The Jack Bull (1999)
This is a very solid made for HBO tv western. This would have been a perfect late night film to watch in my parents summerhouse on the small CRT tv back in the 90s. Seeing it today on a big screen does reveal its lower production qualities.
What makes this worthwhile to watch is the story and script, which starts out as a typical western with a quarrel between a horse trader and a landowner that through various misdeeds escalates to greater heights. But instead of turning into the typical revenge plot with a big shootout, the story turns very tragic and evolves into something greater about the need for justice and further complicated with political drama on Wyoming entering statehood.
Cusack does well as the the everydayman who is willing to lose everything in pursuit of proper justice and John Goodman is great as the judge who sees the need for proper law for the country to become truly civilized.
I think with a proper theatrical budget and a director that was allowed more artistic freedom, this could have been a really great unique western. On the other hand, maybe Hollywood would have ruined the ending and making it for HBO might have made it possible for the movie to reverse the usual expectations for those kind of stories.
Rating: 3.5