"Broken Trail" (2006) TV mini-series

Director:

Walter Hill

Writer (WGA):

Alan Geoffrion (written by)

Release Date:

25 June 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Plot:

Set in 1898, Print Ritter and his estranged nephew Tom Harte become the reluctant guardians of five abused and abandoned Chinese girls...

Plot Keywords:

Chinese Girl | Nephew | Murder | TV Mini-Series | Rocky Mountains

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Golden Globes. Another 9 wins & 19 nominations

Cast

Robert Duvall	...	Prentice Ritter
Thomas Haden Church	...	Tom Harte
Greta Scacchi	...	Nola Johns
Gwendoline Yeo	...	Sun Foy 'aka' #3
Chris Mulkey	...	Big Ears
Rusty Schwimmer	...	Big Rump Kate
Scott Cooper	...	Gilpin
Valerie Tian	...	Ging Wa 'aka' #5
Caroline Chan	...	Mai Ling 'aka' #2
Olivia Cheng	...	Ye Fung 'aka' #4
Jadyn Wong	...	Ghee Moon 'aka' #1
Donald Fong	...	Lung Hay
James Russo	...	Captain Billy Fender
Todd Allen	...	Marshall Bill Miller
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bill Baksa	...	Store Clerk
Dusty Bews	...	Fly Fisherman
Morris Birdyellowhead	...	Fox-Hide Brine
Duncan Fraser	...	Moncrieffe
Philip Granger	...	Chuck Hyde
Shaun Johnston	...	Small Pox Bob
Sandy Kellerman	...	(voice)
Greg Lawson	...	Bartender
Scarlett Li	...	Additional Voices (voice)
William Marquez	...	Valentín Ugalde
Stephen E. Miller	...	Cariboo Clerk
Donnelly Rhodes	...	Stagecoach Driver
Pat Richards	...	Cowboy Vick
Peter Skagen	...	Dink Yeatman
Patricia Stutz	...	English Rose
Xuefeng Tan	...	Makeup girl in opening scene (red clothing)

Also Known As:

Daughters of Joy (Canada: English title) (working title)

Runtime:

184 min (2 parts)

Country:

Canada | USA

Language:

English | Mandarin | Crow

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | Germany:12 | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Company:

Butcher's Run Films

Goofs:

Continuity: After the final gun fight when they are standing in the barn, Print has his left arm around two of the girls and Nola is standing to their right. When the camera angle changes, Nola is now standing between the girls with her arms around them.

Quotes:

Prentice Ritter: Without marriage and women we'd all have been drunk, shot ourselves to death, or died of the clap.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Broken Trail: The Making of a Legendary Western (2006) (TV)

"We're all travelers in this world… Birth till death… We travel between the eternities…"

The film opens in Chinatown San Francisco, 1898 where we five exotic virgins from the Celestial Empire are bought by Captain Billy Fender (James Russo) to be sold as slaves and introduced into the brief and violent life of prostitution…

Robert Duvall stars as "Print" Ritter, an old cowhand whose sister left a will inheriting all to him rather than to her own son, Tom Harte (Thomas Haden Church) who lives in John Day Country Oregon...

Print ignores why she has done it, or why was crossed between the two, but his sister done it…

Print got the idea to buy a team of tough, high-desert mustangs—three to eight years of age—to take them to Sheridan, Wyoming to sell to the British Empire; the money they'll earn will be to increase their capital… And on the shares, Print figures a 25-75 split on profits after expenses and loan repayment to the bank…

From this point, Hill's Western becomes a road movie, with all kinds of odd characters, from ugly villains to a friendly musician, but the key to "Broken Trail" is that through a series of circumstances, fate has placed the five Chinese innocent girls in the hands of Tom and his uncle… But the reality is another… Their families sold them to that rat captain heading out to the mining camp, where Kate, an odious saloon owner, bought them from an associate in San Francisco…

Our two cowboys save the girls' lives from rape and take them along on their journey…

With great photography, gorgeous vistas, perilous ground, sensible brave girls, good and decidedly courageous men, great action when it is necessary, and a big confrontation at the climax of the movie, Hill's Western is a must see film for the fans of the genre…