Lou Diamond Phillips does a fine job portraying a half breed ex-convict recently released from a territorial prison in this Hallmark Entertainment film from 2004. He's got a couple of guardian angels in the form of Marshal Luther Toll (Lee Majors) and old timer Eugene Lawson (Ernest Borgnine). Borgnine in particular seems to be having a heck of a time in his role, alternately challenging town boss Samuel Drigger (Warren Stevens) and confiding in a determined Keenan Deerfield (Phillips) trying to stay out of trouble.
Trouble finds Deerfield though, and most of it revolves around his relationship with Christine Beckford (Marina Black), who at the beginning of the story tries to make the best of her almost daily beatings at the hands of Drigger henchman Gerald (Richard Tyson). The film's flash point occurs when Gerald is killed, but it's not Deerfield who's riled to action; Christine's trigger finger finds it's mark during an alcohol induced attack. Because Deerfield's been framed for a payroll robbery, he's got problems of his own to attend to, but it doesn't take long to sort through the villainy and arrive at a happy ending.
If the period details are accurate, Deerfield wouldn't have been able to hire an accountant to manage his ten dollars a month pay at Drigger's, all neatly calculated to wind up back in the mining boss's hands via rent and equipment to work in his mines. It kind of makes you realize that maybe the good old days weren't.
Try as I might, I couldn't establish the actor under the whiskers and black hat of Marshal Toll as Lee Majors, to me he was unrecognizable. His relationship to Deerfield could have used more development as far as back story goes, but he was there when it counted to make the save in the showdown finale, and without even firing his gun.
Credit the film makers with tying it all together at the end to make sense of the title. Christine's daughter is named Hope Rose in deference to old timer Lawson's deceased wife Rosie who he often talks to during the story, combined with a hope for the future. It's classic Hallmark and for this Western, it works.
Trouble finds Deerfield though, and most of it revolves around his relationship with Christine Beckford (Marina Black), who at the beginning of the story tries to make the best of her almost daily beatings at the hands of Drigger henchman Gerald (Richard Tyson). The film's flash point occurs when Gerald is killed, but it's not Deerfield who's riled to action; Christine's trigger finger finds it's mark during an alcohol induced attack. Because Deerfield's been framed for a payroll robbery, he's got problems of his own to attend to, but it doesn't take long to sort through the villainy and arrive at a happy ending.
If the period details are accurate, Deerfield wouldn't have been able to hire an accountant to manage his ten dollars a month pay at Drigger's, all neatly calculated to wind up back in the mining boss's hands via rent and equipment to work in his mines. It kind of makes you realize that maybe the good old days weren't.
Try as I might, I couldn't establish the actor under the whiskers and black hat of Marshal Toll as Lee Majors, to me he was unrecognizable. His relationship to Deerfield could have used more development as far as back story goes, but he was there when it counted to make the save in the showdown finale, and without even firing his gun.
Credit the film makers with tying it all together at the end to make sense of the title. Christine's daughter is named Hope Rose in deference to old timer Lawson's deceased wife Rosie who he often talks to during the story, combined with a hope for the future. It's classic Hallmark and for this Western, it works.