Broken Trail (2006)

Robert Duvall is Prentice Ritter, an aging man who has inherited his sister’s ranch while she left her son nothing.

Feeling more than a little guilty about that, he looks up the son, Tom Harte (Thomas Haden Church), informs him of his mom’s death and makes him a business proposition.

He wants to borrow money so they can buy between 400 and 500 horses and drive them to Wyoming where the British government is paying top price for horse flesh to fight the Boer War.

Ritter figures to keep 75 percent of the profit and give Tom 25 percent so he can start a new life that’s more profitable than being someone’s ranch hand.

Not long into their trip, they come across Capt. Billy Fender who’s heading in the same direction. In his care are five Chinese virgins on their way to becoming whores in Calico City.

Well, make that four virgins. Billy gave in to temptation and tried out one, decreasing her value immensely.

That being the case, he decides to lace the whiskey he gives Ritter, Harte and their hired hand, then take off with their herd and the soiled gal, leaving the others behind.

Well, Harte rescues the girl and the herd. And suddenly he and Ritter find themselves with five Chinese girls on their hands who speak no English, know nothing of the West and who fear for their lives.

Ritter begins to bridge the language barrier by assigning the girls numbers, one through five.

The eldest of the group, Sun Foy, tells the others their new masters are likely kinder than their previous one. She’s right, of course.

But back in Calico City, Big Rump Kate is awaiting the arrival of her new whores. And when they don’t show up, she sends an outlaw known Big Ears to track them down.

Robert Duvall as Prentice Ritter, proposing the horse drive to Tom Harte in Broken Trail (2006)

Thomas Haden Church as Tom Harte, trying to track down Capt. Fender after one of the girls disappears in Broken Trail (2006)

Review:

Well done TV mini-series that scores high marks for originality, charm, being beautifully filmed and for giving Robert Duvall a chance to climb into the saddle once again.

He plays the hero, but he’s a hero haunted by his past. He had a family and a child once. The child died in an accident he blames himself for. He’s afraid to try the family life again, even when he has the chance. But he’s also determined that nothing will happen to the five “children” who just happen to fall under his care.

The film also benefits from solid performances from Thomas Haden Church, who played one of the Clanton brothers in 1993’s ”Tombstone.” Here, he’s the stoic man of action. And Rusty Schwimmer is certainly convincing as Big Rump Kate, though she doesn’t get all that much time on the screen.

If the film has a flaw, it’s the length. There’s an awful lot of riding around and herding horses and sitting around the campfire going on. But when the action does erupt, it’s quite violent. And the film wisely avoids a fairytale ending. In fact, the epilogue has a touch of sadness to it.

Gwendoline Yoe as Sun Foy, the young Chinese woman who falls for Tom Harte during the horse drive in Broken Trail (2006)

Greta Scacchi as Nola Johns, the whore rescued by Tom Harte and Prentice Ritter in Broken Trail (2006)

Directed by:
Walter Hill

Cast:
Robert Duvall … Prentice Ritter
Thomas Haden Church … Tom Harte
Greta Scacchi … Nola Johns
Gwendoline Yeo … Sun Foy (#3)
Jadyn Wong … Ghee Moon (#1)
Caroline Chan … Mai Ling (#2)
Olivia Cheng … Ye Fung (#4)
Valerie Tian … Ging Wa’aka (#5)
Scott Cooper … Gilpin
Chris Mulkey … Big Ears
Rusty Schwimmer … Big Rump Kate
Donald Fung … Lung Hay
James Russo … Capt. Billy Fender
Dave Trimble … Dink Yeatman

Runtime: 184 min.

James Russo as Capt. Billy Fender, the man hired to transport five Chinese girls to a whorehouse in Broken Trail (2006)

Chris Mulkey as Ed Big Ears Bywaters, the outlaw Big Rump Kate hires to recover the girls she considers her property in Broken Trail (2006)

Memorable lines:

Tom Harte, arriving in Cariboo City, Idaho, and being informed their isn’t a mayor, a town council or a sheriff: “Well, who’s in charge?”
Townsman: “The town sorta works on a live and let live basis with a touch of every man for himself thrown in. Ain’t the kind of place where you check your firearms when you get into town.”

Big Rump Kate: “The gold I mine from this burg, I don’t get from diggin’. Their ain’t a shot of whiskey, a hand of poker or any fella wants to dip his wick that I don’t get a cut of.”

Prentiss: “We didn’t set out to save no Orientals and a broken-nosed whore; it just happened. Sometimes you just gotta roll with what’s thrown at you, see?”

Prentiss: “Cut his ears off and send them to that marshal in Sheridan.”

Nota to Prentiss: “Most men are afraid of failure in this world. Seems some are afraid of success.”

Valerie Tian as Ging Wa, number five among the Chinese girls Prentice and Tom rescue in Broken Trail (2006)

Jadyn Wong as Ghee Moon, number one, and Caroline Chan as Mai Ling, number two, among the Chinese girls rescued in Broken Trail (2006)

Olivia Cheng as Ye Fung, number four among the Chinese girls rescued by Prentice and Tom in Broken Trail (2006)

Rusty Schwimmer as Big Rump Kate, trying to get her Chinese girls back in Broken Trail (2006)

Scott Cooper as Henry ‘Heck’ Gilpin, the man Tom Harte hires to help out on the horse drive in Broken Trail (2006)

Donald Fung as Lung Hay, the Chinese man attacked while watching over the girls in Broken Trail (2006)

Thomas Haden Church as Tom Harte, spotting Prentice Ritter in trouble in Broken Trail (2006)

Robert Duvall as Prentice Ritter, a man determined to complete the horse drive he started in Broken Trail (2006)