Crossfire Trail (DVD)

My favorite of the Louis L'amour book to movie adaptations. It's predictable and full of coincidence and the dialogue you can tell is from a book through the repeated use of certain phrases. But it IS predictable which is what you sometimes want. There is a good guy and a bad guy and a girl. In the end everything works out. My favorite scene is where Rafe fights two brothers in the street and wins. It's a good but of western action.

After suffering through Monte Walsh, Tom redeemed himself with this one. It still kills me that we have to pay extra to watch old movies.

It is an action-packed western with significant effects. Tom Selleck is at his best.

Great movie 👏👍

Crossfire Trail is yet another western brought to the screen from a story or novel by Louis L’Amour.Crossfire Trail has a familiar story for a western: The local wealthy Land Baron runs the town (not even the sheriff has the ‘nuts’ to stand up to the wealthy) and has manipulated the beautiful local widow into ‘owning’ her ranch property.Then, surprise, petroleum is found on the land by the drifter in town who explains to widow her dead husband has not been deceased for over a year. Someone’s lying to her (and the viewer knows who the greedy fibber is).Despite this predictable and, somewhat, sarcastic start to this review the first half of Crossfire Trail is very good with the movie’s first scene taking place on a—uncharacteristic example of a western—shipping vessel off the coast of California where Rafe Covington (Selleck) is on the verge of pummeling (very believably) the ships captain.“I’m gonna beat you to an inch of your life.’’Covington had just witnessed his friend die before his eyes, killed by the captain and his men.After the beating of the captain is complete Covington goes to shore (2 mates accompanying) and drifts into town promising to look after his friends widowed wife.Selleck, Virginia Madsen as the widow Rodney, David O’ Hara (real good as Irish friend) and Christian Kane (Leverage tv show) all give you someone to like and root for. Mark Harmon as Bruce the evil Land Baron with the smile you know you can’t trust slowly begins a steady rise in an over/the/top performance that is as amusing as it is dangerous. But, with the movie directed by Simon Wincer, and after working with Selleck and the great villain actor Alan Rickman in Quiqley Down Under, I began to seriously wonder why Director Wincer didn’t reel in The Evil Smiling Land Baron performance by Harmon. Harmon’s having too much fun (with himself) and his performance began to remind me of a cross between a campy combination of Rickman, especially, from Robin Hood Prince Of Thieves, as well as Terry O’Quinn in/as The Stepfather (without saying too much: think weddings…).Anyway, I purchased Crossfire Trail because I pretty much like seeing Virginia Madsen in anything she does (Fire With Fire (1986), Hotspot, Candy Man, American Gun (2002), actually wondering why she really wasn’t in many truly good movies but I will always stop to watch Her. Plus, I do just like to find a good western and I saw Selleck in The Sacketts (1979) earlier this year (2022) too.But, Crossfire Trail, though easy on the cinematography eyes, then suffers some from a decision by a hired gun (a typically good hammed up intimidating performance by Brad Johnson) that isn’t very logical: if he can shoot someone from 100 yards why not just shoot the one person you were hired to kill …?Well, anyways, Crossfire Trail has the predictably inevitable showdown (there’s The reason for The illogic) between the Land Baron bad guy and The Good Drifter’s undermanned trio (Wilfred Brimley good and almost unrecognizable with very llooong hair). Barry Corbin gets some good lines as the sheriff: ‘Not one of my shining moments.’ Corbin then gets the best, unexpected reaction to the otherwise predictable, final showdown shootout. By the way, I'll give you two guesses who gets to shoot the Evil Smiling Land Baron?All said Crossfire Trail does not fail to entertain and zips by at 95 minutes.4.2 stars. I’m happy to say the good outweighs the hammy humor.

I enjoyed watching this movie.

My husband bought this, it was a good movie.

Tom Selleck plays the lead character in "Crossfire Trail" a Louis L'Amour film, that draws together Wilford Brimley, David O'Hara, Barry Corbin, Christian Kane, Virginia Madsen, William Sanderson, Marshall R. Teague, Joanna Miles, Ken Pogue, Patrick Kilpatrick, Rex Linn, Daniel Parker, Brad Johnson, and Mark Harmon to make a western about honor, dishonor, justice, and injustice. Well, of course the bad guy is portrayed as despicable as possible so you as the viewer don't care how he meets his end, and the good guys are portrayed as civilized and talented, educated and Christian with integrity of character, and noble in thought or deed. This is the romantic fantasy we all have of the old west glory days, when unspoiled wilderness was freshly becoming tamed, and Native American Indians still had equality and respect among those who lived there. The story is predictable, stays on track, and ends exactly as it should, with the bad guys dead and all the good guys alive except for one (as final justification for the bad guys dead). "Crossfire Trail" is what I look for in a western, and Tom Selleck has yet to disappoint me in a western; as believable in this film as any I've seen him in. I happily give this film 5 stars, because it never fell short of what I bought it, and viewed it for. Attention to detail, authentic, a strong cast in the right fit for roles, solid performances, photography that never wavers, and easy to follow story that goes precisely as I was anticipating it would - who cares if the story is original or not. I recommend this film because it deserves it. Yes I know it was shot in Canada and says it is Wyoming. I enjoyed this film and want to buy "The Shadow Riders" next, because Tom Selleck and Sam Elliott are both in that one. In "Crossfire Trail" the more interesting metamorphosis of acting ability I saw was Barry Corbin who obviously has some versatility about him, his role in this film is quite different from when he was on "Northern Exposure." Although it is also a point well made that Mark Harmon also portrays a very, very convincing sorry waste of human skin. "Crossfire Trail" was a TV movie, and although violent in the sense of guns and killing, there is no nudity or sexual part to this film. I liked it just fine, anyway, without the "R" rated stuff - and enjoyed how the movie delivers just what it should.