DWD's Reviews

More of a portrait, less of a traditional movie Monte Walsh is not a plot-driven movie so much as it is a portrait of that moment in time when the Old West was disappearing and the men who made the Old West what it was had to adjust, die or just fade away. It is beautifully shot and there is a lot of attention to detail. If one is looking for a ton of action, this is not the western you are looking for. But, if you love cowboy movies this one is a real treat. It would make the watcher wistful for those days when the horse ruled the west, except that you know that Monte Walsh would have none of that pointless sentiment. No living actor looks more like a cowboy should than Tom Selleck and I'd be thrilled if he focused on those movies for the rest of his career. I rate this movie 4 stars out of 5. This movie can be found on Amazon.com here: Monte Walsh . Reviewed on October 4, 2004.

Fantastic cast, poorly written 1979 movie with two main plot lines that barely interact If I told you I had a western based on Louis L'Amour books starring Glenn Ford, Ben Johnson, Tom Selleck and Sam Elliott with Slim Pickens and Jack Elam as supporting actors you'd think you'd found yourself a piece of cinematic gold. Well, you'd be dead wrong in the case of Louis L'Amour's The Sacketts. Sam Elliott is the eldest Sackett brother who is living in Purgatorie, a piece of God-forsaken mountainous wasteland in what must be northern New Mexico. Tom Selleck and Jeff Osterhage are two younger brothers who become cowhands and later sheriff and deputy of Santa Fe. The two plot lines interact only twice - once to hand the Ben Johnson character off from Tom Selleck to Sam Elliott (Johnson is great, as always, playing second fiddle and making every scene he's in better) and in the climactic fight scene that ends the movie. The Sam Elliott plotline is the best ...