Crossfire Trail [DVD] [2001] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

Filmed in Calgary, Alberta, the scenery and many horses are beautiful and David Eggby's cinematography makes the most of it, and Eric Colvin's atmospheric, melodic score adds so much to the film. Simon Wincer's direction is well paced (Wincer worked with Selleck in "Quigley Down Under"), but the bottom line is the script, by Charles Robert Carner, which is way above average for the genre, and being made for TV, is free of the foul language that has permeated films in this age, and makes it excellent family viewing.
Total running time is 95 minutes.

CROSSFIRE TRAIL opens aboard a merchant vessel off the California coast in the 1870s. Rafe Covington (Selleck) is comforting a dying pal, beaten to death by the sadistic captain. After promising to look after the man's wife and ranch, and kicking the bandini out of the ship's master, we next see Rafe riding through the magnificent mountain scenery that is ostensibly Wyoming. Upon arrival at the ranch, Rafe finds the place deserted. In the nearby town, Covington discovers the widow, Ann Rodney (Virginia Madsen), under the benevolent spell of smooth talkin' Bruce Barkow (Mark Harmon), the local VIP who holds the mortgage on the ranch and pretty much rules the local rubes with his band of armed good ol' boys. (Where have we seen this before? SHANE, PALE RIDER, and THE QUICK AND THE DEAD.) Barkow is more suave and better dressed than most villains of the ilk. As Rafe notes, Ann likes Bruce because "he has manners and smells nice". In any case, the Wider Rodney doesn't believe Rafe's version of events, but accepts Barkow's story that her husband was killed by Injuns on his way back from San Francisco. It's quite obvious that Barkow covets Ann and her land, which has pools of oil on it. The conflict is, of course, between Covington and Barkow, and the hired pistolero that the latter imports from, of all places, Kansas. (SHANE and PALE RIDER also had pistol packin' hit men.)

Because the plot of CROSSFIRE TRAIL offered no surprises at all, I was tempted to award only three stars. However, playing the stolid, principled and reluctant gunfighter is Selleck's forte, and he does it as well as The Duke, Alan Ladd, or Gary Cooper ever did. Harmon is particularly oily as the charming Barkow, and there's a crusty performance by the aging Wilford Brimley, one of my favorite character actors, as Joe, Ann's ex-ranch hand. And it was good to see Barry Corbin as Barkow's toady Sheriff Moncrieff. (Corbin was Chris Cooper's deputy in LONESOME DOVE.) So, I'm awarding a reluctant four stars.

The scenery is absolutely gorgeous, and mated to an uplifting score. I was all set to saddle-up for Wyoming when the credits rolled and informed me that the film was shot in Calgary, Alberta, and at the Western Studio and Backlot, which, according to its website, is 35 minutes west of the city. Hummph! Pretty soon they'll be pretending it's Tombstone's OK Corral with Mt. Fuji in the background. At least SHANE had the Grand Tetons.