In the tradition of THE WILD BUNCH and THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN comes this fast paced, action filled western with unforgettable performances by an all star cast: Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Travis Tritt and Waylon Jennings. All hell breaks loose in this riveting story when a group of former outlaws with bad attitudes teams up to catch a killer with murder and revenge on his mind. After Tobey(Jennings), a retired member of the group, is brutally gunned down by a former member and killer, Clinton Reese, our band of reformed gunslingers, Lee (Nelson, Tarence (Kristofferson), and Dalton (Tritt), sets out on Clinton's Trail. They are joined by Tobeys reluctatant young son Bryce (Willett).
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Reviews
Don't listen to the negative reviews
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
I've seen the singers before. Willie is always golden... Kris & Johnny Cash did a real groaner about the last days of Frank and Jesse James, but this is MUCH BETTER than that.Willie is always fun to watch, because his timing is so good, and Kris is a great outlaw in this one. Kris just looks at people and they think twice about tangling with him.Waylon is their buddy who gets gunned down like a dog at the beginning, and he narrates a lot after that. (Shades of the Dukes of Hazard.) If you like these guys, you'll LOVE them in this movie. The bad guy is really bad. The "bad guys" -- i.e. "outlaws" -- are really good, and the dialog just rolls along. Not a dull moment -- even Travis Tritt is pretty god, altho he may not be "ten food high and bulletproof." Rick Tombstone, AZ
Well, where should i start? It was a boring afternoon in may and i was in HMV looking for a way to while away the time. it was at this time i had my first encounter with The Long Kill. my collection of movies at home included many great westerns including The quick and the Dead, Tombstone and the sierra leone trilogy, the deceptive front cover of what can only be described as the most horrendous motion picture ever seen lead me to believe i had found a hidden gem. upon playing the film my initial impressions were good, the cast list after all contained several A listers. however within ten minutes of this horrendous excuse for a western beginning my eye caught the glare off a letter opener, a quick thrust into my chest and the torture could be all over i thought. as the film went on for what seemed like hours of tortuous nonsense nothing could prepare me for the "thrilling" climax consisting of a the films wimpish hero,a young gentleman of whom i have understandably forgotten the name but may well win an Oscar for best comedy performance being drawn into a contest with the films plastic baddie 'holden'. up to this point all signs had been that the good guy was probably the worst gunslinger since Stevie wonder taking on 'holden', presumably a crack shot to rival gene hackman's Herod. however unbeknown to the viewer Holden's skills have sadly taken a turn for the worst and the good Guy has spent several years practising for at least 12 hours a day despite looking exactly the same as he did at the point where he failed to hit more than one bottle off a wall about six feet away! before Holden even has the Chance to feel the grip of his six shooter he is gunned down by his now lightning fast opponent. without half as much as a second of build up. what an awful film. if you are having a bad day i have only one warning for you; DO NOT WATCH THIS FILM it may be the last thing you ever do
I had not realised these singers acted too until this The basic plot has a lot of promise to be a classic enjoyable straight 'action western' with possible 'feel good' or comic possibilities as well. The singers have surprising screen presence and the production runs along quite well and logically until the last shootout But the violence was generally more graphic than I like or necessary, with the usual questionable American popular romanticisation and simplification of vigilante-ism or ' a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do '. Some bits made no sense or were clearly unrealistic or fantastic so the film seemed undecided between being a straight classic western or a 'feel good' Good Guys Always Win and Are Heroes to Boot show The final scenes were rather illogical in terms of behaviour and spoilt an otherwise consistent plot. Not much more is needed to make this an 'above average' film so the unfulfilled promise is disappointing and surprising given the actors involved
Bill Corcoran's film OUTLAW JUSTICE aka THE LONG KILL lacks the style of Sergio Leone, the spectacle of John Ford, or the rawness of Sam Peckinpah, but Bill Corcoran's film is nevertheless entertaining and reflects the work of all these fine directors. Co-stars Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson, who play former fugitive outlaws - Lee and Tarence, are getting a bit gray around the gills, and at times greatly stretch the view's ability to suspend disbelief that these two old age pensioners can be the two fisted brawling outlaws they portray, but the actors'charisma, mutual chemistry, empathy for the characters, and some self deprecating humor combine to help them pull off the performances. Country singer Travis Tritt turns in a surprisingly decent performance as Dalton - Willie and Kris' former cohort turned good guy lawman. The late great Waylon Jennings delivers a short but sweet performance as Tobey, another of Willie and Kris' former gang members who's murdered early in the film but resurfaces to deliver voiceovers in scenes where his estranged son learns about his murdered father through a diary. The film suffers from poorly played two dimensional villains (Sancho Garcia as Holden is especially stiff), big plot holes * *spoiler **(exactly why does Colonel Lupo want to capture Lee and Tarence so bad that's he's willing to pay a reward to a man he hates equally as much - Holden - and then let the two go?), well worn clichés, stereotyped characters and certainly doesn't break any new ground in the genre, but for the stars' fans and anyone who enjoys westerns - it is entirely watchable. I gave it a 6 out 10.