Barry Sullivan is Benjamin Pride. He and his family are heading West and decide to stop in Lawrence, Kansas, enticed by the fine land and undeterred by the fact that Judd Barker (George C. Scott) and his band of ruffians are trying to keep northerners out of the territory.
Sullivan is a widower with three children and his parents along for the trip, so when he runs into — literally — a pretty and unmarried doctor’s daughter named Elizabeth Reynolds (Kathryn Hays), he has another reason to hang around.
Unfortunately, Barker and his men strike time and again. Pride’s father is injured trying to put out a fire started by Barker’s men. His mother is killed, and so is Elizabeth’s father, during a Quantrill-like raid on Lawrence. And, finally, he kidnaps Elizabeth and Pride’s teenage daughter Midge so they can help nurse some of his men back to health.
Review:
This was and looks like a TV movie. In fact, it was originally shown in two parts as the first two episodes of a new TV series, “The Road West.” As a result, it’s a pretty tame film. Oh, George C. Scott and his men scowl a lot, but the violence isn’t exactly hard-hitting.
It also tries to be a family film, so we have daughter Midge throwing a tantrum over the fact that her dad might love someone other than their mother, son Timothy trying his best to rescue the woman and younger son Kip carrying around a pet pig named Annabelle.
The parts of Midge and Timothy were played by Brenda Scott and Andrew Prine, who were real-life husband and wife not once, or twice, but three times. You might remember Brenda as the lovely brunette from “The Journey to Shiloh.”
Directed by:
Vincent McEveety
Cast:
Barry Sullivan … Benjamin Pride
Brenda Scott … Midge Pride
Andrew Prine … Timothy Pride
Kelly Corcoran … Kip Pride
Katherine Squire … Grandma Pride
Kathryn Hays … Elizabeth Reynolds
Roy Roberts … Doc Reynolds
John Drew Barrymore … Stacy Daggart
Glenn Corbett … Chance Reynolds
George C. Scott … Jud Barker
Runtime: 97 min.
Memorable lines:
Kip Pride: “Them bushwhackers said they’d be back today, pa. They could sneak in here while we’re asleep.”
Benjamin Pride: “Nah. There’s no reason for you to worry about that. The old captain is going to be on guard the rest of the night. And you know I have eyes in the back of my head.”
Kip: “Let me see.”
Elizabeth Reynolds. cradling the body of her dead father: “If only I been here with him instead of rolling in the grass like some …”
Benjamin Pride: “Elizabeth, stop! Quit torturing yourself. You can’t change what is.”
Timothy Pride, glancing into the rear of a wagon he and Chance Reynolds have hijacked, thinking it contained their siblings: “There’s nothing female back there but a crate of scared chickens.”
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