Rick Schroder is Jimmy Pearls, a cowboy who returns home to discover that men under the direction of rich rancher Henry Logan have killed his parents so Logan can steal their land. So he kills three of Logan’s riders, including the rancher’s son.
From then on, he’s on the run for his life. Logan offers a handsome reward to the men who bring in Pearls. And he makes if quite clear that he won’t mind one bit if he’s brought in dead. In fact, he’d prefer it that way.
Pearls winds up hitching a ride to Blood River on the boat of an aging trapper named Culpepper (Wilford Brimley).
Though the two men bicker endlessly, Culpepper continues to show up in the nick of time to assist Pearls, including when he’s trapped in a barn and outnumbered by great odds.
In the end, Pearls discovers Culpepper isn’t who he’s been pretending to be.
And that he had a reason to lend a helping hand. Heck, that reason is even a bit devious.
Ricky Schroder as Jimmy Pearls in Blood River (1991)
Wilford Brimley as Culpepper in Blood River (1991)
Review:
Red River this isn’t. But it’s probably better than you’d expect from a Western featuring Ricky Schroder as a cold-blooded killer and William Brimley as the somewhat tubby 60-year-old who comes to his rescue.
Meanwhile, Logan has managed to pull together one of the most incompetent posses in the history of Western films. Not only can’t anyone manage to hit Culpepper or his horse when rides into the barn where Jimmy Pearls is trapped, they also fail to even wing the two men as they make their get-away by bursting out of the barn with Pearls riding a handmade travois.
The fact that the producers didn’t take the material too seriously – injecting touches of humor here and there – helps. So does a pretty well-done final showdown in a church bell tower that involves both of our heroes and Logan, who decides he’d better track down Pearls himself if he wants the job done right.
John P. Ryan as Henry Logan in Blood River (1991)
Gordon Tootoosis as Smiling Knife in Blood River (1991)
Directed by:
Mel Damski
Cast:
Rick Schroder … Jimmy Pearls
Wilford Brimley … U.S. Marshal Culler
John P. Ryan … Henry Logan
Mills Watson … Jake
Henry Beckham … Sheriff Peabody
Dwight McFee … Squints
Adrienne Barbeau … Georgina
Don Davis … Congressman Apples
Venus Terzo … Laurie
Gordon Tootoosis … Smiling Knife
Stephen Hair … Parson Carpenter
Runtime: 93 min.
Adrienne Barbeau as Georgia in Blood River (1991)
Mills Watson as Jake in Blood River (1991)>
Memorable lines:
Culler: “You’re not the only one who knows what it’s like to kill somebody for revenge. But you’re right: It don’t feel good. It don’t bring nobody back.”
Georgina, when Jimmy seems uncomfortable in her bordello: “Mr. Pearls, this is Laurie. Is there anything she can do to put you more at ease?”
Jimmy Pearls to a seductively smiling Laurie: “You can go watch out that window for me. Stand guard. I’ll watch out this one.”
Brimley, laughing: “The kid’s all business.”
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