The Avenging Angel (1995)

Tom Berenger is Miles Utley, orphaned as a young boy and raised to become a member of the Danites, gunmen trained to protect the Mormon church.

And he’s become one of the best at what he does, a skill he demonstrates by putting a bullet between the eyes of a would-be assassin in the assembly hall.

But then he’s told the would-be assassin was unarmed, and that he’d better flee for safety because the killing could tarnish the church’s reputation.

Then he learns the individual he killed was a woman. And that a man whose throat he slit for being a traitor was no threat whatsoever to church leader Brigham Young.

But someone’s plotting harm — and perhaps the death — of Brigham. Utley suspects it, and Liza Rigby, estranged wife of an aspiring church leader confirms clandestine meetings at the home where she lives.

Problem is, his status with Young could be on shaky ground because he’s been bedding his daughter Miranda and has managed to make an enemy of his son Alpheus.

So Utley finally heads for the hills. After all, that’s where he can find his old tutor Porter Rockwell (James Coburn) to help sort out the mess.

Review:

Entertaining TNT TV Western that succeeds partly because of its unique focus — the Mormon Church — and the unique position Utley finds himself in.

He’s a man who’s sacrificed everything for the church, who’s put his life on the line for the church countless times. Now he’s uncertain who he can trust within that church family.

Charlton Heston plays Brigham Young, but doesn’t get much screen time. James Coburn, long gray beard flowing, gets more and proves he can still bring some gusto to a Western character.

Fay Masterson plays Brigham’s daughter, the young woman who’s fallen for Utley. Leslie Hope is Liza Rigby, the woman who helps nurse him back to health when he’s wounded and captures his heart in the process.

Directed by:
Craig R. Baxley

Cast:
Tom Berenger … Miles Utley
James Coburn … Porter Rockwell
Fay Masterson … Miranda Young
Kevin Tighe … Ben Rigby
Jeffrey Jones … Milton Long
Tom Bower … Bill Hickman
Leslie Hope … Liza Rigby
Daniel Quinn … Alpheus Young
Charlton Heston … Brigham Young
Andrew Prine … Andrew Pike
Lisa Banes … Rebecca Heaton
Drew Snyder … Will Heaton
Tracey Ellis .. Hannah Parker

Runtime: 91 min.

Memorable lines:

Milton Long to Utley: “We are trying to convince the outside world that, despite our polygamist views, we are not barbarians. It does not help our cause when you’re blasting away at imaginary assassins while the prophet is preaching non-violence.”

Liza Rigby to Utley: “I wonder if that brings confort to a man who winds up facing the point of your gun: that you’re just an old church myth.”

Miranda Young, confused when she and Liza visit Miles in jail: “Ben Rigby has you locked up? And Eleanor Riby slips you a gun?”
Miles Utley: “Oh. I think they’re having marital troubles.”

Miranda Young daughter, certain she’d provide Utley protection because no one would dare harm the prophet’s daughter: “Those sons of bitches. They actually shot me.”

Miles Utley to Alpheus Young: “You know, Alpheus, the problem with polygamy is when you have 27 wives and 56 children, one of them is just bound to turn out as dirt-stupid and pig-ugly as you.”

Kevin Tighe, the Mormon leader with big ambitions in Avenging Angel (1997)

Tom Bower as Bill Hickman, Utley’s adoptive father turned drunkard in Avenging Angel (1995)