...are the strengths of this muddled movie. And the soundtrack is reasonably good, too. The gunfight between the cattle rustlers and Jet and two of the Polson boys provides some dandy footage of cowboys ridin' and shootin' - not to mention the nice stunt work during the horseback tussle between Jet and Dude. Otherwise you should avoid it.
The plot is a variation on the old Hatfields and McCoys feud. In this variant, however, one of the families is, itself, also split into two factions, and the pater familias of the other family buggy whips and banishes his daughter. Oddly, the Polsons even call themselves "hill people," reflecting a social milieu and jargon straight out of Appalachia and foreign to the Old West. The dialog is full of other, similar oddities and apparent anachronisms. Most of the characters are not well-defined or well-portrayed. Derek's character is especially unsympathetic, and his acting is pure wooden bravado without any nuance. When he tells Judy that he has just been making a play for Alice in order to embarrass his uncle, it comes as a totally incredible fabrication.
As one commentator already noted, the anticipated gunfight between Jet and The Major is at first delayed by some pseudo-romantic exposition and then finished with other anti- climactic interruptions from a hired gun and a raving lawyer.
Easily the best scene is apparently unscripted. The sight of Jet wheeling his horse into Dude, whacking him on the head with the horse's mouth is just about the only thing in this movie that seems genuine.
The plot is a variation on the old Hatfields and McCoys feud. In this variant, however, one of the families is, itself, also split into two factions, and the pater familias of the other family buggy whips and banishes his daughter. Oddly, the Polsons even call themselves "hill people," reflecting a social milieu and jargon straight out of Appalachia and foreign to the Old West. The dialog is full of other, similar oddities and apparent anachronisms. Most of the characters are not well-defined or well-portrayed. Derek's character is especially unsympathetic, and his acting is pure wooden bravado without any nuance. When he tells Judy that he has just been making a play for Alice in order to embarrass his uncle, it comes as a totally incredible fabrication.
As one commentator already noted, the anticipated gunfight between Jet and The Major is at first delayed by some pseudo-romantic exposition and then finished with other anti- climactic interruptions from a hired gun and a raving lawyer.
Easily the best scene is apparently unscripted. The sight of Jet wheeling his horse into Dude, whacking him on the head with the horse's mouth is just about the only thing in this movie that seems genuine.