The Jack Bull (1999)

Very disappointing...

Undescribable Perfection

Thanks for the memories!

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

The sloppiness I blame on the director. My friend said, "...who cares it was made for HBO...". I care and if it were my name associated with the movie I would at least make sure you couldn't see the harness cable behind the head of the man being hung. You could totally see it. They could have shot it from another angle and then we couldn't have seen it. Also in the scene in court they show women and a black man on the jury. Not even. In 1890 not even a state yet Wyoming no women were sitting on the jury. Anyway this movie is fraught with ill fitting scenes, motivations, and had lots of goofs. I saw John Cusack move his arm when they took him down from the gallows. There were many goofs. I would never put my name on something this sloppily made even if it were only for TV. I feel insulted when movies are this sloppily done.

Many modern Westerns take a whack at demythologizing the frontier, but I don't know of any other film that does it as powerfully and thoroughly as The Jack Bull. All the old, familiar themes are here, stripped of their pretense and given new and exciting life in a challenging tale that becomes more morally and ethically complex as it goes along.In the waning days of the Wyoming Territory, a horse trader named Myrl Redding (John Cusack) gets into a dispute with a land baron named Henry Ballard (L. Q. Jones) over two stallions. Myrl left them with Ballard as collateral for a toll to pass through Ballard's land on way to a horse auction. When Myrl returns for them, he finds his man left to mind the horses beaten and run off and the animals whipped, mistreated and worked near to death. Myrl demands the stallions be restored to the previous condition by Ballard's own hand, something the rich man sneeringly refuses.Myrl takes his case to the local judge (Ken Pogue), only to find him in Ballard's pocket. He tries to petition the territorial Attorney General, only to have that request end in tragedy. Unwilling to let the wrong done him go unanswered, Myrl gathers together a gang of men and rides up to Ballard's spread to get justice for himself. Ballard escapes, however, leaving Myrl to lead his men across the countryside, threatening to burn out anyone who gives aid or shelter to Ballard. This little insurrection eventually brings the conflict between Myrl and Ballard to the attention of the territorial governor (Scott Wilson), but not until people are killed and someone has to be help accountable for those deaths.Myrl Redding deserves to stand alongside Tom Doniphon and Liberty Valance in the pantheon of Wild West cinema. All three symbolize how the sort of men who made the frontier the glorious place it was, were also the sort of men who would have no place as the frontier gave way to civilization. Make no mistake, Henry Ballard is the bad guy in this story and Redding is the good guy. But most of Ballard's actions are legal and only slightly unethical. The crimes he does commit are of a petty nature. The awful events of The Jack Bull flow not from the greed or arrogance of Henry Ballard, but from the uncompromising pride and independence of Myrl Redding. Ballard makes only a little spark. It is Myrl who pours gasoline on that spark until it becomes a deadly fire.Taking the law into your own hand when you're denied justice is one of the oldest Western stories. The Jack Bull is one of the few that recognizes when you take the law into your own hands, it's like setting yourself alone in a boat across the ocean. You have nothing but your wits and your will to deal with all the forces that come against you and decisions and actions that seem right can have disastrous consequences. A corrupt justice system fails Myrl Redding, but no justice system can withstand men who pursue their own righteous satisfaction to the exclusion of all else.In addition to being smart and compelling, The Jack Bull has a marvelous cast. Strong performances abound, particularly Scott Wilson and John Goodman as another territorial judge who is committed to seeing justice done to its fullest extent. John Cusack is tremendously effective, never letting what Myrl Redding represents overwhelm the character's simply humanity. And Director John Badham does an excellent job at capturing the extremes which lived side by side in the dying days of the Wild West.The Jack Bull is an outstanding movie and is a must see of the modern Western.

Let me start with the good part of the film, the single, solitary good feature to this film: John Goodman. He was great. Slightly miscast, but his performance is spot on. Here's a guy who knows how to suspend disbelief.On to the mess that is "The Jack Bull." Accountants and attorneys had major input into the development of this film. That's the only way to explain a politically correct old west Wyoming. And let us not spill too much blood and guts in a shoot 'em up semi-action pic, 'cause that's too darned expensive! Did I mention this movie is HORRIBLE? I like John Cusack. He's great. Not in this film. My wife described it best, "His lips are too girlie." He looks nothing like a Western-movie hero. He's got that soft-handed cityboy thing going on.The plot is littered with holes you could drive trucks through three abreast. The emotion is muted, nay, suppressed.Pass on this movie even if you have a free video rental card from your Aunt Sadie.

I happened on this movie and rented it because I really love John Cusack! He is such a wonderful actor! This movie is rather difficult to watch because it doesn't follow the hollywood norm. It addresses the human condition in it's - not always - happy form. But it's a thinker and it makes me look at the importance in how you react to life's trials! As I said it was sometimes hard to watch but I am glad I did because it shows that things happen in this life and it's how we handle them that matters. You have to do what you have to do - for your soul!