Conagher (1991)

Katharine Ross is Evie Teale, a woman badly in need of a hero.

Sam Elliott is Conn Conagher, a hero in the sense that he’s an honest cowpoke with undying loyalty to the brand that’s paying his wages.

Evie’s left alone to raise two children when her husband rides off to buy cattle and never returns; unbeknownst to her, he’s been killed in a fall from his horse.

But when he doesn’t show up for three months, she realizes he must have died.

For a while, her home serves as a stage station, allowing the family to get by. When the stages stop stopping there …

Well, things get a bit more difficult, though Evie proves adept at persevering. She and her husband had planned to start a small cattle ranch, but with him gone, there are no cattle.

Conagher meets the family when he delivers horses for the stage line and stops by occasionally to see how they’re doing. Meanwhile, he’s encountered a problem of his own.

He takes a job for the winter at the ranch of Seaborn Tay (Ken Curtis), an aging man who just wants to live out his final days in peace.

Conagher soon realizes Seaborn is being robbed blind, with his own hands helping to rustle his cattle for a neighboring ranch run by Smoke Parnell.

He sets out to end that nonsense, but that will mean gunplay and a possible showdown with an old acquaintance, Chris Mahler (Gavan O’Herlihy).

Sam Elliott as Conn Conagher, stopping by the Teale homestead for the first time in Conagher (1991)

Katherine Ross as Evie Teale, about to be left alone with two children to raise in Conagher (1991)

Review:

Not quite the lyrical masterpiece of a Western that was likely intended. A couple of implausible scenes don’t help.

Like the rustlers deciding to leave the territory after Conagher has collapsed from wounds. Like an ending in which Ross, in a wooden performance, tells Conagher it’s time to “come home.”

The best part about the film is “tumbleweed fever.” Apparently, lots of cowboys in these parts have it. Haunted by loneliness, Evie is prone to writing poetry and attaching it to pieces of sagebrush. Conagher finds several of the poems and wonders about the author.

In one of the film’s better scenes, Conagher – so sure of himself when action is required — tracks down a piece of sagebrush with a piece of paper attached, only to have it disintegrate in his hands as he stumbles on his way back to his horse, cursing himself for being so foolish.

You’ll see lots of familiar faces in this one, including three veterans of “Gunsmoke” – Ken Curtis as the aging rancher for whom Conagher works, Buck Taylor as one of the rustlers and Dub Taylor as a stage station agent.

The film was intended as a tribute to famous Western author Louis L’Amour. In fact, his daughter Angelique has a small role as a stage passenger.

Gavin O’Herlihy as Chris Mahler, looking for a final showdown with Conn Conagher in Conagher (1991)

James Gammon as Smoke Parnell, leader of the Ladder Five rustlers in Conagher (1991)

Directed by:
Reynaldo Villalobos

Cast:
Sam Elliott … Conn Conagher
Katharine Ross … Evie Teale
Barry Corbin … Charlie McCloud
Billy Green Bush … Jacob Teale
Ken Curtis … Seaborn Tay
Paul Koslo … Kiowa Staples
Gavan O’Herlihy … Chris Mahler
James Gammon … Smoke Parnell
Cody Braun … Laban Teale
Anndi McAfee … Ruthie Teale
Dub Taylor … Station agent
Buck Taylor … Tile Coker
Daniel Quinn … Johnny McGivern

Runtime: 100 min.

Cody Braun as Laban Teale as his family confronts the realization that his father has likely died in Conagher (1991)

Anndi McAfee as Ruthie Teale, watching her father leave to buy cattle for their new ranch in Conagher (1991)

Memorable lines:

Jacob Teale: “I never promised you much, Evie, and this isn’t much. But the land is ours. And all that becomes of the land will be ours too.”

Stage passenger, during an Indian attack: “He don’t look too good.”
Female stage passenger: “That’s because he’s dead.”

Conagher: “I’ll tell you kid, any man who kills when he can do otherwise is plum crazy. Just plum crazy.”

Ken Curtis as Seaborn Tay, meeting Conagher and eager to hire an honest ranch hand in Conagher (1991)

Buck Taylor as Tile Coker, one of the Ladder Five rustlers in Conagher (1991)

Conagher, to a young cowboy who has fallen in with the rustlers: “Some men take a ton of killin’, Johnny. Just make sure when the killin’ time comes, you’re on the right side.”

Young rustler: “You’re a hard man, Conagher.”
Conagher: “It’s a hard country, kid.”

Mahler: “Wherever I go, I hear what a tough man Conn Conagher is. I ain’t seen none of your graveyards.”

Barry Corbin as Charlie McCloud, the stage driver who befriends Evie and her family in Conagher (1991)

Daniel Quinn as Johnny McGivern, a young cowboy who falls in with the wrong crowd in Conagher (1991)

Billy Green Bush as Jacob Teale, saying goodbye to his family for what turns out to be the last time in Conagher (1991)

Sam Elliott as Conn Conagher, bidding farewell to Evie Teale after one of his visits in Conagher (1991)