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Louis L’Amour on the small screen
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At the end of the 1970s, the great Glenn Ford was back in the saddle for another TV epic, this time The Sacketts, a mini-series (the format was quite new) which compresses two Louis L’Amour novels, The Daybreakers and Sackett, into two 2-hour episodes.
It wheeled out many of the old faithfuls to play alongside Sam Elliott, Tom Selleck and Jeff Osterhage as the Sackett brothers. Ford is Tom Sunday, good-bad man, though he bears his age less well, seems to be going through the motions and sadly looks as though he had eaten a donut or two de trop. Ben Johnson plays Cap Rountree and is, of course, splendid. We also get Jack Elam, Slim Pickens and James Gammon, excellent as the elderly but still ornery Bigelow brothers, out for revenge after Elliott has shot their card-sharp brother.
Mercedes McCambridge has a brief early part as Ma Sackett. Even after all these years you still can’t help thinking of Johnny Guitar. LQ Jones is a cattleman in eyeglasses. John Vernon is satisfactorily slimy as leading bad guy Jonathan Pritts. Ruth Roman is back as Rosie, Johnson’s long-time ‘girlfriend’ and Gilbert Roland does his hidalgo act. So there are many old and loved Western faces, alright.
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There’s also (there had to be) a girl each for the brothers: Marcy Hanson for Orrin, Drusilla Alvarado for Tyrel and Wendy Rastattar for Tell.
Apparently it was shot (by Jack A Whitman Jr) in California and around Buckskin Joe in Colorado but some of it sure looks like New Mexico to me – that limpid light again. The music is by Jerrold Immel and is well up to the task.
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It was directed by Robert Totten, best know for helming Gunsmoke epsiodes.
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It’s fun to watch and a lot happens. The actors clearly enjoyed it (Elliott, Selleck and Osterhage joined forces again to strut their stuff in another TV epic, The Shadow Riders, three years later). Ben Johnson joins the line-up at the end as the four of them walk down the street, Wild Bunch-style. There’s a good final shoot-out. The overall impression we are left with, however, is of a frantic editing and cutting to squeeze two novels’ worth of story into a couple of evenings’ TV watching. So yes, enjoy it – but don’t expect greatness.
6 Responses
Glenn Ford was very credible in The Sacketts, so much so that I consider it to be one of the saddest moments in film when he gets shot down
I found this slow and pokey and padded out to fill 2 nights of TV programming. I also had problems with the editing and don’t think the 2 different stories blended well. Considering the cast I was disappointed. I kind of feel the same way about tv Western movies (this is really a 2-part movie – not a true miniseries like the 6 hour LONESOME DOVE which was a classic) that you feel about Euro-Westerns. I’ve yet to see a really good one.
Revising my comments about tv Westerns. Since I wrote the above I have seen a few “really” good ones such as Conagher, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, I Will Fight No More Forever and the 75m pilot episode for Kung Fu (a really unique tv series that helped revolutionize the medium). So there are exceptions.
Jeff has written an excellent essay in 3 parts about Western TV
https://jeffarnoldswest.com/2015/11/the-tv-western-part-13/
If you just type TV In the index search box, you get many TV, TV films, series and mini series. Beside of Lonesome Dove, Deadwood is one of the best.
Thanks for the info and Deadwood, Yellowstone and the afore mentioned Kung Fu were excellent, but when it comes to most maxi (as opposed to mini) series western TV shows (Bonanza Gunsmoke, Rifleman, etc.), I find them to be mediocre at best.
In the older series of the 1950s , one I like the most is the Dick Powell’s Zane Grey Theatre anthology.
Pretty often, episodes have usually strong adult stories, often made by experienced, notable if not excellent directors. Cherry on the cake, each episode has various stars, and it is part of the pleasure to discover who is going to play. All along the 146 episodes, it is a constellation studded by western familiar faces, wether the lead or character actors, a director and producer’s dream, an incredible western who’s who:
Lyle Bettger, Scott Brady, Neville Brand, Walter Brennan, Lloyd Bridges, Rory Calhoun, Lee J. Cobb. James Coburn, Chuck Connors, Joseph Cotten, John Dehner, Richard Dix, Brian Donlevy, Dan Duryea, Paul Fix, Skip Homeier, Dennis Hopper, John Ireland, Dean Jagger, Brian Keith, Stephen McNally, Guy Madison. Virginia Mayo, Vera Miles, Edmond O’Brien, Jack Palance, Michael Pate,
John Payne, Ronald Reagan, Robert Ryan, Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Sullivan and more…!