SanteeFats I was surprised at first when Bruce Boxleitner (D.C. Cracker) starts out as a gun thug with a murdering leader named Tate, who is thoroughly despicable and ugly too. He leaves the gang because he will not kill a kid. Ernest Borgnine is the old rancher who refuses to sell to make way for the railroad. So if you have seen this plot before guess what happens now? Ernest gets killed off while in town but so does every one of the gang except, of course, Tate. He has to live so he can die by the right man. Casper Van Dien character also left Tate's gang when Cracker did. Then there is the hot love interest schoolmarm played by Dierdre Quinn. If you watch many westerns you are led to believe that all school teachers are at the least pretty and always falls for the hero. The showdown happens at the ranch property fence. Here a Chicago RR man offers a plan that both sides agree on. So Tate makes his move and shoots at the ranchers. Many of the RR men that came along get shot, Bruce gets shot up and dies. Tate is about to finish Van Dien, who has been shot to doll rags as they say, when the Chicago man kills him. I guess CVD lives to marry the teacher. There a couple minor points that were very unrealistic. CVD fanned his gun. Doesn't work, your shots go all over the place and you have no accuracy. CVD was using a double barrel, breech loading shotgun. He used it one handed, rather hard to be accurate. Also he shot it twice and then without reloading, shot it two more times. Got to love those Hollywood infinite ammo weapons!!!

bkoganbing Casper Van Dien stars in Aces 'N' Eights as a former gunslinger in Jeff Kober's band of thugs for hire who up and quits and decides to settle down and lead a peaceful life. Rancher Ernest Borgnine takes him in and life goes well.That is until Kober's murderous band gets hired by William Atherton of the railroad and he wants a lot of ranches cleared out. And Kober is a man who enjoys killing to make that happen.I have to say this was a strange western for someone who's seen more than his share. Most of the time if the plot involved the railroad coming through it was a good thing and it was bad guys who had insider knowledge of that happening trying to push people off their land. In some cases it was the railroad, most famously in the Tyrone Power classic Jesse James that was strong arming people off their property, but just killing them? After all, the railroad just wants a right of way, enough room to lay down their tracks.Which made this western a rather dubious proposition for me. Still there's enough action to satisfy any western fan. There's also an adroit performance Bruce Boxleitner as one of Kober's men who plays a distinctly lone hand.

zardoz-13 This above-average but violent made-for-television western pits the villainous land-hungry railroad against defenseless small-time ranchers whose lands lay on the route sought by the railroad. Stuntman/action director Craig R. Baxley helms this exciting little B-movie horse opera with flaws to spare. All the bad guys sport long white dusters. "Guardian of the Realm" lenser Yaron Levy's color photography constantly thrusts you into the thick of the gunfire, and the hand-held camera work lends a sense of verisimilitude to the action that enhances this oater. As the protagonist Luke Rivers, Casper Van Dien is actually tolerable for a change, and the beard gives him a lot of maturity. Late in the action, he puts on a poncho and vaguely resembles Clint Eastwood. Basically, Van Dien plays a gunslinger who has tried to hang up his six-gun and reform himself. Naturally, the villains compel him to strap on his hog-leg one more time. The sturdy cast includes Bruce Boxleitner as a believable gunfighter. Ernest Borgnine of "The Wild Bunch" plays one of the foremost ranchers--Prescott--that the greedy, murderous railroad has been harassing about his land. These villains don't beat about the bush. When they embark on their reign of terror, expect to either wince or grimace at the results. "Sugarland Express" star William Atherton is Howard, an unscrupulous local railroad official who displays no qualms against killing to make a point. Of course, the devious Chicago-based railroad company doesn't want to pay a penny more for the land."Aces 'N Eights" springs a couple of surprises along the way without violating any of the formulaic conventions of westerns. The Dennis Shryack and Ronald M. Cohen screenplay observes all the clichés and then wields them with style. For example, D.C. Cracker, the Bruce Boxleitner gunfighter is reminiscent of Ben Johnson's gunfighter in "Shane." Jack Noseworthy of "Breakdown" stands out as a member of the railroad who has come to negotiate a peaceful settlement between the railroad and the landowners. The gunfights are noisy but not bloody. The treacherous hired guns working for the railroad terrorize and murder land owners and their wives to scare them into selling out. The sign of a good movie is that the characters change over the arc of the narrative, and three characters alter their activities by fade-out. The finale is a well-staged gunfight between the heroes and the villains with a surprisingly conclusion. If you enjoy westerns like those that George Montgomery and Randolph Scott made, you'll probably enjoy "Aces 'N Eights."

vitaleralphlouis We love westerns and wish there were more of them; but this one was made by people who lack the good sense of a goat.The story has been told a hundred times about the brave ranchers and settlers trying to hold out against an abusive takeover of their land at unfair compensation. Almost all previous movies were better than this sorry mess. The story is absolutely ruined by the emptyheadedness of today's talent-free film-makers -- who refuse to learn anything from the greats of yesteryear.To begin with, the picture substitutes excessive violence in place of a good story. The story is actually a muddled mess at best. They use all of the born-stupid techniques that spoil so many recent pictures: bad photography, dreadful editing, wrong-headed camera shots, and one of the new computer-generated musical scores that never ceases to annoy -- and never lets up. Music is supposed to enhance the action, not detract from it.If you love westerns, skip this stinker. Perhaps Genius Pictures which made it will fade away.