The Sacketts (TV 1979)

Two part TV adaptation of Louis L'Amour's third novel in the Sackett series. The story follows the three Sackett brothers out west from their Tennessee home. Along the way the oldest, Tell,... See full summary »

Director:

Robert Totten

Writers:

Jim Byrnes, Louis L'Amour (novels)

Stars:

Sam Elliott, Tom Selleck, Jeff Osterhage

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sam Elliott	...	Tell Sackett
Tom Selleck	...	Orrin Sackett
Jeff Osterhage	...	Tyrel Sackett
Glenn Ford	...	Tom Sunday
Ben Johnson	...	Cap Rountree
Gilbert Roland	...	Don Luis
John Vernon	...	Jonathan Pritts
Ruth Roman	...	Rosie
Jack Elam	...	Ira Bigelow
Gene Evans	...	Benson Bigelow
L.Q. Jones	...	Belden
Paul Koslo	...	Kid Newton
Mercedes McCambridge	...	Ma Sackett
Slim Pickens	...	Jack Bigelow
Louis L'Amour	...	Himself

Storyline

Two part TV adaptation of Louis L'Amour's third novel in the Sackett series. The story follows the three Sackett brothers out west from their Tennessee home. Along the way the oldest, Tell, prospects for gold, while the two younger Orin and Tye herd cattle and later help bring order to a racially divided Santa Fe.

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Plot Keywords:

cattle | tv movie | tennessee | cowboy | west | 

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Genres:

Western

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

15 May 1979 (USA)

Also Known As:

Louis L'Amour's The Sacketts

Filming Locations:

Buckskin Joe Frontier Town & Railway - 1193 Fremont County Road 3A, Canon City, Colorado, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Douglas Netter Productions, M.B. Scott Productions, Shalako Enterprises

Technical Specs

Runtime:

240 min 198 min (Video Version)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sam Elliott, Tom Selleck, and Jeff Osterhage had such a good time doing this project together, they reunited on another 'Louis L'Amour' story, The Shadow Riders, years later.

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Goofs

After the dummy gets shot in the jail cell, Tyrel and Orrin run out to catch the shooter. When the camera goes back to the prisoner in the other cell, you can see Tyrel moving around behind him.

User Reviews

Pretty Good On Its Own, But No 'Lonesome Dove'

This is something of a poor man's "Lonesome Dove." The story is a combination of two Louis L'Amour novels and doesn't have the intensity of Larry McMurtrey's aforementioned "Dove," nor the beautiful cinematography.

The best part of "The Sacketts" is the cast, led by some of the best actors to ever play cowboys. I mean, this is worth owning alone just to see Sam Elliott, Tom Selleck, Glenn Ford and Ben Johnson all in the same story. These guys - especially Elliott and Selleck - were always fantastic playing cowboys. Not only that, you get classic stars such as Gilbert Roland, Mercedes McCambridge, Ruth Roman, Jack Elan, Slim Pickens and more ! Wow - impressive.

Being a made-for-TV film, you don't get much profanity or blood and for most of the film, you get two separate stories going on at once. One story features Selleck and Jeff Osterhage as brothers and another as Elliott, as the older brother involved with his own adventures.

Even though I can't compare it favorably to Lonesome Dove, it's still a decent western on its own merits.