Product Description
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Top-rated miniseries! Academy Award(r) winner Robert Duvall
(1983 Best Actor in a Leading Role, Tender Mercies ) and Academy
Award(r) nominee Thomas Hayden Church (2004 Best Performance by
an Actor in a Supporting Role, Sideways ) star in this moving
Western drama. Set in 1897, Print Ritter (Duvall) and his
estranged nephew Tom Harte (Hayden Church) become the reluctant
guardians of five abused and abandoned Chinese girls. Ritter and
Harte's attempts to care for the girls are complicated by their
responsibility to deliver a herd of horses while avoiding a group
of bitter rivals, intent on kipping the girls for their own
purposes. Classic Western action takes center stage in this
dramatic miniseries! "ACADEMY AWARD(r)" is the registered
trademark and service mark of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts
and Sciences. "Emmy"(r) is the trademarked property of the
Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the National Academy
of Television Arts and Sciences.
.com
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The lives of two stoic cowboys and five abused Chinese women
become intertwined in Walter Hill's sprawling miniseries Broken
Trail. Print Ritter (Academy Award winner Robert Duvall) and his
nephew Tom Harte (Thomas Haden Church, Sideways) agree to deliver
a herd of 500 horses from Oregon to Wyoming. Along the way, they
rescue the young women--most of them still just girls--who're
being transported to a brothel to have their virginity auctioned
off. When the madam sees she is about to lose the girls, she
screams at Tom, "What about my property?" He shouts back, "That's
the price of being a capitalist, lady." Unable to overcome the
language barrier, Print assigns numbers to the girls. Number 3,
Sun Foy (Gwendoline Yeo, Desperate Housewives) is the most
fearless and perceptive of them. Though the others don't want to
be called Number 4--an unlucky numeral in their homeland--Ye Fung
(Olivia Cheng), the most tragic of the group, doesn't care.
Targeted for her beauty, she finds herself unable to overcome the
trauma. The number suits her, in her mind. Along the way, Print
and Tom rescue Nola Johns (Greta Scacchi), the proverbial hooker
with the heat of gold, who was forced into prostitution after her
husband died.
The cinematography is gorgeous as the camera sweeps over the
lush landscape (the Canadian Rockies subbing in for wild West of
the late 1800s) and Hill does a formidable job of pacing this
3-hour drama with just the right balance of dialogue and action.
For Duvall, Broken Trail is the last piece to his Western
trilogy, which started with the miniseries Lonesome Dove followed
by the feature film Open Range. He is instantly likeable as a
her figure and the viewer never doubts that his intention for
the girls is honorable. As for Haden Church, he has never been as
appealing as he is in this role. Gruff and flawed, he softens
when he exchanges shy glances with Sun Foy. The trek is long and
hard and the unlikely band of travelers will face much hardship.
If not as satisfying as the rich, detailed Lonesome Dove, Broken
Trail makes up for it with a wonderful storyline and some fine
acting by all involved. As for the conclusion, it may surprise
some viewers who are expecting a more traditional version of the
happy ending. --Jae-Ha Kim