Long Shadows (2025)

Blaine Maye is Marcus Dollar, a young man released from the orphanage he’s grown up in since his parents were brutally murdered by horse thieves years earlier.

He wants to buy a horse to visit his old home. Instead, he winds up in Purgatory, a saloon / bordello run by Vivian Villere (Jacqueline Bisset).

There he meets Dulce Flores (Sarah Cortez), a young woman who aspires to attend a music conservatory.

Dulce took at job at Purgatory to play piano, only to learn she’d be expected to meet the carnal needs of male customers as well.

Upon hearing this, Marcus buys a mule — all he can afford — helps Dulce escape and takes her back home to her sister.

Then he returns to his old home to learn it’s been purchased by former outlaw Dallas “Deadeye” Garrett (Dermot Mulroney).

Garrett warns him of the dangers of seeking vengeance against his parents’ killers. Marcus sets out on their trail anyway.

Which means he winds up with someone on his trail as well — Marshal Wesley Tibbs, another man haunted by his past, a lawman who has lost his will to draw a gun on anyone.

Blaine Maye as Marcus Dollar, leaving the orphanage and striking out on his own in Long Shadows (2025)

Sarah Cortez as Dulce Flores, contemplating suicide when Vivian pressures her to start whoring in Long Shadows (2025)

Review:

A mixed bag, featuring better production values and much better acting than you’ll find in most Westerns being released these days.

But it’s also a Western with way too many characters with way too many backstories and way too many tangents.

It’s almost as though someone envisioned a Netflix-style multi-part series, then was forced to condense the script into a 100-minute movie.

As a result, Marcus’s descent from a fresh-faced innocent to vengeance-seeking killer is a bit difficult to swallow.

And while a twist near the end of the film helps explain the bloated cast, the twist struck this viewer as more odd than satisfying.

All that said, it’s worth a watch for Western fans. Hey, it’s always nice to watch a Western with a big enough budget that the script doesn’t have to explain why all of the horses disappeared.

Jacqueline Bisset as Vivian Villere, painting a rosy picture of a whore’s future in Long Shadows (2025)

Dominic Monaghan as Ned Duxbury, trying to keep Dulce from running off with Marcus Dollar in Long Shadows (2025)

Directed by:
William Shockley

Cast:
Blaine Maye … Marcus Dollar
Sarah Cortez … Dulce Flores
Grainger Hines … Marshal Wesley Tibbs
David St. Louis … Deputy Deac Barnes
Pressly Coker … Deputy Chuck Reynolds
Jacqueline Bisset … Vivian Villere
Dominic Monaghan … Ned Duxbury
Dermot Mulroney … Dallas Garrett
Chris Mulkey … Judge Roy Holt
Ronnie Gene Blevins … Knox Weaver
Mike Markoff … Len Kasper
Jonathan Peacy … Kip Riley
Gavin Warren … Young Marcus Dollar
Brick Patrick … Preston Dollar
Dawn Marie … Rebecca Dollar
Ryder Franco … Young Berto Medina
Edgar Santiago … Berto Medina
Cosima Cabrera … Blanca Flores
Nancy La Scala … Sister Luisa Cabrini
Isaac Stephen Montgomery … Titus Stahl

Runtime: 100 min.

Grainger Hines as Wesley Tibbs, a marshal tired of taking lives and hoping to save one in Long Shadows (2025)

David St. Louis at Deac Barnes, Wesley Tibbs’ trusted deputy and confidant in Long Shadows (2025)

Memorable lines:

Vivian Villere, trying to convince Dulce Flores of the advantages of becoming a whore: “Men control this world. It’s never gonna change. But we have our own kind of power. Let me show you how to manipulate that power to your power. You can be a victim, or you can control your fate.”

Judge Roy Holt, on his campaign motto: “The least governed is the best governed.”

Dallas ‘Deadeye’ Garrett, expressing his reluctance to teach Marcus how to shoot: “Kasper rode with the Weaver gang. You call them out, you’re askin’ for the grave. And I ain’t gonna ask you dig it.”

Dallas ‘Deadeye Garrett to Marcus Dollar: “Callin’ a man out ain’t a halfway game. It’s kill or be killed.”

Dallas ‘Deadeye’ Garrett, warning Marcus Dollar about his mission of vengeance: “Time comes when you’ll regret this.”
Marcus: “Dallas, what would you do if you were me? I’d really like to know.”
Dallas: “Son, I’ve been your ass. You ain’t never been mine.”
Marcus: “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Dallas: “I’m tryin’ to steer you clear of windin’ up like me — an old man who grieves every like he took. The more you take, the more it haunts ya.”

Ronnie Gene Blevins as Knox Weaver, haunted by the murders of Marcus’s parents in Long Shadows (2025)

Mike Markoff as Len Kasper, the first of the horse thieves Marcus Dollar tracks down in Long Shadows (2025)

Jonathan Peacy as Kip Riley, one of the bandits who destroyed Marcus’s happy childhood in Long Shadows (2025)

Dermot Mulroney as Dallas ‘Deadeye’ Garrett, the former outlaw now living on the Dollar land in Long Shadows (2025)

Ryder Franco as young Berto Medina, trying to convince Marcus to flee the orphanage with him in Long Shadows (2025)

Edgar Santiago as Berto Medina, ready to help Marcus Dollar escape the marshal and his deputies in Long Shadows (2025)

Dawn Marie as Rebecca Dollar, reacting when thieves arrive at the Dollar ranch in Long Shadows (2025)

Brick Patrick as Preston Dollar, trying desperately to reach his wounded son in Long Shadows (2025)

Nancy La Scala as Sister Luisa Cabrini, giving Marcus advice as he leaves the orphanage in Long Shadows (2025)

Cosima Cabrera as Bianca Flores, explaining why she was so upset when Dulce left home in Long Shadows (2025)

Sarah Cortez as Dulce Flores, about to be rescued from Purgatory by Marcus Dollar in Long Shadows (2025)

Blaine Maye as Marcus Dollar, ready to dole out a measure of revenge in Long Shadows (2025)