Main Cast: Robert Duvall, Thomas Haden Church, Greta Scacchi, Chris Mulkey, Rusty Schwimmer
Release Year: 2006
Country: US
Run Time: 184 minutes
Plot
Sideways star Thomas Hayden Church appears alongside Academy Award-winner Robert Duvall in a dramatic mini-series shot in the classic western tradition. The year is 1897. As Print Ritter (Duvall) and his estranged nephew Tom Harte (Church) travel the slow road to reconciliation, they reluctantly find themselves forced to care for five abused and abandoned Chinese immigrants while simultaneously attempting to deliver a herd of horses across the plains. Soon confronted by a gang of malevolent kidnappers who intend to abduct the girls and use them for the own nefarious purposes, Print and Tom determine to keep their young charges out of harms way while ensuring that their valuable delivery reaches its intended destination. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Chris Mulkey - Big Ears Bywaters; Rusty Schwimmer - Big Rump Kate; Gwendoline Yeo - Sun Foy; Scott Allen Cooper; Todd Allen; James Russo; Olivia Cheng; Donald Fong; Valerie Tian; Caroline Chan; Kristianna Wong
Credit
Walter Hill - Director, Robert Duvall - Executive Producer, Rob Carliner - Executive Producer, Stanley M. Brooks - Executive Producer, Walter Hill - Producer, Ronald Parker - Producer, Mike Frislev - Producer, Chad Oakes - Producer, Damien Ganczewski - Producer, Alan Geoffrion - Producer, Alan Geoffrion - Screenwriter
The screenplay for Broken Trail was written by Alan Geoffrion, who also wrote the novel of the same name.[1] Novelist and screenwriter Alan Geoffrion weaves together two facts — British were buying horses in the American West in the late 1800s and Chinese women were being transported from the West Coast to the interior to serve as prostitutes — along with a series of Western vignettes.
Set in 1898, the film concerns Prentice "Print" Ritter (Robert Duvall), an aging cowboy who wants to buy a ranch of his own. To accomplish this, he agrees to transport 500 mustangs from Oregon to Wyoming, where he will sell them to the British Army. He recruits his estranged nephew, Tom Harte (Thomas Haden Church), to join him, hoping to reconnect with him on the ride.
What starts out as a simple horse drive is complicated when Print and Tom encounter a particularly vile slaver who is transporting five Chinese girls to a lawless mining town, where they will face a life of prostitution and indentured servitude. Compelled to do the right thing, Print and Tom rescue the women and take them in, but as they continue their perilous trek across the frontier, they are tailed by a vicious gang of outlaws sent by the whorehouse madam who originally paid for the girls.
The miniseries received generally favorable reviews from critics. As of August 7, 2007, the film had a score of 78 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 15 reviews. Charlie McCollum of the San Jose Mercury News called it "the finest purely American TV film to come along in some time."[2] Allison Benedikt of the Chicago Tribune said it was "a gorgeous piece of cinema."[3] Alessandra Stanley of The New York Times said it was "not as well written or compelling as Lonesome Dove, but Mr. Duvall brings an earthy believability to even the most plodding lines."[4] The miniseries received 16 nominations at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards, having the second most overall nominations. It received one less nomination than another film set in America in the late nineteenth century, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.
