The Long Ride Home (2003)

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

I liked the movie. I guess many of the previous posters missed the sex and swearing. The New York accent was explained when Arthur was discussing with Miriam her desire to return to New York because of the threat in their town from the presence of a gunfighter. I liked the confusion in the beginning about Jack Cole and it was fun figuring out during the course of the movie the identity of Jack Cole and the story of why Jack Fowler left his family for 8 years. The Bible verses were true to life in that persons were poor in those times and often the only book they owned was The Bible and as a result many became quite conversant with it.

This is a movie which held morality and marriage in high esteem. Those who dislike religion will dislike this movie. With that said: I watched it first before reading any of these reviews. I thought it was a very meaningful movie, though the bad guy was a bit over-the-top. (The violence could be disturbing for children, so parents should use caution.) The bible-quoting derisively mentioned by a couple reviewers was not overly-frequent. While it may be surprising that someone can remember such quotes by verse, it's not unrealistic if one is raised in a religious household. This movie held a powerful message about God's forgiveness for our sins. It also treated marriage as something more than shacking-up. If that offends anyone, I don't think the movie is to blame. I didn't give it a 10 because I thought the bad guy and the ending was a bit contrived.

It's great to see a Western that's not the typical shoot 'em up and not the usual trash in the saloon. It's nice to have high morals for a change and show the other side of Western life. Why does everyone think that the West was only a bunch of violent gold seekers and train robbers and drop dead gorgeous women? It's nice to see a change of pace in a Western that looks more at character issues and drama verses more and more useless killing. I thought the cast, the cinematography, and the music was great! It sounded like a rich orchestral score...like worth buying the soundtrack for. There's a bit of everything: Romance, drama, adventure, mystery, suspense. I thought it was a great combo. Enjoy an evening without the typical Hollywood trash. Enjoy seeing Randy Travis, Eric Roberts, Stella Stevens, Ernest Borgnine,Rance Howard (Ron's Dad), Jerry Doyle, Garry Marshall (great to see him acting!), Paul Tinder, and Vaughn Taylor. I'll definitely buy it and watch it again!

I have seen several critical reviews of this movie. However, I purchased it based on the actors involved in the movie. I was pleasantly surprised that, my opinion, it was a good movie. Not a swear word was used in the movie - very refreshing to me. Far better movie than much of the "ilk" coming from the Left Coast these days.