What’s it rated? Not rated
When? 2022
Where’s it showing? Redbox, Amazon Prime
Richard Gray (Robert the Bruce) directs this Old West mystery set in Yellowstone City, Montana, a former gold rush boomtown that’s fallen on hard times … until a local prospector strikes gold but is quickly murdered. Whodunit? The main suspect is former slave and newcomer, Cicero (Isaiah Mustafa), but did he and why?
The story pits the town’s remorseless sheriff, Jim Ambrose (Gabriel Byrne), against the town’s new minister, Thaddeus Murphy (Thomas Jane) and his wife, Alice (Anna Camp), who are determined to see justice prevail. It’s a slow-burn story until everything goes haywire in the finale.
This is definitely low-budget straight-to-video fare, and it mashes up a ton of Western tropes, from the wise Native American medicine woman to the retired gunslinger forced out of retirement to the sex worker hoping for an honest life. In fact, accusing the film of trying to do too much isn’t a stretch, but if you like Westerns, this fits the bill. It’s got an effective cast, twists and turns, and enough moral complications to make the story and its characters interesting. I used a $1.25-off promo code and thought the 80 cents I paid at Redbox was fair. (127 min.) Δ
This article appears in Sep 15-25, 2022.