Susan Granger’s review of “Monte Walsh” (TNT made-for-television movie – 1/17/02)
Tom Selleck saddles up for a colorful, character-driven Western, “Monte Walsh,” which premieres on TNT this weekend. As a genre, the Western movie celebrates its 100th year anniversary in 2003, since Edwin S. Porter’s “The Great Train Robbery,” widely believed to be the first narrative film as well as the first Western, was produced in 1903. Based on a novel by Jack Schaefer (“Shane”) and set in the last decade of the 1800s, “Monte Walsh” is the saga of a dying breed: the American cowboy. The epic story begins as Old West bronco-rider/cowhand, Monte Walsh (Tom Selleck) returns from the yearly round-up and discovers that Eastern corporations are gobbling up Western grazing land with little regard for the men and women who live and work there. Reluctantly, he’s plunged into the 20th century, experiencing first-hand the seismic changes that new technology, particularly the Union Pacific Railroad, has introduced. Proud but disillusioned and desperate, cowboys like Monte – who have no home or family, earning $25 a month while buying their own horse and gear – are forced into a life-or-death struggle for survival. The stalwart supporting cast includes Isabella Rossellini, Keith Carradine, George Eads, William Devane, Barry Corbin, James Gammon and Wallace Shawn. “Monte Walsh” re-teams Selleck with producer/writer Michael Brandman and director Simon Wincer, whose “Louis L’Amour’s Crossfire Trail” is still the highest-rated movie in basic cable history. On the Granger Made-for-TV Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Monte Walsh” is a bittersweet 8. See it Fri., Sat. or Sunday at 8 p.m. on TNT with scheduled encores on Jan. 25, 26 and 29. If you love Westerns, don’t miss this compelling feature film.
