As a young boy, John Slaughter watches Blackjack Pickett and his gang slaughter the family of his childhood sweetheart, 12-year-old Savannah Starr.
He’s haunted by the memory. Haunted largely because he hid in a barn at Savannah’s urging and did nothing to stop the murders.
Twenty years later, he returns to Ghost Rock to find that Jack Pickett (Gary Busey) has turned sorta respectable. Enough so that he’s mayor of the town.
But he’s still got a band of ruffians to do his bidding. And his bidding includes pushing a Chinese family, also old friends of John’s, off their land.
So John (Michael Worth) decides it’s time for a taste of justice in Ghost Rock.
And Mayor Pickett decides Ghost Rock would be better off without a grown John Slaughter.
But the odds might be shifting in John’s favor.
Pickett’s hand-picked sheriff has rediscovered his conscience. Texas Ranger Moses Logan (Jeff Fahey) is also riding toward Ghost Rock.
And a pretty blonde female gunfighter has arrived in town. A pretty blonde who reminds John of Savannah.
Michael Worth as John Slaughter, arriving back in Ghost Rock and making it know he hasn’t forgotten old wrongs in Ghost Rock (2003)
Gary Busey as Jack Pickett, confronting John Slaughter in his return to town in Ghost Rock (2003)
Review:
A campy mess of a Western that might have been a laugh-out-loud riot with a deft hand in the director’s chair, a tighter script, smaller cast and better action scenes.
Lacking all of that, viewers are left with a Western mash-up of “Kung Fu,” “High Plains Drifter” and “The Quick and the Dead.”
The good news is that the filmmakers clearly weren’t taking themselves too seriously.
The bad news is that no idea seemed too outlandish to be included.
So we have an aging female saloon owner who can knock out men with a single punch. And a saloon girl who swears to have invented the lap dance.
In another scene, a pastor cowers in fear as the lone tombstone by his church shakes and eventually falls to the ground just because Blackjack’s old gang is riding by.
Yep, it’s campy for sure. Unfortunately, viewers are likely to groan more often than they chuckle.
Janya Lano as Savannah Starr, arriving back home 20 years after her family was murdered in Ghost Rock (2003)
Andrienne Barbeau as Matti Baker, fiesty owner of the saloon in Ghost Rock (2003)
Directed by:
Dustin Rikert
Cast:
Gary Busey … Jack Pickett
Michael Worth … John Slaughter
Jeff Fahey … Moses Logan
Adrienne Barbeau … Mattie Baker
Craig Wasson … Cherokee Bill
Jenya Lano … Savannah Starr
James Hong … Weng
John Laughlin … Sheriff Clay
Rance Howard … Cash
David Jean Thomas … Kill’n Jim Jackson
Christa Sauls … Jasmine
April Hong … Ming
Peter Kwong … Song
Michiko Nishiwaki … Hana
Dan Southworth … Wu Chen
Shane Lacey … The Barber
Runtime: 101 min.
James Hong as Weng, a Chinese man aligned with Jack Pickett though he’s harassing Weng’s family in Ghost Rock (2003)
Craig Wasson as Cherokee Bill, Jack Pickett’s right-hand man who loses his left hand in Ghost Rock (2003)
Memorable lines:
The Barber: “Death is here.”
Kill’n Jim Jackson: “No kidding, death is here. Take a look around.”
The Barber: “No. This death is still alive.”
Kill’n Jim Jackson: “Last time I saw that look was when I was lookin’ into a mirror this morning. I can read you like a reflection, boy.”
John Slaughter: “I’m gonna die no matter what. I’m gonna take you with me.”
Kill’n Jim Jackson: “Good. I’d hate to be lonely.”
Moses Logan: “This might not be none of my business, John, but you look like somebody walkin’ on quicksand over hell.”
David Jean Thompson as Kill’n Jim Jackson, leader of Jack Pickett’s old gang in Ghost Rock (2003)
Shane Lacey as The Barber, a member of Jack Pickett’s old gang in Ghost Rock (2003)
Cherokee Bill: “I want my hand back, Jack.”
Jack Pickett, dealing cards: “You want your hand back? One, two, three, four, five. There’s your damn hand. Shut up.”
Savannah Starr: “Just ask yourself, Johnny. Are you dying to live? Or living to die?”
Jack Pickett: “It feels good to kill!”
Jack Pickett, upon his reunion with John Slaughter: “Johnny! Be good!”
Mattie Baker after Savannah Starr has climbed from her bath and walked through the saloon nude, gunning down severanl of Jack Pickett’s men with remarkable ease: “You need a towel.”
Christa Sauls as Jasmine, the pretty lap-dance investing saloon girl happy to see John Slaughter return in Ghost Rock (2003)
Jeff Fahey as Moses Logan, the leader of the Texas Rangers in Ghost Rock (2003)
Phillip Zabriskie as young John Slaughter, finding a bullet after Jack Pickett’s gang has ridden off in Ghost Rock (2003)
Michael Worth as John Slaughter, getting an update on what’s happened during his 20-year absense in Ghost Rock (2003)
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