After his wife’s death, a rancher named Dexter (Drew Waters) is left to raise two growing daughters on his own.
He teaches 15-year-old star Star (Brooklin Michelle) and her younger sister Blaze (Lyanna Ferrino) what he knows best, which is how to ride and shoot.
They’re practicing one day when Blaze rides off a cliff. She survives, but her spinal chord has been broken. It’s unlikely she’ll ever walk, let along ride, again.
There is a glimmer of hope, according to Dr. Billing. A surgeon all the way across the country in Philadelphia is working on an experimental procedure. But it would cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars, money Dexter simply doesn’t have.
Then Mr. York arrives in Coyote Flats to market his company’s new Colt pistol, dubbed The Peacemaker. And to help spread the word, he’s organizing a riding and shooting contest with a grand prize of $5,000.
Naturally, Star wants to enter. Her father is reluctant. After all, she’d be competing against grown men. And it could be dangerous.
More dangerous than he knows. Because the greedy mayor of Coyote Flats is trying to rig the competition so that he’ll wind up with the prize money, or at least a bulk of it.
And he has Sheriff Wiley following orders to help see that it happens.
Brooklin Michelle as Star, taking riding pointers from her father in Shooting Star (2022)
Brooklin Michelle as Star, taking riding pointers from her father in Shooting Star (2022)
Review:
This had the makings of a charming little family film and gets two stars because it occasionally reaches that potential.
Young Brooklin Michelle is impressive in the role of 15-year-old Star. Lyana Ferrino is cute as a button as her younger sister. And Drew Waters is solid as their
father, though he changes his mind so often about Star’s participation in the shooting match that viewers might want to reach through the screen and shake him.
So what’s the problem?
The script! This blog features reviews of 2,300 Westerns — including films like “Billy the Kid Meets Dracula” and “Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter.” Yet Michael Feifer’s script for this film might be the absolute worst of all 2,300.
Let’s see. Star kills a bandit and never even mentions it to her father. A teenage boy who has a crush on her is killed and never missed or mentioned again. One of the finalists in the shooting contest disappears — he’s killed, too — and no one seems to notice.
And if that’s not enough, here’s the cardinal sin. The filmmakers repeatedly forget that Blaze, the younger sister, is paralyzed. I mean, isn’t that the central plot point to the entire film?
Yet check out the final scene, which includes all the stars and a couple of other actors. Did they know the film’s plot when the scene was filmed? If so, how is it possible that no one in the cast or crew raised a hand and said: “Wait a minute, this doesn’t make any sense!”
Because trust me, it doesn’t.
Lyana Ferrino, smiling in spite of her serious injuries in Shooting Star (2022)
Heather McComb as May Giles, the woman who is sweet on Star’s dad — and vice versa — in Shooting Star (2022)
Directed by:
Michael Feifer
Cast:
Drew Waters … Dexter
Heather McComb … Mary
Brooklin Michelle … Star
Michael Pare … Sheriff Wiley
Peter Sherayko … Mayor Bigly
Lyana Ferrino … Blaze
Caia Coley … Eloise Veal
Jake Busey … Mr. York
Larry Poole … Deputy Petty
Tim Abell … Monty
Aaron Behr … Daugherty
Robert Craighead … Dr. Billing
Jay H.R. Wilkins … Archie
Jonahan Erickson Eisley … Hayes
Tanner Fontana … Jimmy
Jay Pickett … Walt
Jim Heffel … Tim
Will Roberts … James Arthury Cooley
Rex Steve Sikes … Mr. Drummond
Tony Herbert … Mr. Beals
Michael Gaglio … Mr. Lillis
Runtime: 113 min.
Peter Sherayko as the greedy Mayor Bigly, making his position clear to the sheriff in Shooting Star (2022)
Michale Pare as Sheriff Wiley, a lawman in cahoots with a greedy mayor in Shooting Star (2022)
Memorable lines:
Dexter: “You ain’t entering no shooting competition.”
Star: “Well, why not?”
Dexter: “You’re a little girl. You don’t shoot with men.”
Star: “Who made up that stupid rule?”
Mayor Bigly, about his new tax: “It’s the law, and you’re going to enforce it. And if you don’t, I’m going to rip that badge off your chest.”
Sheriff Wiley: “You’d have to rip this badge off my dead body, mayor.”
Mayor Bigly: “LIfe’s like a checker game. When you’re king, you can move anywhere you want. It’s good to be king.”
Sheriff Wiley, when the winner of the shooting contest winds up with the prize money: “What the hell’s going on, Mr. Mayor?”
Mayor Bigly: “I don’t know, but I’m mad enough to kick my own dog.”
Tim Abell as Monty, the cowboy who’s supposed to steal the prize money in Shooting Star (2022)
Jake Busey as Mr. York, announcing the shooting competition in Shooting Star (2022)
Larry Poole as Deputy Petty, another yes man in the mayor’s pocket in Shooting Star (2022)
Rex Steve Sikes as Mr. Drummond, arguing with the mayor over new taxes in Shooting Star (2022)
Robert Craighead as Dr. Billing, struggling when bandits strike in Shooting Star (2022)
Brooklin Michelle as Star, questioning her dad about his relationship with Miss Giles in Shooting Star (2022)
){kind=link}