Miracle at Sage Creek (2005)

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

RELEASED IN 2005 and directed by James Intveld, "Miracle at Sage Creek" (aka "Christmas Miracle at Sage Creek") is a Western about two families in 1888 Wyoming who overcome bitterness, hatred, prejudice, doubt and death during Christmas. MAIN CAST: David Carradine, Wes Studi, Sarah Aldrich, Daniel Quinn, Irene Bedard & Tim Abell.The problem some viewers have with this Western is that the events take place near Cheyenne in southeastern Wyoming around Christmas time, but it was shot in southeastern Arizona outside Tucson where there's desert, cacti and no snow. For comparison, the wintery scenes of "The Hateful Eight" (2015) were shot 250 miles FURTHER SOUTH from Cheyenne near Telluride, Colorado.Whereas this is a glaring problem for "Miracle at Sage Creek," particularly for people who care about geographical details, the obvious reason the producers shot the movie in southeastern Arizona was to save money. After all, there are ready-made movie sets near Tucson, like Old Tucson and Gammon's Gulch Movie Set, but generally not in the Cheyenne area. The only way I could overlook this issue was to imagine the events taking place in southern Arizona. Really, I have no idea why they didn't just tweak the story so that it takes place there. Another thing to consider is that Westerns, particularly older ones, are notorious for being shot in places far from where they propose to take place. A good example are the many ones that take place in Texas, but were conveniently shot in Arizona or California. With this and the above in mind, perhaps we can have mercy on "Miracle at Sage Creek."Overlooking that transgression, this is a decent inspirational Western focusing on drama rather than conventional Western action, although there some of that (shootouts). And, despite the error in locations, the settings are magnificent (they're just not anything close to southeastern Wyoming). Moreover, both Carradine and Studi are stalwart in their roles while the others listed above offer capable support. What I appreciate most, beyond the picturesque scenery, is the palpable tone of reverence, which is helped via the venerable score by James Intveld & Michael Turner.While this is a "feel good" movie with one predictable element at the very end, it addresses several heavy topics, like prejudice, injustice, bitterness, hatred, life-or-death situations, confrontation, unexpected violence, the humbling need for a miracle, the power of simple faith ("heathen" or not), positive confession and the beauty of a change of heart.THE FILM RUNS 90 minutes and was shot in southeastern Arizona (Benson, Mescal, Old Tucson, Douglas & Gammons Gulch). WRITER: Thadd Turner. GRADE: B

I'm watching the movie right now, so I don't know how it ends.Um, Christmas-time in Wyoming, and there's green leaves, green grass, flowing water, shirt-sleeve attire, no breath fog.. meaning, it's not very cold in Lusk, Wyoming in December?? WHAT? The Indian woman was washing clothes outside, sleeves rolled up, in December, in Wyoming. Wyoming has long, wicked-cold, windy winters. That immediately took a lot of the reality away. It was filmed in Arizona, they should have just set the story there, as "Wyoming Territory" didn't have much to do with the story. There were homesteaders and Indians in Arizona, too. It's just too unbelievable. Maybe later it snows in the movie, but I've been to Wyoming, and seen it snow in JUNE, and I've been there in February and it was very cold and windy. Nobody went out in just light jackets.They filmmakers must take us as people who all live in LA or NY, people who know nothing about geography and what places look like, and people who don't ever travel. I've seen some movies supposed to be Wyoming, but filmed in Canada, and you can't tell. The terrain in THIS movie didn't look at ALL like Wyoming.Bad acting, especially the Grandfather Indian character. Unneeded choppy "Indian Accent". Words used I don't think someone new to the language would use.Here's another: A mother and her son are sitting right by a fireplace that has a good crackling fire in it. She feels his head and determines he has a fever. How could she tell? Being a mother, I know better than to forehead-feel a kid for a fever when they're a few feet from a fire.Snore.You want a good western? See Lonesome Dove. See Tombstone. See Open Range. See anything else.

From reading previous comments it seems as though every relative, friend, and casual acquaintance of anyone even remotely connected with this movie has pulled out every superlative in the book to recommend it.In actual fact this is a slow, plodding, uneventful film without out a single character to identify with. It has too many characters -- none of which have really been developed sufficiently for us to care about any of them -- too many stories going on at the same time, and too many clichés. Add to this continual references to God and prayer and one gets the feeling we're being not so subtly preached to.We'd all like to see clean and wholesome family oriented movies but that doesn't mean we'll settle for substandard fare.A fine cast is totally wasted here. Rent this film before you consider buying it. I'm betting you won't put out money to own it.

Thadd Turner is a true western writer. The realism in the film reminds me of Unforgiven. The story reminds me of Shane. The whole feeling of the film from the photography to the music and the acting has that resonance of how it really was back then. Westerns are my favorite type of film and this one is excellent. If you like a good exciting story and if you like westerns, then this one is for you. The casting is great too. You have David Carridine, Michael Parks, Wes Studi, Rance Howard, who turns in a great performance as the Doctor, and believe it or not Buck Taylor from Gunsmoke, and Thadd Turner too! The whole cast turns in excellent performances all around. James Intveld directed and did the music, both an excellent achievement. His directing gave it that real hometown feel. You don't get the feeling the actors are acting like in some movies. The music brought you into the old west. You really get the sense how tough you had to be back then and how hard it was to make ends meet. We take a lot for granted these days, but that's how we started the west always hoping for a miracle.