Isaiah Mustafa is Cicero, a black cowboy who arrives in a Montana town just in time to see Robert Dunnigan barge into the saloon and announce that he just struck gold.
Cicero enjoys a free drink as a result. But within 24 hours, he’s sitting in a jail call, accused of Dunnigan’s murder.
Seems Dunnigan was found shot to death on his way back home. And a small pouch, containing some of his gold nuggets, was found in Cicero’s hotel room.
That confounds Violet Running Horse, who’s boarding Cicero’s horse at the stable where she works. How exactly did Cirero leave town and kill Dunnigan without his horse.
She approaches Sheriff Jim Abrose (Gabriel Byrne) with her concerns.
But before long, a woman is found in those stables with her throat slit. Cicero has escaped jail. And, this town, his horse has disappeared too.
A manhunt ensues. But by the time, town preacher Thaddeus Murphy (Thomas Jane) is beginning to doubt Cicero’s guilt too.
Sheriff Ambrose doesn’t give a damn. If true justice is elusive, the perception of justice will do just fine in his mind.
Isaiah Mustafa as Cicero, a man accused of a crime he didn’t commit in Murder at Yellowstone City (2022)
Gabriel Byrne as Sheriff Jim Ambrose, ready to defend his town in Murder at Yellowstone City (2022)
Review:
Hallelujah! Jumping Jehoshaphat! Someone released an original, highly entertaining Western in 2022.
Now, I could quibble about a preacher’s wife teaching school lessons alongside a prostitute. Would that really happen?
Or I could quibble about the rapid descent into violence that precedes the climatic shootout.
But this film is so far ahead of most of its contemporaries in plot, acting and entertainment value, that it truly would be quibbling.
So sit back and enjoy a murder mystery in a Wild West setting. It’s the best Western released since 2020’s “News of the World.”
You might even find yourself surprised by who’s behind all the mischief.
Thomas Jane as Thaddeus Murphy, finding a key piece of evidence in Murder at Yellowstone City (2022)
Anna Camp as Alice Murphy, who learns about the secrets in her preacher husband’s past in Murder at Yellowstone City (2022)
Directed by:
Richard Gray
Cast:
Isaiah Mustafa … Cicero
Zach McGowan … Robert Dunnigan
Thomas Jane … Thaddeus Murphy
Ron Garritson … Owen McCray
Gabriel Byrne … Sheriff Jim Ambrose
John Alex … Mickey O’Hare
Aimee Garcia … Isabel Santos
Richard Dreyfuss … Edgar Blake
Lew Temple … David Harding
Nat Wolff … Jimmy Abrose Jr.
Emma Kenney … Rebecca Davies
Scottie Thompson … Emma Dunnigan
Anna Camp … Alice Murphy
Isabella Ruby … Josephine Wright
Marley Gray … Orphan boy
Eadie Gray … Orphan girl
Danny Bohnen … Marcus O’Sullivan
Tanaya Beatty … Violet Running Horse
Lia Marie Johnson … Eugenia Martin
Joe Nichols … Olin Hodge
Scotty Bohnen … Edwin Wilcox
Runtime: 127 min.
Zach McGowan as Robert Dunnigan, celebrating a gold strike in Murder at Yellowstone City (2022)
Scottie Thompson as Emma Dunnigan, a widow eager to leave town in Murder at Yellowstone City (2022)
Memorable lines:
Sheriff Jim Ambrose to Cicero: “You didn’t just kill a man yesterday. Understand me? You killed hope. And it’s my job to get it back. Cause this is my town.”
Sheriff Jim Abrose: “Horses all right?”
Violet Running Horse: “They’re quiet … It’s just that. he — that man — his horse — he left me his horse — and his saddle. So how could he be the one who killed Robert Dunnigan? How’d he get there with no horse?”
Thaddeus Murphy: “You shouldn’t be shooting at graves.”
Josephine: “Ain’t like I’m hittin’ it.”
Sheriff Jim Ambrose: “You’re not tryin’ to take my job from me, are you, preacher? You don’t see me jumpin’ into the pulpit.”
Thaddeus Murphy: “Well, my job would be to seek the truth, sheriff, whether or not that leads you to what you think you’ll find.”
Sheriff Ambrose: “Well, my truth is the man I have in that jail over there is the man who killed Robert Dunnigan.”
Thaddeus Murphy: “Yeah, but he doesn’t seem like a killer, does he?”
Thaddeus Murphy: “Anybody comes in here that’s not me, you shoot him.”
Alice Murphy: “I can’t shoot a man.”
Thaddeus: “It’s just like shooting a rabbit, only easier to hit.”
Sheriff Jim Ambrose: “Let me tell you about justice, the way I see it. This isn’t about Robert Donnigan. Not even about the man who killed him. It’s about everyone else. You kill a man in this town, everybody knows there’s a price to be paid.”
Alice Murphy: “Perhaps there will be a time we no longer need to fight.”
Cicero: “Perhaps.”
Aimee Garcia as saloon girl Isabel Santos, mourning the death of the man she loved in Murder at Yellowstone City (2022)
Tanaya Beatty as Violet Running Horse, suspecting the sheriff has locked up the wrong man in Murder at Yellowstone City (2022)
Nat Wolff as Jimmy Ambrose Jr., a deputy for his father in Murder at Yellowstone City (2022)
Danny Bohnen as Marcus O’Sullivan, one of the sheriff’s deputies in Murder at Yellowstone City (2022)
Richard Dreyfuss as Edgar Blake, the Shakespeare quoting barkeep in Murder at Yellowstone City (2022)
John Alex as Mickey O’Hare, the piano player with a secret to keep in Murder at Yellowstone City (2022)
Isabella Ruby as Josephine Wright, the young girl Isabel takes under her wing in Murder at Yellowstone City (2022)
Lew Temple as David Harding, eager to collect a gambling debt once Dunnigan strikes gold in Murder at Yellowstone City (2022)
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