Hardly original, taking elements from certain movies including Mad Max. The story in A Town Has Turned To Dust is about two classes of people trying to make a living on an earth which is almost uninhabitable and some reporter goes to earth to do a story about these people mining scrap metal. This movie is chucked full of morality and has the people looking within themselves and seeing what they've become. Some fairly big named actors could ruin their career by starring in an average made for TV movie like this but Ron Perlman seems to get away with it. Perlman is the only good thing about this movie so unless you are a total Perlman fan and need to see all his films i recommend you leave this alone and save 90 minutes of your life. Shame because with more money and a better story this film could have been good. 5/10
12 Reviews
YOU KNOW WHAT WE GOT TO DO
nogodnomasters23 June 2019
Warning: Spoilers
In the year 2250, the earth is uninhabitable with poisonous radioactive air. Most of the human population lives on asteroids. A company mines scrap metal on the planet utilizing the "Pokies" who apparently hail from Native American casino owners. The science fiction aspect was interesting, unfortunately they imposed an old story with the all too familiar twist.
Jerry Paul (Ron Perlman) is a strong arm bully who runs the operation. Harvey Denton (Stephen Lang) is the gutless sheriff who allows Jerry Paul to push him around. There is a shortage of water and hostility between the "Pokies"and the "humans." Jerry accuses Tommy Tall Bear (Zahn McClarnon) of raping his wife (Barbara Jane Reams) and forms a vigilante mob to make sure Tommy never reaches trial. At this point you can write the rest, including the twist.
Gabriel Olds plays a reporter doing a story on the operation. Other than infuse plot points with a boring monotone, he served no purpose.
This was a made for TV film, written by Rod Serling, who has done better.
Jerry Paul (Ron Perlman) is a strong arm bully who runs the operation. Harvey Denton (Stephen Lang) is the gutless sheriff who allows Jerry Paul to push him around. There is a shortage of water and hostility between the "Pokies"and the "humans." Jerry accuses Tommy Tall Bear (Zahn McClarnon) of raping his wife (Barbara Jane Reams) and forms a vigilante mob to make sure Tommy never reaches trial. At this point you can write the rest, including the twist.
Gabriel Olds plays a reporter doing a story on the operation. Other than infuse plot points with a boring monotone, he served no purpose.
This was a made for TV film, written by Rod Serling, who has done better.
Weak story, nice art direction
adrian-8716 August 2002
A town turned to dust is an average scifi movie, with a weak story. I did not like the story, because the same story has been the story for tons of other movies. But to my opinion, the art direction is good. So after all i did not feel watching this movie was a waste of time, altough some parts are boring and the acting is not always at a descent level. My advice is: watch it, if you like nice art direction, otherwise skip it.
Strong story. Weak acting and directing.
jim-ashley20 September 2006
There are very few of Rod Serling's stories that don't hold much interest for me. The *Original* "A Town Has Turned To Dust" wasn't one of them.
But we've seen this countless times in Hollywood: A story written by a brilliant writer gets hacked to pieces and then is handed to a director who wants to "take the story in a new direction" or "show the audience the *real* intent of its writer(s)".
Heres what I want Hollywood to do with the greats of the past: Leave them ALONE. Stop standing on the shoulders of giants because most of Tinseltown is creatively bankrupt.
Enough is enough.
Until then I remain your,
Avid Fan
But we've seen this countless times in Hollywood: A story written by a brilliant writer gets hacked to pieces and then is handed to a director who wants to "take the story in a new direction" or "show the audience the *real* intent of its writer(s)".
Heres what I want Hollywood to do with the greats of the past: Leave them ALONE. Stop standing on the shoulders of giants because most of Tinseltown is creatively bankrupt.
Enough is enough.
Until then I remain your,
Avid Fan
The slowest western I ever saw
fizpage6 January 2001
This movie was not well paced. There was no suspense and none of the plot twists were unique. I stopped the movie in the middle to take a nap so I could finish watching later with the hopes that something interesting would happen. Unfortunately nothing interesting happened. The mean town boss and the sheriff share a secret. An Indian gets lynched because of an affair with the bosses wife. Time would be better spent watching Mad Max or High Noon.
Disjointed and the special effects are not up to scratch but well-acted and thoughtful
TheLittleSongbird1 September 2012
A Town Has Turned to Dust is not great, and has things wrong with it. However, I didn't think it was that bad. The storytelling is uneven, sometimes it is thoughtful and elegiac, but in others it it awkward and disjointed. The special effects are not up to scratch either, in fact they are lacking in their design and some have no reason to be there. The message the film has that racism and oppression are timeless is well-meaning but felt rather dated to me. The pacing is also rather sluggish at times so the more disjointed scenes of the film lack momentum. However, the film is shot well and has beautiful scenery. The soundtrack is decent, and the script is thankfully not cheesy but has a touch of thoughtfulness. The characters, especially Stephen Lang's are clichéd in hindsight(I have seen the drunken sheriff character so many times) but actually manage to be interesting. Ron Perlman's character is surprisingly multifaceted. Lang and Frankie Avina give good performances, but the best thing about A Town Has Turned To Dust is Perlman, while essentially ruthless you do feel some element of sympathy for him. So overall, a decent attempt at a western but doesn't quite come off as well as it could have done. 6/10 Bethany Cox
Lessons humanity continues to not learn...
ragana30 April 2005
Two hundred years in the future, in a radioactive scrap metal mining town on the almost completely abandoned, draught ridden, dying planet Earth, a young man of a "second class race" is lynched for the supposed beating and attempted rape of the wife of the town boss before he can be taken off planet to the new home of humanity for trial. The act exhumes an old guilt that begins the final disintegration of a town already half buried in the ugly dust of racism and prejudice.
