Blood River (1991 TV Movie) User Reviews

TV movie western from a John Carpenter script

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 15 January 2018]

BLOOD RIVER is a western that also happens to be a CBS TV movie released in 1991. Given that it has the safe, low budget, TV movie look, it isn't too bad at all and it's certainly well-shot and made for the most part. The story is about a young guy who goes on the run from a vengeful preacher after accidentally killing the man's son. He ends up hiding out with an old-timer who takes him under his wing and shows him how to live life, but problems aren't far behind. I watched this because the script was by no less than John Carpenter, and he makes a decent stab at the genre; it turns out that this was originally conceived as a John Wayne vehicle in the 1970s before the old-timer passed away. It benefits from a typically colourful turn from Wilford Brimley, playing seemingly the same character as the one he did in HARD TARGET, and John P. Ryan as the villain once more. Carpenter's ex wife, Adrienne Barbeau, also shows up.

Watchable

[utgard14 · 5/10 · 1 November 2020]

This made-for-TV movie was originally written by John Carpenter in the early 70s as a vehicle for John Wayne. That explains why it feels like a throwback to older westerns. Wilford Brimley plays the Wayne role offering support to Ricky Schroeder, who had much greater TV western success with Lonesome Dove two years prior. Brimley, of course, was in Carpenter's The Thing a decade earlier. Both actors do fine with the unchallenging material. Carpenter fans who seek this out will likely be disappointed that it's just a basic by-the-numbers western with little to nothing of his signature style on it. At the time this was written John Wayne was starring in a lot of "colorful old coot teamed up with youngsters" westerns. One even won him an Oscar. Had he made this at the time with a theatrical budget it might have been a bit more memorable. It also might have changed Carpenter's career to get a big star to make a film he wrote years before he made his own name. We may never have gotten some of the Carpenter classics. Anyway what we have here is a watchable time-passer and trivia curiosity but nothing more substantive than that.

Fairly bad all around

[BKinzeys · 3/10 · 20 May 2008]

Poor direction, acting, costumes, sets, story. Wilford Brimley turns in the worst acting job I have seen him do. Rick Schroder does the same. The storyline just plods along with little more motivation than the script. Shot in Canada there are some pretty vistas but the cheap sets in the foreground detract.

This may be a TV Movie made on the cheap and it looks it. Puzzling choices were made as well. The boat for one. Somebody did a nice job stretching canvas (hides?) over a boat frame. What about the size though? It's twice the size, possibly triple, of a boat to be used by one person. It's just out of place as so much is in this movie.

I watched the whole thing hoping it would get better but it didn't.

A Western with broader appeal

[rooster_davis · 7/10 · 22 May 2008]

I haven't been very familiar with the work of Rick Schroder - I know he was in some family sitcom as a kid - and Wilford Brimley I recall from one small role (in "Country") and from oatmeal and diabetic supplies commercials. I was very pleasantly surprised by both of them and by this movie overall. Yes, one might quibble if they think the sets looked 'cheap' (I didn't notice) and maybe the boat was the wrong size (who's to say?) but I found the actors engaging and I liked the story as well.

This is not so much a Western as it is a human story that takes place in the era of the Old West. Jimmy Perls' folks were killed and their land stolen; after killing the son of the man who killed his parents, he has to escape and manages to do so with the help of Wilford Brimley. First off, Brimley has a lot of genuinely funny lines and he plays his part really well. I will certainly remember him in this role. Schroder may not be in quite the top echelon of actors but he looks the part and played it convincingly enough - the young gun who's in trouble, trying to maintain control of his own situation and being tough about it, but underneath it all, he's a scared but good kid. (Schroder was 20 or so when this was filmed.) Probably Schroder's best moment in this film is when he is telling Brimley about the men he killed, and why he did it. I also liked his unintended insults to Brimley through the film ("you ride a horse pretty good - for an old guy") and his constant exasperation at Brimley wanting to do things differently than he does. Brimley's best moments were whenever he had a funny line, and he had plenty of them. I'd have never expected the oatmeal and diabetes guy to be so amusing at delivering funny lines.

If there was any doubt that this movie was meant to warm the heart a little, that went away at the very end. Brimley is about to ride off to his own spread and Schroder asks if he needs any help there. After being told what sort of work there is, Schroder says 'I only do what I can do on horseback. I don't milk no cows or grease no windmills.' He and Brimley ride off in different directions, but as the camera backs out, in silhouette we see Schroder and his horse wheel around and go trotting after Brimley after all.

This movie was supposedly originally going to have Ron Howard and John Wayne in the main roles. (I seem to recall reading that Wayne was anxious to play the role but was unable to and apparently the script was shelved for a while.) Ron Howard is great but I don't know that he would have been an improvement, even though he did play a couple of Western roles very well such as in Spikes Gang. I wonder what the movie would have been like had Wayne played Brimley's role. I think it would have given the movie a slightly more 'serious' tone to have a big gun like Wayne, but as it is, I enjoyed it just fine.

A couple things I didn't like - some of the background music was kind of corny, and though it only happened a few times, I really don't care for slow-motion special effects which in this case involved glass breaking. Those however are minor quibbles.

The opening scene has the most serious violence with the three men shot down by Schroder and his rifle. You might not want your young kids to watch this movie but it's not exactly on the violence level of "Death Wish", say. I found it to be a very satisfying story, there were a couple of good plot twists near the end, and the scene with Schroder deciding to follow along after Brimley was a perfect ending.

Mighty entertaining

[Thund3rheart · 9/10 · 18 January 2003]

I bought this video at a market one summer, put it in the video and saw it. Being a western-fan I really appreciated the scenery and the exiting plot of the creation. Wilford Brimley and Rick Schroeder delivers a very powerful story that centers around their characters. It has all the ingredients to make a western a western. During the first few minutes you get directly thrown into the story of Schroeder's character to get a good background for the following events in the movie.

Definatly a see!

A hidden gem.

[meldamski · 10/10 · 11 October 2021]

Great script by John Carpenter beautifully realized by Mel Damski. Feels much more like a feature film than an MOW.