Conagher is a 1991 Turner Network Television western film based on a Louis L’Amour novel of the same name, starring Sam Elliott as Conn Conagher, an honest, hardworking cowboy who learns that his fellow ranch hands plan to steal the boss's cattle. Katharine Ross, Elliott’s wife since 1984, stars as Mrs. Evie Teale, who tries to raise a son (Cody Braun) and a daughter (Anndi McAfee) on an isolated homestead after her husband, Jacob Teale (Billy Green Bush), leaves on a business trip and tragically never returns.[1] Evie adjusts well to the wilderness: "You don't know what music is until you hear the wind in the cedars."[2]
The film features Elliott’s friend Buck Taylor, formerly the gunsmith-turned-deputy on CBS’s long-running Gunsmoke, as Tile Coker, a rider for the Ladder Five Ranch. Pepe Serna, a native of Corpus Christi, played Casuse, another Ladder Five rider. Rugged James Gammon plays Smoke Parnell, the owner of the Ladder Five, who is suspected of rustling. Buck Taylor’s father, character actor Dub Taylor (1907-1994), plays the station agent.[1]
Ken Curtis (1916-1991) plays an elderly but prosperous rancher, Seaborn Tay, fearful of losing his assets to the rustlers. This was Curtis’ last acting part; he died just weeks after Conagher finished production. Curtis had also costarred with Buck Taylor as Deputy Festus Haggen on Gunsmoke. Tay (Curtis) tells Conagher (Elliott), “Well, I'm up into my 70s . . . got a bum kicker to boot. I was kind of hoping to just live out my days and not die out on some sandy slope with lead in my guts. If they get me out on that range, they'll kill me for sure. And then just take my cattle as they please... with nobody to stop 'em.”[2]
Barry Corbin, who at the time 'Conagher was filmed, was starring with Rob Morrow on CBS’s Northern Exposure, plays the helpful stagecoach driver, Charlie McCloud, who retained Evie’s cooking services for his passengers until a new depot is completed elsewhere. Charlie still comes by on occasion to check on Evie and the children, considering the danger of the wilderness.[1] Charlie advises Evie to “keep a close lookout for Indians, ma'am. They ain't been troublesome lately, but you never can tell when they might start up again. Never give 'em anything. They take that as a sign of fear. Make 'em trade. They cotton to that.[2]
By the end of the film, Conagher decides to stay, presumably permanently, with Evie and the children and end his wandering ways, which he describes as "tumbleweed fever".[1]
Ellott was the producer of Conagher, and Reynaldo Villalobos was the director. The teleplay was developed by Jeffrey M. Meyer. Elliott was nominated for a Golden Globe award for his Conagher role but lost out to Beau Bridges. The 94-minute picture was filmed about the Royal Gorge and Buckskin Joe Frontier Town and Railway in Canon City in south central Colorado.[1]
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