Two brothers are separated at a young age when a gang rides up to their home and their father is brutally shot down as a “sod buster.”
One brother is carried off by the gang after being drug behind a horse. The younger brother hides in an outhouse and is rescued by passing priest.
Thirteen years later, Morphinist (Brad Hunt) is a morphine-addicted, cold-hearted killer. Men, women, children. It matters not.
He seemingly kills for sport, between getting high to chase away his inner demons. He’s not above sacrificing partners either, as he does during his get-away after robbing the office of the Ledbetter mining company.
Ledbetter sets out on his trail with an able scout named Silas, a loud-mouthed braggart named Horace and a vengeance-seeking cowboy named Dixie.
He also has a mysterious and very quiet stranger as part of his posse.
The stranger, of course, is the Journeyman (Daniel Lapaine), trying to track down his brother, trying to see if he can be saved.
But Morphinist has scores to settle.
That’s if enemies with a score to settle like former partner Walter P. Higgs don’t settle theirs first.
David Lapaine as the Journeyman in The Journeyman (2001)
Brad Hunt as Morphinist in The Journeyman (2002)
Review:
A low-budget Western with a bigger budget feel. Willie Nelson’s guest starring role lasts all of 2 minutes at the start of the film, but his demise leaves the film in the hands of a capable cast, including Brad Hunt as one of the more vicious villains you’ll run across.
Little touches make this film unique. Like Ezikiel Gore’s Whores. Like the young boy who’s helping hold up Leadbetter’s payroll office. Like the other bank robber who insists his victims learn his name.
The final shootout is particularly well done.
Barry Corbin as Charlie Ledbetter in The Journeyman (2001)
Dash Mihok as Walter P. Higgs III in The Journeyman (2001)
Directed by:
James Crowley
Cast:
Brad Hunt … Morphinist
Daniel Lapaine … Journeyman
Barry Corbin … Charlie Ledbetter
Arie Verveen … Horace Marywell
Dash Mihok … Walter P. Higgs III
Burton Gilliam …. Silas Bishop
Christopher Dahlberg … Dixie Little
John Beasley … Cleofas
Assumpta Serna … Cleopatra
Leon Singer … Lucio
Willie Nelson … Samuel Hancock
L.J. Buleson … Frank
Runtime: 93 min.
Christopher Dahlberg as Dixie Little in The Journeyman (2001)
Arie Verveen as Horace Marywell in The Journeyman (2001)
Memorable lines:
Morphinist: “People remember evil long after they’ve forgotten good.”
Ledbetter: “You talk too much, Horace. Plain and simple, you talk too god damned much.”
Willie Nelson as Samuel Hancock in The Journeyman (2001)
Assumpta Serna as Cleopatra in The Journeyman (2001)
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