Joe Corbet is Ransom, a Union scout who’s fallen for a Confederate war widow and her young daughter.
He has to leave them to accompany Union forces as they accept the surrender of the last few bands of Rebel soldiers out West.
By the time he returns, Tess is dead, her young daughter Promise is missing.
Turns out they received a visit from Rebel deserters who wound up with a chest of Confederate gold bound for Mexico.
The trio planned to bury the loot on a piece of land out West, then return to split it up later.
They thought the property was abandoned. Then they discovered Tess and Promise and feared they might spill the secret.
Flash forward 12 years, and Ransom has become a bounty hunter on the trail of an outlaw named Zebediah Scurlock.
A young woman is on his trail too. Because he’s the last surviving member of the trio who killed her mom.
And so Promise and Ransom are reunited. And Promise is searching for that chest of gold.
They won’t be alone in the quest. One-eyed war veteran Wildeye and his partner Brick Logan want the gold.
Bill Gristy, another bounty hunter with a deadly aim, learns of the chest too and joins in the hunt.
Joe Cornet as Ransom, seeking answers about what happened to his lady love and her daughter after he returned to the war in Promise (2021)
Trista Robinson as Promise, reunited with Ransom, the man she looked up to as a father figure in Promise (2021)
Review:
A low-budget film most notable for the presence of veteran actor Don Murray, who was 91 when it was released and had starred in such Westerns as “From Hell to Texas” and “These Thousand Hills” during his prime.
Murray has a minor role here as the current owner of the property where Tess and Promise once lived. He fills Ransom in on what happened to them while he was off at war, at least the little he knows.
Considering his age, Murray acquits himself well. It turned out to be his final film. He died Feb 2, 2024, at age 94.
Otherwise, this is a fine looking film, but not much works well. Director Cornet is way too stilted in the lead role. Despite being orphaned as a young girl as forced to “compromise her morals” to survive in the West, Promise speaks as though she just stepped out of the finest of finishing schools.
Even less convincing is the villain Wild Eye, who lost an eye and the ability to speak in anything other than a hoarse rasp during the Civil War. He’s clearly not the brightest bulb in Las Cruces. But he breaks into Promise’s hotel room way too easily. And he discovers a clue to the whereabouts of the gold way, way, way too easily.
This marked the third Western directed by Cornet. He fares far better with his fourth, 2023’s “Gunfight at Rio Bravo.”
Curt Lambert as Wildeye, a man wounded in the war and hellbent on recovering the chest of gold in Promise (2021)
Gene Rathswohl as Brick Logan, Wildeye’s dim-witted partner in crime in Promise (2021)
Directed by:
Joe Cornet
Cast:
Trista Robinson … Promise Sawyer
Joe Cornet … Ransom
Curt Lambert … Wildeye
James Henderson … Bill Gristy
Kerry Goodwin … Tess
Gene Rathswohl … Brick Logan
Maude Bonanni … Francesca
Don Murray … Zacharias
Patrick Scott Lewis … Fugitive
Matt Kelsey … Father Thomas
Christopher Beeman … Zebediah Scurlock
Ernie Ventry … Bully Bryant
Robert Amato … Highwayman
John Marrs … Sheriff Danbury
Buddy Clements … Father Raymond
Runtime: 118 min.
James Henderson as Bill Gristy, the second bounty hunter to join the search for a chest of gold in Promise (2021)
Don Murray as Zacharias, ordering a pair of ill-mannered strangers off his land in Promise (2021)
Memorable lines:
Saloon keeper, after watching Ransom gun down a wanted man: “I don’t get it. If you knew you were going to kill him, why did you buy him a meal?”
Ransom: “I didn’t want the son-of-a-bitch to go to hell on an empty stomach.”
Francesca, Ransom’s new lover: “Come on, you gloomy bastard … Confront your past.”
Zacharias to Ransom: “You cannot control life. Life controls you.”
Ransom: “Should a man be allowed to grieve?”
Zacharias: “For as long as he wishes.”
Kerry Goodwin as Tess, showing her daughter the cross shaped necklace Ransom left behind in Promise (2021)
Maude Bonanni as Francesca, Ransom’s new love, fearing she’ll lose him to his wandering ways in Promise (2021)
Ransom, having killed Zebediah Scurlock: “Your journey is at an end.”
Promise: “Not quite. There’s the cash box.”
Bill Gristly, bounty hunter, to a man with a bounty on his head: “You are wearing on my patience. You will only succeed in arousing my deeper anger. And when that occurs, hell follows.”
Promise: “You speak in vagaries.”
Ransom: “That’s part of my charm.”
Promise, having gunned down a man who was explaining, at length, why he was about to kill Ransom: “I hate verbose people.”
Ransom: “He was a might bitter. I get that from time to time.”
Christopher Beeman as Zebediah Scurlock, the man who starts the killing over a chest of lost Rebel gold in Promise (2021)
John Marrs as Sheriff Danberry, finding himself locked in one of his own jail cells in Promise (2021)
Matt Kelsey as Father Thomas, the blind priest who stayed behind in a ghost town and wound up with a chest of gold in his church in Promise (2021)
Young Promise, cowering in a corner as three strange men search the home she shares with her mother in Promise (2011) Does anyone know who plays this part?
Joe Cornet as Ransom, confronting two bullies in the saloon and searching for peace in life in Promise (2021)
Trista Robinson as Promise Sawyer, thinking she’s spotted one of the men she’s searching for in Promise (2021)
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