When his big screen career began to flounder in the 1990s with movies like Mr. Baseball and the underrated Quigley Down Under, Tom Selleck returned in television, a domain he once dominated as Magnum P.I. He's made several TV films since then, but I would argue that his most memorable were a series of Westerns, including Crossfire Trail and Monte Walsh. The first of these Westerns was Last Stand at Saber River, based on a book by Elmore Leonard and featuring a solid cast with Selleck, Suzy Amis (Titanic), David Carradine (Kill Bill), Keith Carradine (Nashville), Harry Carey, Jr. (The Searchers), and a very young Haley Joel Osment (The Sixth Sense).
Paul Cable (Selleck) returns home from the Civil War to a world that thought him long dead. If he was hoping to return home to a blissful family life, he was sadly mistaken. His wife, Martha (Amis) resents him for leaving and is extremely bitter from having lost her baby to fever - all her pent-up anger is thrown in Cable's direction. To make matters worse, Cable's family ranch is overrun by the Kidston family, including sensible Vern (Keith Carradine), the belligerent Duane (David Carradine) and refined Lorraine (Tracey Needham). As if all this wasn't annoying enough, Confederate sympathizer Edward Janroe (David Dukes) is smuggling new and fancy rifles to the Confederacy and keeps hassling Cable to help him.
This all sounds like an interesting premise, but the film never lives up to its potential. Unlike Crossfire Trail (reviewed here), Saber River never really feels like anything other than a little TV movie, with blah blah writing and blah blah directing and for the most part even blah blah acting. Nothing is really developed as it should be. The Kidstons are set up to be interesting antagonists - Vern isn't bad - he's just trying to run a business, and Duane is just a little crazy in the head. But we hardly get to see Vern and Duane; instead we are treated to a random subplot about Lorraine trying to seduce Cable, a story thread that is dead on arrival and just a waste of time and logic. And Edward Janroe is such an annoying and unlikable character that I'm surprised he wasn't shot in the first 5 minutes. Ugh.
And I was surprised by the end - minor spoilers here - even though Cable has been shot in the gut during the climactic fight, he and his wife share their feelings and reconcile. I'm fine with that. But then Martha makes some subtle comment about the bedroom and the two walk into the house as the film fades to black, I assume for some makeup sex. Didn't he get shot?!?!? Why aren't you going to a doctor??!??!?!
Sigh. Anyway. So does the film get anything right? Of course, it does. Though most of the acting isn't that great, we do have a small collection of good performances in here, with Selleck leading the pack. He may not be Wayne or Eastwood, but he makes for a great cowboy. I also enjoyed Amis and both Carradines, especially David. I also like how the film handles the Civil War. Westerns are full of former Confederate heroes who now get a second chance at those 'Yankee bastards.' I rarely see it other way around and I'm not sure why that is. At first, I thought that was where Last Stand at Saber River was going, especially since Duane is a former Union officer. But that is not what happens. Part of Cable's guilt is not that he lost years away from his family because of the war; it's that he sacrificed so much for nothing because deep down, he knows he was fighting on the wrong side. And the script and Selleck's performance is very subtle on this point. It's intriguingly done.
But that's not a reason to see a whole movie. If you love Tom Selleck or Westerns, then check it out. For everyone else, I would definitely avoid it.
MVP:
Even though he is hardly in the movie, I have to say David Carradine. He makes an impression in a very small amount of screen time. Duane Kidston is an interesting character. Drummed out of the Union army, he is still obsessed with it - he always wears his uniform and even grows a beard that resembles Ulysses S. Grant's famous facial hair. Supposedly, he is sadistic, but his bark is really worse than his bite. They could have done so much more with this character and with Carradine. It is one of the film's biggest wasted opportunities. But I'll still give him MVP for his potential...
BEST LINE:
Cable: "I know one thing, I don't wanna live with a woman who don't like me. Think on it."
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