Product: The Sacketts [VHS] (1979)
Rating: 1.0
Poorly Acted, Disjointed, Waste of Talent
From the opening scenes where Ma Sackett is poorly acted by Mercedes McCambridge to the final wornout cliche scene where the heroes emerge unscathed by thousands of bullets shot at them to stride manly-man style down main street, this made for TV movie is a waste of time and money. The story jumps haphazardly from plotline to plotline and cuts from some scenes without ever resolving where the scene was headed. A girl in a thin dress and no supplies survives for 2 years in mountains that kill experienced mountain men with sudden snows! Are you kidding me? Kid Newton is ridiculous as the arch evil bad guy. Tom Selleck leaves home and heads west without so much as a slicker or bedroll. Glen Ford turns from good guy to bad guy with little or no explanation other than he was a lawyer in New Orleans. Louis L'Amour's introduction was banal, brief, and boring. I could not believe actors of this quality and experience would allow this movie to be released. They were obviously gathered for their star power, thrown together in a hastily and poorly written screen adaptation of two pretty good books, and mis-directed by Robert Totten. Shame on all of them!