The Pledge (2008)

Luke Perry is Matt Austin, sheriff in Parkville, who sets out on the trail of an escaped outlaw named Elli Tate.

He realizes too late that Tate is out to settle an old score with him, by raiding his ranch. By the time Austin returns home, his wife and son are dead; the outlaws gone.

So Austin takes off his badge and heads out on the vengeance trail. That trail takes his to the outlaw town of Asquerosos.

He kills one outlaw, but Tate escapes. And an innocent man, Eddie Aguilar, gets caught up in the gunfight and also winds up being gunned down by Austin.

Austin carts Eddie’s body back to Crockett, Calif., where his family is desperately trying to hold onto its hacienda. The family includes pretty Amaya (Jacklyn DeSantis) and her son Billy.

Trying to force them off their property is land-hungry Lamar Horn (C. Thomas Howell), who has the sheriff, the preacher and a band of gunmen to do his dirty work.

Of course, Austin decides to help out the family, determined to make amends for his misjudgment back home.

This time, a chance for vengeance comes to him, when Tate becomes one of Horn’s latest hired guns.

Luke Perry as Matt Austin, the lawman who wants vengeance against the men who destroyed his family in The Pledge (2008)

C. Thomas Howell as Lamar Horn, eager to get his hands on the Aguilar land in The Pledge (2008)

Review:

So-so TV Western simply lacks any sort of spark. Howell’s Horn isn’t a particularly dastardly villain. With his oversized hat pulled down nearly to his eyes, Perry is an unconvincing hero.

Even more unconvincing is a scene in which Austin teaches Amaya to shoot. She’s riddling cans with bullets in a matter of minutes. And the only unique plot twist is that Horn wants Amaya’s land to plant an orange grove, not for cattle or minerals buried underneath.

Perry’s far more effective and entertaining in the Goodnight for Justice TV Westerns he produced three years later.

Jacklyn DeSantis as Amaya, urging her brother Eddie not to do anything rash in The Pledge (2008)

Kim Coates as Elli Tate, the escaped convict with a score to settle with Matt Austin in The Pledge (2008)

Directed by:
Armand Mastroianni

Cast:
Luke Perry … Matt Austin
C. Thomas Howell … Lamar Horn
Jacklyn DeSantis … Amaya
Kim Coates … Elli Tate
Chip Sickler … Johnny Hogan
Daniel Wisler … Hank (deputy)
Alex Paez … Eddie Aguilar (Amaya’s brother)
Wyatt Smith … Billy (Amaya’s son)
Francesco Quinn … Crockett Sheriff
Jorge Pallo … Samuel
Johann Urb … Lars Anderson
Nicholas Guest … Vaughn (storekeeper)
James Keane … Preacher

Runtime: 80 min.

aka:
A Gunfighter’s Pledge

Francesco Quinn as the Crockett sheriff, a lawman who does Horn’s bidding in The Pledge (2008)

Nicholas Guest as Vaughn, the storekeeper who sympathizes with those trampled by Horn in The Pledge (2008)

Memorable lines:

Lamar Horn: “Go find some men for me, please. Preferably somebody who can shoot.”

Amaya: “You shouldn’t have spoken to him that way. The preacher’s a good man. Everyone says so. He’s just trying to help.”
Matt Austin: “Help like that can get ya killed.”

Gunman: “Hear you’re lookin’ to hire some men. What kind of money?”
Sheriff: “Pay’s good money. If you’re willing to get your hands dirty.”
Gunman: “I think you’re lookin’ for me then.”

Horn, upon meeting Austin: “Few things in life that I find satisfy me like a good brandy.”
Austin: “You didn’t bring me up here to talk about brandy.”
Horn: “Astute man. Must have come in handy while you were sheriff.”

Alex Paez as Eddie Aguilar, Amaya’s brother, determined to hold onto their land in The Pledge (2008)

Johann Urb as Lars Anderson, one of Horn’s victims agreeing to join the fight in The Pledge (2008)

Jorge Pallo as Samuel, one of the men working on the Aguilar ranch in The Pledge (2008)

Lisa Brenner as Gail Austin, spotting her son in the hands of a vicious outlaw in The Pledge (2008)

Jackylyn DeSantis as Amaya and Wyatt Smith as her son Billy in The Pledge (2008)

Daniel Wisner as Hank (right), a deputy warning Matt Austin about a road of revenge in The Pledge (2008)