gordonl56 THE JACK BULL 1999This HBO western production is far better than I was expecting. It is the tale of one man's search for justice. The cast features, John Cusak, L.Q. Jones, John C. McGinley, John Goodman, Scott Wilson, John Savage, Jay O Sanders, Miranda Otto, Glen Morshower, Rodney E Grant and Ken Pogue.Cusak is a Wyoming horse trader and breeder. He lives with his wife, Miranda Otto and son, Drake Bell on a ranch in the mountains. Cusak, takes a yearly trip into the big horse auction in town to sell off his stock. This year he runs into a spot of bother. The biggest land owner in the area, L.Q. Jones, has taken a dislike to Cusak. He tells Cusak it will cost him a toll to cross his land to get to the auction. Jones is fencing off the land to as he says. "stop the lowlife drifters" from crossing. Cusak has not got the toll price, but agrees to leave several fine horses with Jones. He will pay on his return and collect the horses. He also leaves a hired hand, Rodney E Grant to watch over the horses. Cusak sells off the stock at the auction and returns to Jones' place with the fee. What he finds is his two fine horses have been used as plow horses and are in sad shape. His man, Grant, has been beaten bloody and ran off by Jones' top hand, John Savage. Cusak demands that Jones restore the horses to the state they were in when left with him. Needless to say this goes nowhere. Now everything falls to pieces for Cusak. He hires a lawyer to seek redress, but the local judge is in Jones' pocket. The wife, Otto, sets off with the other hired hand, John C McGinley to Cheyenne to see the Attorney General. Otto gets killed by a runaway wagon while crossing a street in the capital. Cusak decides to make his own law as the "official law" is unwilling, or unable to help. He gathers a group of like-minded men and sets off after Jones. Barns are burned to make a point, but Jones has high tailed it to Cheyenne. Of course there are several deaths and the Law is called out to chase Cusak. You will need to watch the film to get the rest of the story. Suffice it to say it will be worth your time. The director here is big screen veteran, John Badham. His films include, Saturday NIGHT FEVER, POINT OF NO RETURN, BLUE THUNDER, STAKEOUT, THE HARD WAY, WAR GAMES and BIRD ON A WIRE. The cinematography was handled by Gale Tattersall. His film work includes, PUSHING TIN, TANK GIRL and GHOST SHIP. Standing in for the mountains of Wyoming, is Calgary and Banff, Alberta, Canada. This is the same area where OPEN RANGE, UNFORGIVEN and LEGENDS OF THE FALL were filmed.

Petri Pelkonen Myrl Redding is a horse trader from Wyoming.Rancher Henry Ballard becomes his worst enemy after he abuses two of Redding's horses and Billy, the Crow Indian caretaker.The local judge throws out Myrl's complaint.He tells Ballard to nurse the horses back to health.He refuses.So begins a manhunt where everybody's life is in danger.All Myrl wants is justice.The Jack Bull (1999) is a made for television western directed by John Badham.It's loosely based on Heinrich von Kleist 1811 book Michael Kohlhaas.I bought the movie as a DVD some time ago.John Cusack does terrific job as Myrl Redding.The script was written by his late father, Dick Cusack, and he really wanted to do this film.John Goodman is great as the fair judge Tolliver.L.Q. Jones makes a great villain in Henry Ballard.Miranda Otto is fantastic as Myrl's wife Cora Redding.Same thing with Drake Bell as his son Cage.Great job by John McGinley as Woody.John Savage is very good as Slater.Rodney A. Grant as Billy is marvelous.Ned Bellamy is very good as Kermit Dover.Scott Wilson is great as Governor.Byrne Piven, Jeremy's father plays Tub Weller.Dick Cusack is seen as Jury Foreman.Also Bill Cusack, John's brother is seen in the movie.The soundtrack includes "Ring Them Bells" by Bob Dylan.It looks pretty amazing when Myrl and his posse ride to the spot, terrifying the villains.The Jack Bull is pretty nice modern western.

oshram-3 I'd never even heard of this film – apparently it was done for HBO a while back – but it was a John Cusack film I'd never heard about, and to me he's an interesting enough actor that I'll try something blind for his sake.Jack Bull is set in the 1870s; Cusack plays horse rancher Myrl Redding, an honest man trying to make an honest living on his Wyoming farm. Unfortunately he crosses paths with local tycoon Henry Ballard (L.Q. Jones), who decides to give Redding a hard time and mistreats some of his prize stallions and one of his Native American workers. When Redding demands justice, of course he finds the deck stacked against him, so he takes the law into his own hands.Jack Bull, while a compelling story, is also an examination of the concept of 'natural' law vs. civil law, and poses some questions about just how much of a right we have as men to be treated fairly no matter the circumstances. The story could have been a moralistic whitewash, but by making Myrl less than perfect the movie aims a lot higher, with satisfactory but occasionally unsettling results. It would be easy to just take the side of the little man against the big rich fella (like they did in, say, Silver City) and here it's not hard to do that. But Myrl's complexity and his occasional slips – he's no saint, though he tries hard to do no damage to the innocent – render this story in much darker, richer colors than lesser hands would have.Cusack is excellent here, as he usually is. His uncompromising performance as Myrl dominates the picture, and Cusack displays the man's drive and determined nature without ever overdoing it or descending into melo-drama. Most of the rest of the cast is fairly strong as well (I particularly enjoyed Scrubs' John C. McGinley's turn as simple sidekick Woody), with a standout turn by John Goodman as a dedicated lawman named Judge Tolliver. The end trial, as a result, is a powerful capper to a movie that questions moral choices throughout.Though a darker film, Jack Bull is an excellent piece, with well thought-out characters, motivation, and execution. It offers no easy answers, though it does conclude its story with finality, and in the end only reinforces that the consequences we suffer are a direct result of the actions we take. This one may be a little hard to find (I got it from Netflix), but it's certainly well worth the search.

Pebble-2 I know there haven't been many, but this is the best western since Clint's Unforgiven. The photography was excellent, the acting great and the story as simple as it could be. Proof if ever it was needed that character means more to a film than plot. My only slight surprise about the film is whether it realistically portrays the status of black people. Maybe my pre-conception of the time is wrong, but were black people so well integrated in the America of the Wild West? Did they serve as jurors? Still, I suppose it got me thinking about it. Well worth watching. 8/10