Hard Ground (2003) (TV)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Frank Q. Dobbs

Writers (WGA):

Frank Q. Dobbs (written by) &
David S. Cass Sr. (written by)

Release Date:

12 July 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Plot:

Billy Bucklin escapes while being transported to Yuma prison and plans to form an army of desperadoes to control the Mexican border...

Plot Keywords:

Mexican Border | Dynamite | Pardon | Stagecoach Robbery | Jailbreak

Cast

Burt Reynolds	...	John 'Chill' McKay
Bruce Dern	...	Sheriff Hutch Hutchinson
Amy Jo Johnson	...	Elizabeth Kennedy
Seth Peterson	...	Joshua
David Figlioli	...	Billy Bucklin
Martin Kove	...	Floyd
Larry Hankin	...	Toothless
Michael Shamus Wiles	...	Mundo
Bill Henderson	...	Junior Gunn
Sergio Calderón	...	General Jesus Navarro (as Sergio Calderon)
Randy Stripling	...	McMordy
David Atkinson	...	Deputy Dunlap
Edward Faulkner	...	Warden
David S. Cass Sr.	...	Pike (as David Cass Sr.)
Frank Sharp	...	Tall man

Runtime:

USA:120 min (including commercials) | Brazil:93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Netherlands:12 | Australia:PG | UK:PG | Australia:M (DVD rating)

Filming Locations:

Santa Clarita, California, USA

Company:

Hallmark Entertainment

Quotes:

[McKay refuses to join Billy after his gang has killed the men guarding the wagon in which they were being transported to prison]
Billy Bucklin: What about you?
John McKay: I'll see you in hell, Billy.
Billy Bucklin: Hell's bound to be a better place than Yuma prison.

The "Lonesome Dove" legend brought into the 20th Century...

The movie seems to be another one of Producer Robert Halmi Jr.'s "follow-up films" to his work in the legendary "Lonesome Dove" series, and, in fact, the time line of this film brings the entire Lonesome Dove era up and into the 20th Century (or just into the new century, in the year 1901).

The pursuit of Billy Bucklin aside, the movie does have a similar Lonesome Dove feel to it, especially when it comes to the unfinished relationship of John McKay and Joshua - similar to that of Woodruff Call and Newt in the first Lonesome Dove film.

However, while not directly related to the story's ending, the film does illustrate how individuals in that period of American history, similar to men like Call - and McKay and Hutchinson - were now discovering in their later years, that their feelings for the American West had become ironically similar to those of the Native Americans they helped to displace - that the wild, unclaimed vast landscape, much to their sadness or even anger, had begun to disappear into history.

Unfortunately, viewers who decided to abandon the last few minutes of this film (once the gunfire ended) missed McKay's parting words on this subject, which might give meaning to many older Americans who feel similarly when it comes to life 100 years later, in the early 21st Century...