Montana Sky (2007) (TV)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Mike Robe

Writers (WGA):

April Smith (teleplay)
Nora Roberts (novel)

Release Date:

5 February 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | Thriller | Western

Plot:

The wealthy stock dealer bequeaths his Montana farm to the three daughters provided they would live there together at least for a year. |

Plot Keywords:

Western U.S. | Canada | Male Female Relationship | Rocky Mountains | Based On Novel

Cast

Ashley Williams	...	Willa
Charlotte Ross	...	Tess
Diane Ladd	...	Bess
Laura Mennell	...	Lily
Nathaniel Arcand	...	Adam
Aaron Pearl	...	Nate
Tom Carey	...	Jim
John Corbett	...	Ben
Scott Heindl	...	Jesse Carne
James Baker	...	Ham
Donovan Workun	...	Pickles
Stephen Hair	...	Ken Campbell
James D. Hopkin	...	Preacher
Heather Lea MacCallum	...	Coroner
James Dugan	...	Vet

Also Known As:

Nora Roberts' Montana Sky (Australia) (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

USA:96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:TV-PG | Netherlands:12 | Singapore:PG | Australia:M | Argentina:Atp | Germany:12 (DVD rating)

Filming Locations:

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Company:

Lifetime Television

Goofs:

Continuity: When Tess is applying gauze to Adam's wound, the close up shot has her wearing latex gloves. As the view switches to a long shot she is not wearing gloves, then as the camera moves in, she is pulling gloves on.

Quotes:

Willa: I told you I don't know how to dance.
Ben: Someone leads, someone follows. We'll figure it out.

Couldn't do it

I wondered how they were going to pack all of Roberts' truly great 'Montana Sky' into two hours. Sad to say, they couldn't.

The basic premise packed three relationships, four, counting the sisters themselves, over a year's time, along with all the mysterious happenings within that period. Only the barest of bones of the story were touched on and even those were rewritten and reworked. Other than the names of the characters, hardly anything, including the events, how they unfolded, and how they were resolved, resembled the original story.

As to the actors: Both Laura Mennell as 'Lila' and Charlotte Ross as 'Tess' fit the concept I had of them, but although Ashely Williams did a wonderful job, I couldn't see her as the 'Willa' I imagined in the book. I so adore John Corbett, he was one of the reasons I looked forward to the movie. He had the perfect personality for 'Ben', though in real life he's a good ten years or more older than the character he portrayed. I guess it made sense that 'Nate's' occupation was changed from lawyer to sheriff and Aaron Pearl was good in the re-scripted role. Nathaniel Arcand played a convincing 'Adam'.

I couldn't help but think as I read 'Montana Sky', then watched it, that the novel would have been much better adapted to a mini-series. It would have allowed the characters and the events to be fleshed out and evolve as they deserved. In comparison, Angels Fall made a much better transition from book to screen in that it didn't have as much ground to cover and could afford to have some parts dropped without losing the essence of the story.