Lone Rider – DVD Review

Never been a big fan of too many westerns. Tombstone, Unforgiven, The Outlaw Joey Wales, The Searchers, and High Plains Drifter are pretty much the only westerns that have ever thrilled me enough to watch a second time through. Most of the time westerns are simply the same as any action film in that we get a battle between good and evil, but with a different setting. For some reason, the Old West and its dust-covered trails never thrilled me out of my mind like it does so many others, but I’ll appreciate a film if it’s good no matter what genre it is in. Too bad Lou Diamond Phillips forgot what a good film is like back around the time of Young Guns (another good western) and La Bamba.

Bobby Hattaway is a retired United States Calvary member who is returning home and expects things to be exactly the same way as they used to be when he was younger. He really is expecting everything to be just as it was and looks forward to picking up life just as he left it. Things are certainly not going to be just as he hoped, but they are very different then what he could have imagined. His old friend Stu Croaker is in a higher position now, and even has taken over control of Hattaway’s parents’ family business. None of this sits well with Bobby and he aims out to change things back as they should be and bring justice to his family and town.

Lone Rider is very generic and extremely simple. Bobby is the good guy and is coming back to town where everyone loves him, but is afraid to go against the word of the new dictator, Stu Croaker. This doesn’t make it a bad film, but it does nothing to really make it much of a good one either. My biggest problem with Lone Rider is that it reminds me too much of Walking Tall. Good guy is gone for a long time and returns back to where he was raised only to find it corrupt and full of no-good actions. He takes it upon himself to bring order to the town and make things right again. Seen it, had it, done with it.

There is barely any setup in the film before it even begins to get going. All we have is a short narration of a letter from Bobby to his parents telling them that he’s coming home and can’t wait to see: list of generic good things that have changed without his knowing. He isn’t even home a day before Stu starts showing his true colors in a not so subtle way of being rude and abrupt and acting like he owns the place, which he does. It’s just over the top generic and so cliché that I would just as soon throw in my copy of Walking Tall and see this story done in an original and better way.

The version with Joe Don Baker, not Dwayne Johnson (The Rock).

The film is shown in Widescreen format and it looks alright. Colors are bright, but the entire film has a bit of a dull feel to it. Not a dull look as if it is dusty in the west, but almost as if its thirty years old.

The film is heard in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and it comes through just fine, no real complaints.

Interview With Lou Diamond Phillips – A very generic interview where he spends half the time telling the plot of the film. The rest of the time he talks about the shoot in this interview which lasts just over ten minutes.

Interview With Vincent Spano – A seven-minute and thirteen second interview where Spano discusses his character and gives more background on the film.

Interview With Stacey Keach – This interview lasts just over eight minutes and is much of the same as the other two.

Trailers – Lonesome Dove and Aces N’ Eights

It’s hard to say if the effort is even there because this is a made-for-TV film that never really gets introduced before it gets going. And with that, you’re not going to give so much as a damn about any of the characters. Not that you can care for any of these people considering they play their roles to complete imperfection. Phillips is just looking for work and found it in the lead role of a film that hardly anyone will ever see. Maybe he realized that and that’s why he doesn’t even appear to be trying to act “western” in it. The rest isn’t awful, but not viewable a second time by any sense of the imagination. Twenty-five minutes of lackluster interviews is nothing too exciting either so don’t bother even with a rental here. Maybe if it pops up on television one day and every other channel you have is out; then watch this.

Oh and if you do ever decide to check it out, look for the awful scene about fifteen minutes in. A cowboy goes into Stu’s bedroom looking to shoot him and finds him under the covers in bed. The cowboy unloads one bullet into the lump in bed and feathers fly all over the place which obviously proves it is a set up with a pillow. He then proceeds to unload the other five bullets into the feather-flying pillow and then acts surprised when Stu shows up behind him. DUR!

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Genius Products presents Lone Rider. Directed by: David S. Cass Sr.. Starring: Lou Diamond Phillips, Stacy Keach, Vincent Spano. Written by: Frank Sharp. Running time: 84 minutes. Rating: . Released on DVD: September 16, 2008. Available at Amazon.com