Last Stand at Saber River

Summary

“Who would’ve thought one ex-soldier would be such an obstacle?”

Warner Archive has always done an exceptional job of exploring all types of genres within its lineup of releases. They have not shied away from releasing even the most overlooked genre of films – those made-for-television. Last Stand at Saber River is notable for a few reasons. First off, it puts Tom Selleck back in the saddle for a Western, which is a solid choice given his excellent acting in Quigley Down Under. Secondly, Last Stand at Saber River has a better than expected cast with supporting roles played by David Carradine, Keith Carradine, Patrick Kilpatrick, Suzy Amis, Haley Joel Osment, and Rex Linn. Finally, the script by Ronald M. Cohen is based on a novel by Elmore Leonard, whom is one of my favorite authors. For all of these reasons, I decided to check out Last Stand at Saber River the other night, and I also went ahead and read the novel to see how the book and movie matched up.

Confederate soldier Paul Cable (Tom Selleck) has returned home from the front lines of the Civil War. he had served under Nathaniel Bedford Forest and left the war early. He has come to Texas to his wife Martha (Suzy Amis.) She was told that Paul had been killed in action. She had waited for him with their three young children, but unfortunately, while Cable was away, their youngest child caught influenza and passed away. Martha has grown cold toward Cable due to his absence. They journey together to Arizona to claim back their ranch despite the strife she has built up towards Cable. There is a bigger issue once they arrive in Arizona. Some former Union soldiers have commandeered Paul’s property in his absence. Vern (Keith Carradine) and Duane Kidson (David Carradine) believe the property is rightfully theirs due to Paul’s support of the Rebel cause. When Paul and his family approach their property, some men staying on the ranch draw their pistols on Paul and two of the men are shot down by Martha. This shooting creates the tension between Cable and the Kidsons that is the focus of the main plot line of the picture.

Tom Selleck was one of my favorite Western protagonists in Quigley Down Under, and in a perfect world he would have had a career starring in a theatrically released Western every few years like a modern day John Wayne. Unfortunately, that didn’t come to pass, and he was forced to star in Westerns on the small screen. As expected, Tom Selleck is great in the role of Paul Cable. I also enjoyed the presence of brothers David and Keith Carradine in their roles. In a number of scenes I noted other character actors I respected such as Rex Linn, Patrick Kilpatrick, and a young Haley Joel Osment just a couple years before he won an Academy Award for The Sixth Sense. For a small screen affair, it has a pretty great cast. Reading the book upon which the film was based, a decent amount of the novel comes across on the screen in terms of the major plot points. That said, the picture suffers from tinkering with Leonard’s story. For example, Martha is not cold towards Cable in the book, nor was she under the illusion that Cable had perished. This is one of several unnecessary changes. Cable’s reason for leaving the war in the novel is war-related injuries, not due to some moral imperative. These changes made by scriptwriter Ronald M. Cohen do not add much to the picture, but they do change who these characters are. There are numerous other changes like this as the film plays out that will certainly irk those who have read the book, but for those that have not read the book the picture is enjoyable (without becoming extremely memorable.) The direction by Dick Lowry does service to the action onscreen and has some strong moments of action direction thanks to the steady hand of cinematographer Ric Waite. The picture is efficiently done while never becoming quite as exciting as one might hope. Overall – I had fun watching Last Stand at Saber River and I will check out any of the Tom Selleck TV Westerns that Warner releases in the future, although this picture probably needs to be approached with slightly lower expectations for those considering a blind buy.

Video

Last Stand at Saber River arrives on Blu-ray with a 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded image in 1.33:1 from a new 4K scan. The picture was shot in 35MM with the proper framing for television at that time. It is a well shot picture for a TV movie, with Dick Lowry utilizing cinematographer Ric Waite well. Ric Waite had worked on some major action pictures such as 48 Hrs. Cobra, and Out for Justice, so it makes sense that he brings a professional eye to the proceedings. The picture occasionally has some softness crop up, but overall Warner has done a very good job of bringing this picture to the Blu-ray format looking better than ever before. There are aspects of the picture that occasionally show its TV Movie pedigree, but overall it looked pretty good.

Audio

The DTS-HD MA 2.0 track for Last Stand at Saber River does a good enough job handling the action scenes in the picture and the score by David Shire. I was pleased that the dialogue was very easy to hear and understand.There was not any noticeable hiss that I could discern. I saw no big flaws in the stereo track that stood out to me.

Supplements:

Trailer

Overall Scores:

Video – 4/5

Audio – 4/5

Supplements – .5/5

Overall – 3.5/5

Last Stand at Saber River was of interest to me because of my love of Elmore Leonard novels and my affection for Tom Selleck’s role in Quigley Down Under (which was given a great 4K release by Shout! Factory a couple years ago.) The picture was made for TV, but benefits from solid direction by Dick Lowry and a capable cast including David and Keith Carradine. The script follows many aspects of the novel, but also makes a number of changes that I felt hurt the script’s storytelling. Warner has done a solid job on the technical specs of this release. As it stands, I enjoyed being able to watch Warner Archive’s Blu-ray and I will more than likely check out any other Tom Selleck made-for-TV Westerns they bring to the format. For blind buyers, I would approach this picture with slightly lowered expectations.

The film can be purchased at www.moviezyng.com.