With some good acting, this movie might have been a B flick. As it is, it fails miserably. The plot isn't too bad - man's wife and son are savaged and killed by local tyrants while he is thrown in prison, he escapes and exacts revenge. This movie has some truly great names - Billy Zane, Carol Alt, Sean Young, George Kennedy, Armand Assante - but the acting is wooden. Worst of all, a soap opera actor, Eric Braeden, is the star, and he couldn't have been more off the mark.
I thought my TV volume was turned down every time Braeden spoke and I reached for the remote to turn it up, but it turned out he was mumbling every time he spoke. He not only mumbled, he barely whispered, and it was nasal to boot. It was so stupid as to be ridiculous, the most annoying and ridiculous voice I've ever heard. Who ever heard of a mumbling hero in a post-Civil War western? I couldn't even tell what he said most of the time.
And it was clearly a deliberately contrived act, the mumbling hero was supposed to be all macho like Clint Eastwood or something. Truly stupid. If it wasn't for the gratuitous nudity, the movie would have been worthless. And if that weren't bad enough, the black slave living in Braeden's home was a mumbler too! They just don't make them like they used to.
I thought my TV volume was turned down every time Braeden spoke and I reached for the remote to turn it up, but it turned out he was mumbling every time he spoke. He not only mumbled, he barely whispered, and it was nasal to boot. It was so stupid as to be ridiculous, the most annoying and ridiculous voice I've ever heard. Who ever heard of a mumbling hero in a post-Civil War western? I couldn't even tell what he said most of the time.
And it was clearly a deliberately contrived act, the mumbling hero was supposed to be all macho like Clint Eastwood or something. Truly stupid. If it wasn't for the gratuitous nudity, the movie would have been worthless. And if that weren't bad enough, the black slave living in Braeden's home was a mumbler too! They just don't make them like they used to.