.

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