**_Western set in the modern day with Charlton Heston and Peter Strauss_** When it’s learned that the patriarch of a ranch in the wilderness north of Los Angeles has about six months to live (Heston), his disowned son from Paris (Strauss) comes to visit at the mother’s request (Nan Martin). The cause of the separation from fifteen years earlier had to do with the Vietnam War. Can they patch things up before it’s too late? Alan Autry is on hand as the tough foreman of the ranch. “Proud Men” (1987) has been described as “On Golden Pond at a Ranch,” but it’s more of a Western set at a Southwest ranch in modern times. Sure, it involves heavy family drama, but there’s lots of cowboy-oriented stuff too, like riding and camping in the hills, great bronco action and even a saloon brouhaha. The combination of quality human interest and the Western milieu works, especially with the acting chops of Heston, Strauss and the other principles. Belinda Balaski appears as the son’s old girlfriend, working as a barmaid. You might remember her from “Piranha” and “The Howling.” Both she and Strauss were 39 during shooting. Heston was 63, but acted older. He definitely wasn’t his spry old self. The aforementioned human interest is highlighted by the differing perspectives of America’s involvement in the Vietnam situation. As noble as the patriarch’s position is, the son certainly has a point in his. For instance, does swearing to defend your country make it okay to shoot unarmed female citizens and babies? Furthermore, how exactly does fighting for democracy and capitalism in a nation on the other side of the globe have anything to do with “defending your country”? I’m just giving you a taste. It runs about 1 hour, 32 minutes, and was shot at Rancho Maria and Sable Ranch, which is just east of Santa Clarita, a 40-minute drive north of Hollywood. GRADE: B+/A-
Two friends hired to police a small town that is suffering under the rule of a rancher find their job complicated by the arrival of a young widow.
Retired wealthy sea captain Jim McKay arrives in the Old West, where he becomes embroiled in a feud between his future father-in-law, Major Terrill, and the rough and lawless Hannasseys over a valuable patch of land.
Set in northern Australia before World War II, an English aristocrat who inherits a sprawling ranch reluctantly pacts with a stock-man in order to protect her new property from a takeover plot. As the pair drive 2,000 head of cattle over unforgiving landscape, they experience the bombing of Darwin by Japanese forces firsthand.
A rancher comes home and finds that his son has been murdered and his daughter kidnapped by a bandit gang. He hires a professional tracker with a reputation for finding his quarry to help him find the gang and rescue his daughter.
In early 20th-century Montana, Col. William Ludlow lives on a ranch in the wilderness with his sons, Alfred, Tristan, and Samuel. Eventually, the unconventional but close-knit family are bound by loyalty, tested by war, and torn apart by love, as told over the course of several decades in this epic saga.
Emilio Fernandez directs Dolores Del Rio and Pedro Armendariz in a classic tale of family and obsession. Raimunda's daughter Acacia hates her stepfather Esteban, and in order to escape her suffocating home life she's accepted a marriage proposal from a man she doesn't even love. But Esteban has become obsessed with Acacia, and in order to ensure that she doesn't leave he's plotting to murder the girl's unsuspecting fiancée. As Esteban's true nature emerges, mother and daughter must band together to support one another and make sure that their family bond remains strong even in the darkest of times.
A renowned former army scout is hired by ranchers to hunt down rustlers but finds himself on trial for the murder of a boy when he carries out his job too well. Tom Horn finds that the simple skills he knows are of no help in dealing with the ambitions of ranchers and corrupt officials as progress marches over him and the old west.
A father and son go on the run after the dad learns his child possesses special powers.
Wealthy rancher Bick Benedict and dirt-poor cowboy Jett Rink both woo Leslie Lynnton, a beautiful young woman from Maryland who is new to Texas. She marries Benedict, but she is shocked by the racial bigotry of the White Texans against the local people of Mexican descent. Rink discovers oil on a small plot of land, and while he uses his vast, new wealth to buy all the land surrounding the Benedict ranch, the Benedict's disagreement over prejudice fuels conflict that runs across generations.
The mother of a severely traumatized daughter enlists the aid of a unique horse trainer to help the girl's equally injured horse.
When attacked by two dogs, Joe Gilmore leaves them on the desert to die. Later one of the dogs saves John Blake from drowning. Men arrive claiming the dog is killing their chickens. They want to kill the dog but John convinces them the dog's fate should be determined by a trial.