The Journeyman (2001)

Director:

James Crowley

Writer:

James Crowley (writer)

Genre:

Western

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Brad Hunt	...	Morphinist
Daniel Lapaine	...	Journeyman
Dash Mihok	...	Walter P. Higgs III
Arie Verveen	...	Horace Marywell
Barry Corbin	...	Charlie Ledbetter
Assumpta Serna	...	Cleopatra
Burton Gilliam	...	Silas Bishop
John Beasley	...	Cleofas
León Singer	...	Lucio Buenstro (as Leon Singer)
Christopher Dahlberg	...	Dixie Little (as Chris Dahlberg)
Willie Nelson	...	Samuel Hancock
Joe Stevens	...	Ezechiel Gore
Octavia Spencer	...	Black Belly (as Octavia Spenser)
Boots Southerland	...	Doc (as Boots Sutherland)
Daniel Grant	...	Bartender

MPAA:

Rated R for violence.

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

USA:R

Filming Locations:

Lajitas Resort - FM 170, Big Bend, Texas, USA

Company:

Harbinger Pictures

Quotes:

Horace Marywell: You know there's some serious drinkin' and killin' that goes on in that good book of yours.

I give it two and a half indifferent shrugs.

Some good ideas and a pretty impressive score made this a movie I didn't mind sitting through late one night when it came on the Westerns channel.

Problems include an entirely passive "hero" who does absolutely nothing (in fact only the villain does anything, really), and some characters who are introduced only to be forgotten. But Barry Corbin is a beloved character actor, and I found Dash Mihok relatively charismatic in his role as a double-crossed, repentant bank robber. Daniel Lapaine, as the protagonist (I guess), is pretty much a cold fish, and sticking out like he does is no easy task with some of the other awkward actors put to work in this movie. Any energy the movie has comes from Brad Hunt as the pseudo-antagonist and, to a lesser extent, the aforementioned Dash Mihok and Barry Corbin. Willie Nelson's presence on the bill made me wary initially, but he has a very small, brief role, for which I'm grateful (I love Willie as much as the next Texan, but his presence only ever serves to take me out of a movie).

The score had a cool 1970s horror feel to it, and the idea of a morphine addicted outlaw is pretty fresh. Unfortunately the movie forgets to have a second and third act, the entire movie being a fairly linear chase with plenty of sub-plots (and potential sub-plots) not paying off one bit. However, with the drought of modern westerns stretching on, beggars can't be choosers, wasted potential or not. Now if only I could find that neato score...