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Western Heroes Arrives
of TheColumnists.com
Last time I saw Luke Perry, he was riding off into the sunset on a motorcycle in an episode of "Beverly Hills, 90210." He was, at the time, the quintessential American young tough guy TV-hero figure. Teen-age girls were dying to meet him and kiss the cuffs of his jeans.
So, I'll admit it was a bit jarring to see Luke ride back from the sunset a decade or so later, this time on a horse, trail weary and dust-covered, to find outlaws had just murdered his wife and son in their frontier home.
Whoa! Luke Perry in a western? Well, yes, and, believe it or not, it works pretty well.
For that matter, brace yourself for this: Would you believe the menacing "man in black" he has to face in a shootout is none other than C. Thomas Howell, the poetic "Pony Boy" from that 1983 teen opus "The Outsiders"? Yes, indeed. Now 43, Howell looks lean and mean and you don't think for a moment he's quick-drawing any cap gun.
Both one-time teen raves are starring in "A Gunfighter's Pledge," a new made-for-TV western that premieres Saturday, July 5, at 9 p.m. on cable's The Hallmark Channel. (Check your local TV guide for exact times and playdates in your area.)
The film also features an impressive supporting performance by Francesco Quinn, the son of two-time Oscar winner Anthony Quinn, who made many westerns himself. Quinn plays a crooked sheriff and gets his teeth into it pretty nicely.
With the western virtually dead as a genre on the big screen, TV is the only hope for western fans in the 21st century. Cable channels like Hallmark and TNT are the only ones still in the western business. With almost all the old cowboy stars either dead, retired or no longer making westerns, there isn't much choice for networks except to develop new wesstern stars. If you can't get Tom Selleck or Sam Elliott to saddle up for you, the only choice is to see what happens if you put a couple of 40something former teen stars on a horse and let them have a go at it.
In this case, it's not as goofy as it might sound. Perry proved he's no dude when he played bull rider Lane Frost in the movie "8 Seconds" and did most of his own rodeo stunts. As for Howell, don't laugh, but he grew up in rodeo. He was California Junior Rodeo All-Around Champion in 1980-81. These young men are the real thing, cowboy-wise.
And, hey, let's be fair: Even some of the legendary western stars of the Golden Age came from amusingly non-western roles before earning their spurs on the lone prairie. Randolph Scott was in musicals, playing tubby Kate Smith's boy friend in "Hello Everybody" and co-starred with Astaire and Rogers in "Roberta" and "Follow the Fleet." Joel McCrea made his debut as a playboy in "Dynamite" and starred in such non-westerns as "Born to Love," "Girls About Town" and "Rockabye" before becoming a cowboy star. Henry Fonda and James Stewart were urban playboys in many of their 1930s films and check out Sam Elliott in "Lifeguard," the 1976 film that made him a star--playing a hunk in bathing trunks!
In the story for "A Gunfighter's Pledge," which doesn't exactly cut any new ground for westerns, Perry is Sheriff Matt Austin. When he learns that gunmen have killed the lawmen taking a notorious outlaw to trial and set the outlaw free, he leaves his wife and son behind and rides out to track the badmen. But they've doubled back in hopes of helping the outlaw revenge himself on Sheriff Matt, the man who arrested him. When the bad guys find the sheriff has left, they murder his family and figure the debt is paid.
But, as Gabby Hayes, might say: "Well, it shore ain't. What in tarnation are you thinking?"
Tossing his badge aside, Sheriff Austin starts his own blood vendetta against the men who killed his wife and son. Along the way, he kills an innocent man by mistake and, in order to make up for it, he stops to help the man's wife and son battle the villainious Horn (Howell), who wants to take over their land. Somehow things all work out and Austin even discovers the men he's after are working for Horn.
"A Gunfighter's Pledge" is actually a fairly violent movie by Hallmark standards. People get shot and you see wounds. Guns made louder bangs than usual and people suffer. As westerns go, this is no "High Noon" or even "Joe Kidd," which has a similar vengeance theme. But it's a western and it's reasonably well done, so you won't be disappointed if you love the genre as I do.
Hallmark has more westerns in the pipeline, so it's not yet time to call the coroner for the genre. And if either Luke Perry or C. Thomas Howell want to do a few more, I'll be happy to watch them.
©2008 by Ron Miller. The photos are courtesy of The Hallmark Channel. This column first posted June 30, 2008.
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