The Jack Bull (1999)

After being wrongfully denied justice, a horse trader seeks his own justice on a treacherous rancher.

Director:

John Badham

Writers:

Heinrich von Kleist (book), Dick Cusack

Stars:

John Cusack, John Goodman, L.Q. Jones

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
John Cusack	...	Myrl Redding
John Goodman	...	Judge Tolliver
L.Q. Jones	...	Henry Ballard
Miranda Otto	...	Cora Redding
John C. McGinley	...	Woody
John Savage	...	Slater
Rodney A. Grant	...	Billy
Kurt Fuller	...	Conrad
Rex Linn	...	Shelby Dykes
Jay O. Sanders	...	Atty. Gen. Metcalfe
Drake Bell	...	Cage Redding
Nick Gillie	...	Ollie (as Nicholas E. Gillie)
Duncan Fraser	...	Edsel Fraser
Ken Pogue	...	Judge Wilkins
Glenn Morshower	...	Col. Jeffries (as Glen Morshower)

Storyline

The Jack Bull tells the story of Myrl Redding, a Wyoming horse trader who clashes with Henry Ballard, a fellow rancher, after Ballard abuses two of Myrl's horses and their Crow Indian caretaker, Billy. When Judge Wilkins throws out Myrl's complaint, the war he wages to force Ballard to nurse the emaciated animals back to health escalates into a vigilante manhunt, murder and the possible defeat of Wyoming's bid for statehood.

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Plot Keywords:

horse trader | justice | wyoming | death of wife | frontier justice | 

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Taglines:

All men want justice. Few are willing to pay the price.

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Genres:

Drama | Western

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some Western violence

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Wyoming state flag depicts a bison bull; The word "jack" is an archaic term for a flag; An early version of this flag appears in the film.

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Goofs

At the end of the movie, the statehood congregation parades through town with flags containing 50 stars. The proper flag for the period would have been the 43 star flag.

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Quotes

Judge Tolliver: Myrl Redding didn't fail the law. The law failed Myrl.

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Connections

Version of Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas (2013)

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Soundtracks

Ring them Bells
Written by Bob Dylan
Performed by Bob Dylan
Courtesy of Columbia Records

User Reviews

Better Than You Expect

To those of us who follow any of HBO's original programming, it should come as no surprise that a film on the level of THE JACK BULL premieres on HBO. While the folks out in Hollywood are busy heaping money on so-called films such as AMERICAN OUTLAWS and TEXAS RANGERS, leave it to HBO and John Cusak to come up with the good stuff. Though the big screen fare is far glossier (and no doubt costlier), Cusak's gritty western is simply far superior. Boasting a cast including Cusak, John C. McGinley, John Goodman, and L. Q. Jones, the film out-acts its big screen competitors by a mile and a half. Combine it with a cold, smart, gritty screenplay by Cusak's dad and strong direction by John Badham and you have a film worthy of inclusion among really good Westerns.

f you want to see Ashton Kutcher, James Van Der Beek, Colin Farrell, or Usher Raymond, you'll have to rent the other two. But if you want to see something more on par with Clint Eastwood's UNFORGIVEN, well then, THE JACK BULL is calling your name!

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 April 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

Jack Bull

Filming Locations:

Heritage Park, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

Home Box Office (HBO), New Crime Productions, River One Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

116 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1