Riders of the Purple Sage (1994)

Ed Harris plays Jim Lassister, who rides onto the Withersteen ranch and smack dab into a “queer deal.”

Deacon Tull from the Mormon chuch is on hand with seven gun-toting riders, harassing ranch owner Jane Withersteen and hired hand Bern Venters.

Tull wants to marry Withersteen, who’s being criticized by church leaders for not taking a husband and for fraternizing with outsiders like Venters.

Lassister chases off Tull and his comrades. Turns out he’s at the Withersteen ranch for a reason: He’s heard Jane might know where —- —- is buried.

—- was Lassister’s sister. Until she was kidnapped and carried off with her daughter. She wound up committing suicide, and Lassister has been busy tracking down those responsible.

He winds up being embroiled in the plight of Jane as well. Seems the church has decided it’s time for her to take her rightful place in their society, even if it means rustling her cattle to show her the error of her ways.

Meanwhile, ranchhand Venters has come across and shot a suspected rustler. The masked rider turns out to be a female named Elizabeth, who rides masked, but has never stolen.

Review:

Different enough to be a notch above your average made-for-TV Western; Harris and Madigan had been married for about 10 years when the film was made.

The two scenes in which Lassister comes to the rescue of the Vern Benters character are especially well done. And Harris’s gritty performance explains why he was called on for key roles in 2008’s “Appaloosa,” 2013’s “Sweetwater” and the HBO series “Westworld.”

All that said, the relationship between Venters and “Bess,” followed by the reveal of her true identity does strain the bounds of plausibility.

Let’s see, he shoots her, nurses her back to health and they wind up falling in love.

This marked the fifth filming of the 1912 Zane Grey novel, but the first since 1941. The Lassister role had previously been played by William Farnum, Tom Mix, George O’Brien and George Montgomery.

This version never mentions the Mormon church by name. Nor the fact that the man hoping to marry Jane already has two wives.

Directed by:
Charles Haid

Cast:
Ed Harris … Jim Lassiter
Amy Madigan … Jane Withersteen
Henry Thomas … Bern Venters
Robin Tunney … “Bess” Erne
Norbert Weisser … Deacon Tull
G.D. Spradlin … Pastor Dyer
Lynn Wanlass … Hester Brandt
Bob L. Harris … Collier Brandt
Jerry Wills … Oldring
Rusty Musselman … Matthew Blake
Tom Bower … Judkins

Runtime: 98 min.

Memorable lines:

Deacon Tull: “This is none of your mix. Don’t try interference.”
Jim Lassiter: “Easy. I ain’t interferin’ yet. I just stumbled into a queer deal. You eight with guns, a man at the end of his rope and this woman swears by his honesty.”

Jim Lassiter: “Where I was raised, a woman’s word was law. I ain’t quite outgrowed that yet.”
Deacon Tull: “We have a law here something different from a woman’s whim. Take care you don’t transgress it.”
Lassiter: “To hell with your law.”

Jane Witherspoon: “Brother Judkins, I might be led, but I won’t be driven.”

Deacon Tull to Jane: “Pretty soon, all the contenders will be gone. And it will just be you and me.”

Jim Lassiter: “This thing I’m about to do ain’t for anything that happened in the past. It’s for what’s happenin’ right now.”

Lynn Wanlass as Hester Brandt, Jane’s female assistant in Riders of the Purple Sage (1996)

Amy Madigan as Jane Withersteen, on the run for her life in Riders of the Purple Sage (1996)