Frequently Bought Together
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product details
|
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
i sat down to watch this film not expecting a lot really , but it turns out this is a very good western about a sheriff and his posse chasing after outlaws . this is a violent film very true to the wild west and not at all over the top just graphic and bloody , this is quite similar in style to open range and if you liked that film you will be happy watching this beauty , the acting is good and convincing and the story is believable . a very enjoyable film indeed.
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
The Desperate Trail probably refers to the screen writers' difficulties, and indeed, they seem to have written this shaky script by lamplight in a stagecoach traversing darned rough ground, with a bottle of whiskey to help.
However this is a western wherein almost anything can be forgiven if the actors are competent, and that these are, and well directed by P. J. Pesce. Also, apart from the actors in every case giving a fine performance, the technical support once more demonstrates Turner Pictures' understanding of the Western. Costumes are perfectly true to place and time; textures, style, and colours are remarkable in their accurate detail. Sets, properties, equipment and background put the action firmly into the nineteenth century, convincing in every detail, and more interesting, the weapons are not only of the period, but of a variety that show that the property department crew know their job inside out.
Sam Elliott as a cold, cruel hearted lawman comes as a shock. This is not his usual affable portrayal, but he handles this role convincingly.
Craig Sheffer is amusing and believable as a happy go lucky robber; and an actor I would like to see more of.
But it is Linda Fiorentino who steals this movie. She plays a hard as nails gravel-voiced female robber who doesn't hesitate to gun down any feller who gets fancy ideas about her. But she is also amusing, able to carry off comedy in a manner reminiscent of Shirley Maclaine. The lady is a dish and more important, a fine actress. Yeah.
Go for this one. The movie is well worth owning.
However this is a western wherein almost anything can be forgiven if the actors are competent, and that these are, and well directed by P. J. Pesce. Also, apart from the actors in every case giving a fine performance, the technical support once more demonstrates Turner Pictures' understanding of the Western. Costumes are perfectly true to place and time; textures, style, and colours are remarkable in their accurate detail. Sets, properties, equipment and background put the action firmly into the nineteenth century, convincing in every detail, and more interesting, the weapons are not only of the period, but of a variety that show that the property department crew know their job inside out.
Sam Elliott as a cold, cruel hearted lawman comes as a shock. This is not his usual affable portrayal, but he handles this role convincingly.
Craig Sheffer is amusing and believable as a happy go lucky robber; and an actor I would like to see more of.
But it is Linda Fiorentino who steals this movie. She plays a hard as nails gravel-voiced female robber who doesn't hesitate to gun down any feller who gets fancy ideas about her. But she is also amusing, able to carry off comedy in a manner reminiscent of Shirley Maclaine. The lady is a dish and more important, a fine actress. Yeah.
Go for this one. The movie is well worth owning.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
The Desperate Trail is directed and co-written by P. J. Pesce with Tom Abrams. It stars Sam Elliott, Craig Sheffer, Linda Fiorentino and Frank Whalley. Music is scored by Stephen Endelman and cinematography by Michael Bonvillain. Plot sees Fiorentino and Scheffer team up as wanted fugitives out on the lam, pursued by lawman Sam Elliott, who will so anything outside the law to get his way.
The violence is loaded and film aspires to be a Leone and Peckinpah hybrid, so much so it would be easy for the casual Western viewer to believe they were witness to something special in the genre. Slow motion action and explosive blood squibs are the order of the day, throw in some genre staples and you are good to go. After a great opening, a false dawn if ever there was one, Pesce's (From Dusk Till Dawn 3/Sniper 3) picture suffers from bad direction, bad editing, awful musical scoring and the biggest problem of all, gross miscasting. Fiorentino, a fine actress and a fine looking woman, is no rooting tooting vengeance seeking blood spilling cowgirl, while Scheffer? Seriously? Who thought that was a good idea? And Endelman scores it like it's the bastard son of science fiction and Australia outback.
Elliott is good value, he almost always is, but even he at times looks to be wondering just what he is doing in such poor fare. Bonvillain's photography holds up well, with some nice broad lensing of the Santa Fe and Tesuque Pueblo locations; with one gorgeous red sky shot particularly impressive, and the final shoot out is competently staged. But this is a bad Western film, even by TV movie standards. Cribbing from better movies and better film makers does not a good film make, case in point, The Desperate Trail. 3/10
The violence is loaded and film aspires to be a Leone and Peckinpah hybrid, so much so it would be easy for the casual Western viewer to believe they were witness to something special in the genre. Slow motion action and explosive blood squibs are the order of the day, throw in some genre staples and you are good to go. After a great opening, a false dawn if ever there was one, Pesce's (From Dusk Till Dawn 3/Sniper 3) picture suffers from bad direction, bad editing, awful musical scoring and the biggest problem of all, gross miscasting. Fiorentino, a fine actress and a fine looking woman, is no rooting tooting vengeance seeking blood spilling cowgirl, while Scheffer? Seriously? Who thought that was a good idea? And Endelman scores it like it's the bastard son of science fiction and Australia outback.
Elliott is good value, he almost always is, but even he at times looks to be wondering just what he is doing in such poor fare. Bonvillain's photography holds up well, with some nice broad lensing of the Santa Fe and Tesuque Pueblo locations; with one gorgeous red sky shot particularly impressive, and the final shoot out is competently staged. But this is a bad Western film, even by TV movie standards. Cribbing from better movies and better film makers does not a good film make, case in point, The Desperate Trail. 3/10
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Dire
Desperate is the right word to describe this awful western. I agree that the variety of weapons used in the film showed a good knowledge of that era, but Please! Read more
Published 3 months ago by gejdel
Only for the masochists
I am one of those masochists who watched this film into the end. I guess it is meant to be some kind of tragedy, but for me it was simply a pointless one. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Markku Ojanen
A great letdown!!!
I bought this film on the basis of the overall reviews on Amazon and i wanted a Western with Sam Elliot featuring as i usually enjoy his performances. Read more
Published 13 months ago by B. D. Compton
good value
its an ok western but very slow to start but does have a story to it and at the price is good slightly dissapointing from sam elliott who was in my opinon was born to play a... Read more
Published 16 months ago by yid
Strictly for Sam Elliott fans!
This is not one of Sam Elliott's best westerns , but its far from his worst (if indeed one such exists! Read more
Published 20 months ago by DoDo Fan
.......hits the dust
I think I can honestly say this must be one of the worst westerns I have seen.Being a fervent fan of Sam Elliott I felt really let down that he would put his name to this film.
Published 24 months ago by Jaxx
Good Western
If you like Sam Elliott you will like this film The Desperate Trail.It is a very good western
Published on 27 Mar 2009 by Mr. B. A. Rodwell
Ol but not the best
The Desperate Trail is generally a well made film. Not too sure about the plot and story line, good acting. Over the top violence.
Published on 30 Oct 2008 by "Smith" Reader
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
