Bastard’s Crossing (2021)

Ward Emling is Cam Talcutt, an aging man who wins a remote trading post in a card game and decides to make it his life.

But despite the fact that The Crossing Trading Co. is the only stop for 150 miles between Fort Smith and Little Rock, business isn’t exactly brisk.

Express riders stop by just long enough to change horses. A stagecoach stops there once every couple of weeks. Settlers will occasionally stop to water their horses.

Otherwise, it’s a solitary life that’s about to get lonelier. Talcutt gets a letter informing him that the Wilson Freigh Co. will no longer be servicing his post.

With no goods to sell, eeking out a living is about to get much tougher.

Then a passing settler is killed when his wagon falls on him while he’s greasing its wheels. And he has a wagon filled with goods that Talcutt takes for his own, burying the man and burning the wagon.

That begins Talcutt’s descent into lawlessness. Soon, a second grave joins the first.

And when Talcutt decides life at the post is still too lonely, he kills a settler and takes his wife Sadie (Ashleigh Lewis) hostage.

Talcutt’s quick to admit he didn’t think that killing through. Sadie’s not exactly inclined to satisfy Talcutt’s carnal desires.

And from that point on, every visitor means a chance that his secret life will be discovered.

Ward Emling as Cam Talcutt comes across his first wagon load of dead man’s goods in Bastard’s Crossing (2021)

Ashleigh Lewis as Sadie, hoping for help from a passing stage in Bastard’s Crossing (2021)

Review:

If you’re going to make an ultra low budget Western, this is the way to do it.

Find a unique plot that isn’t going to demand lots of actors or many locations, a lead actor capable of carrying the film, then surround that person with a supporting cast that’s not completely wooden in front of a camera.

In this case, Ward Emling carries the bulk of the film as the aging man who keeps saying he’s not that bad of a person, though his actions seem to indicate otherwise.

Just be forewarned. This is a slow-moving film. And if you’re looking for a rootin’, tootin’ Western shoot-’em-up, you’d best look elsewhere.

Creek Wilson as a trapper willing to pay a premium price for female companionship in Bastard’s Crossing (2021)

Clark Richey as the bounty hunter passing through Talcutt’s trading post in Bastard’s Crossing (2021)

Directed by:
Travis Mills

Cast:
Ward Emling … Cam Talcutt
Ashleigh Lewis … Sadie
Creek Wilson … The trapper
Clark Richey … The lone rider
Bill Luckett … The burly man
Jeff Buchwald … The prospector
Damon Burks … Patrick Cole
John Charles Dickson … Fuller

Runtime: 95 min.

Jeff Buchwald as the prospector boasting about his wagon load of mining supplies in Bastard’s Crossing (2021)

Damon Burks as Patrick Cole, the new freighter willing to stock Talcutt’s post in Bastard’s Crossing (2021)

Memorable lines:

Cam Talcott, explaining his connection to a decrepit trading post: “About three years ago, I won this god forshaken place in a god damned poker hand in Fort Smith. I ain’t never had nothing til I got this place. I decided I was gonna make it. Or I was gonna die here tryin’.”

Cam Talcott, echoing the sentiment of a prospector who wouldn’t share his supplies while planting a pick in the man’s heart: “A man’s gotta think for himself, you know?”

Sadie: “If you plan to violate me, I ask that you not leave your seed inside of me. I can’t bear the thought of mothering a bastard child.”
Cam Talcott, her captor: “I’d be more concerned about drawing a breath tomorrow.”

Cam Talcott, when Sadie attacks him: “You god damned angel of Satan!”

Ashleigh Lewis as Sadie, hoping to convince the trapper to free her from his ropes in Bastard’s Crossing (2021)

Ward Emling as Cam Talcutt urges Sadie to be quiet about the pistol in Bastard’s Crossing (2021)