This was a nice surprise as Sci-Fi Channel movies are hit and miss. Steven Lang does an excellent job as the useless, haunted town drunk and Sheriff Harvey Denton. The "Cain and Abel-ish" brother like relationship between his character and Ron Perlman's town boss and mob ring leader Jerry Paul is well done by both actors. You can see it there dying, being killed by time, guilt, booze and power. The abusive love-hate relationship between Jerry Paul and his wife Maya (Barbara Jane Reams) is very realistic, scary in its unhealthy depths of possession and desire to care and be cared for.
Definitely worth a buy.
This was a nice surprise as Sci-Fi Channel movies are hit and miss. Steven Lang does an excellent job as the useless, haunted town drunk and Sheriff Harvey Denton. The "Cain and Abel-ish" brother like relationship between his character and Ron Perlman's town boss and mob ring leader Jerry Paul is well done by both actors. You can see it there dying, being killed by time, guilt, booze and power. The abusive love-hate relationship between Jerry Paul and his wife Maya (Barbara Jane Reams) is very realistic, scary in its unhealthy depths of possession and desire to care and be cared for.
Definitely worth a buy.
I tried - I really did
Doogie-0116 May 1999
Short of Lang's performance, I could not sit through this film. Lighting, direction, and overall production were horrible, and the story was not developed in a timely fashion. The only saving grace was the lead, who it appeared had little to work with. My call - 1/2 star
This is a good movie with great acting.
frogpond11 April 1999
A Town Has Turned To Dust is a good movie with great acting. It is a story set in the future with age old problems. The actors all did a wonderful job, especially Ron Perlman and Frankie Avina. Frankie Avina as Tooth was a man oppressed by the ones who ruled over him. He didn't believe his brother would get justice but was accepting of what was happening. But after the awful event happens he stands up and fights back. I thought he was excellent. Ron Perlman's character you hated but felt sorry for him too. I would like to see more movies like this and I would love to see more movies with Frankie Avina and Ron Perlman.
Better then most "Sci-Fi Channel Original Movies"
ChairBoy15 August 1998
A Town Has Turned to Dust is hand above the average schlock that comes out under the handle "A Sci-Fi Channel Original Movie". Honestly, with their key demographic, why do they foist things like "Bombshell" and "Cyberjack" on us?
This movie, however, is different. Apparently based on a Rod Serling script , A Town Has Turned To Dust combines strong story telling, subtle effects, and well wrangled acting to form an enjoyable and thoughtful story.
Ron Perlman's character is surprisingly multi-faceted and can be identified with though his actions might be considered reprehensible.
All in all, this was a very strong piece of film making. I hope we see more of its style on the Sci-Fi Channel.
This movie, however, is different. Apparently based on a Rod Serling script , A Town Has Turned To Dust combines strong story telling, subtle effects, and well wrangled acting to form an enjoyable and thoughtful story.
Ron Perlman's character is surprisingly multi-faceted and can be identified with though his actions might be considered reprehensible.
All in all, this was a very strong piece of film making. I hope we see more of its style on the Sci-Fi Channel.
A movie set in the future with age old problems
frogpond28 June 1999
This is an excellent movie. It is the futuristic story of life on earth with the same age old problems. My favorites in the movie were Frankie Avina as Tooth, Ron Perlman as Jerry Paul and Stephen Lang as the Sheriff. Frankie Avina showed a man oppressed and who stands up against his oppressors after the murder of his brother. A movie well worth watching.
Rod Serling? Where
johnbee-215 June 1999
I write this as a warning to those who may be pondering whether or not to rent this "movie": don't.
I love Twilight Zone, and am a huge fan of Rod Serling. So I was rather excited when I saw on the video case of this movie at the video store that it had been written by Serling.
I turned it off after only 20 minutes. I find it extremely hard to believe that Serling could have written anything *close* to this movie. If he did, the Sci-Fi channel mutilated and amputated beyond recognition.
The scenes are disjointed, the effects are cheezy, and the acting pitiful. Pick up your fav Twilight Zone episode tape instead.
I love Twilight Zone, and am a huge fan of Rod Serling. So I was rather excited when I saw on the video case of this movie at the video store that it had been written by Serling.
I turned it off after only 20 minutes. I find it extremely hard to believe that Serling could have written anything *close* to this movie. If he did, the Sci-Fi channel mutilated and amputated beyond recognition.
The scenes are disjointed, the effects are cheezy, and the acting pitiful. Pick up your fav Twilight Zone episode tape instead.
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