Monte Walsh

Plot synopsis:
Montelius "Monte" Walsh (Tom Selleck) is an aging cowboy facing the final days of the Wild West era. He and his friend Chet Rollins (Keith Carradine), another long-time cowhand, work at whatever ranch work comes their way, but "nothing they can't do from a horse". Their lives are divided between months on the range and the occasional trip into town. Camaraderie and competition with the other cowboys fill their days. They seek work and take a job at the ranch of Cal Brennan (William Devane), where they meet an old friend, Shorty Austin (George Eads), another ranch hand.
Monte has a long-term relationship with an old flame, prostitute and saloon girl "Countess" Martine Bernard (Isabella Rossellini), who suffers from tuberculosis. Chet, meanwhile, has fallen in love with Mary Wilder (Lori Hallier), a widow who owns a hardware store. As barbed wire and railways steadily eliminate the need for the cowboy, Monte and his friends are left with fewer and fewer options. New work opportunities are available to them, but the freedom of the open prairie is what they long for. Shorty loses his job and gets involved in rustling and killing, gunning down a local lawman. Then Monte and Chet find that their lives on the range are inexorably redirected.
Chet marries Mary and goes to work in the store, telling Monte that their old way of life is simply disappearing. Caught up in the spirit of the moment, Monte asks Martine to marry him, and she accepts. Monte goes on a drinking binge and rides a wild bay horse that even Shorty could not tame through town, causing considerable damage.
A rodeo owner, Colonel Wilson (Wallace Shawn), sees him and offers him a job. Monte considers the high salary, but decides the work is too degrading and refuses. Eventually, they all must say goodbye to the lives they knew, and try to make a new start. When Shorty shoots and kills Chet while trying to rob the store, Monte, distraught after the death of his beloved Martine, goes after him.
Shorty arrives, and it is apparent that he knows of the fight to come with his former friend. He tells Monte he is sorry to hear of Martines death, and walks off. Perhaps trying to give Monte a choice to kill him or walk away. Monte, unable to shoot Shorty in the back as he walks away, pursues. Shorty makes a long shot with a pistol at Monte, but runs off when the shot only wounds Monte in the left side. Monte then manages to slip around Shorty and shoots him. As Shorty is dying, Monte tells him that he rode the wild bay horse.
Seven years pass and Monte returns from working all over the West. His friends have gotten older, prices are rising, and he is seen by the townspeople as a relic of another time. However, one little boy asks for lessons in roping. When the accountant who manages the lands he used to ranch drives his primitive car into a mud puddle and asks for help, Monte jumps his horse over the vehicle and rides away.

Tags: violence, murder

Review:
The film starts at the ending XIX century when appears railway , big companies buy ranches and new technologies put difficult things for traditional cowboys who lost their jobs .
It deals about a veteran cowboy( Tom Selleck in Lee Marvin's role) and his colleague (Keith Carradine) , they see declining the ending days of Wild West era and the transition to a new century where horses are left .
Monte only lives his work and is enamored for a prostitute named Countess Martine Bernard (Isabella Rossellini, in Jeanne Moreau's role).
Monte Walsh and his partners are left with few options for survive, tough new jobs opportunities are available .
Then , Monte embarks on mission to revenge best pal's death (Keith Carradine in Jack Palance role).This melancholic picture is a magnificent TV western with action , a love story , shootouts , and spectacular scenarios .
Moving and sensible Western where the cowboys must say goodbye to the lives they know and some of them attempt to make a new upright start and others way to crime.
Great performances for all casting with excellent main roles from Selleck and Carradine .
Special mention to Isabella Rossellini as an aging whore and James Gammon as veteran cowboy with sad ending .
Sensational directorial by noted Simon Wincer , a Western expert , but he previously directed to Tom Selleck in ¨Crossfire trail and Quigley Down Under¨ and usually directs episodes for TV mini-series, such as ¨Into the West¨, ¨The Ponderosa¨ and ¨Lonesome Dove¨ among others.
Best known for the novel "Shane," Jack Schaefer also wrote the novel "Monte Walsh," a depiction of the life of the itinerant cowhand.
The first film of "Monte Walsh" was a great little picture, with a nice uncharacteristic role for Jack Palance as Monte's pal Chet.
Tom Selleck is just grand as Monte--getting a bit old for bronco-busting, but still full of piss-and-vinegar.
But "Monte Walsh" really earns its spurs by showing a 21st century audience how wonderful and horrible life on the 19th century range could be..
It's unlikely anyone will ever make another western as good as Wincer's LONESOME DOVE but MONTE WALSH is a good effort.
'Monte Walsh' is not just a western or a cowboy movie.
It's a movie about cowboys and that point make all the difference.In fact, 'Monte Walsh' tells a story that is universal in it's own theme; a story concerning the end of a time, the novelties of the beginning of the 20º century and the progressive death of a code of honor and a way of life.The movie is beautifully directed by Australian director Simon Wincer.
Tom Selleck is perfect in the title role and the support cast is good too, especially Keith Carradine and William Devane.The only problem with the movie lies in some scenes, like the suicide of the veteran of the Civil War (in my opinion, a bit overacted) and the last scene, that brings a irony that sounds strange and dislocated with the rest.But after all, this movie is a really standout among the most recent western movies..
The TNT remake of "Monte Walsh" is a wonderfully detailed character study of aging cowboys and their struggle with the decline of the old west.Tom Selleck, Keith Carradine, William Devane, James Gammon and Barry Corbin are the last of a dying breed and they don't accept the inevitable change that progress brings.
"I won't do anything I can't do from a horse" is the condition Monte Walsh demands for accepting a job at a corporate ranch.There is more than a little humor in this film as the cowboys deal with their own mortality as well as the end of their way of life.
William Saunders small but engaging turn as the trail cook Skimpy provides some welcome comic relief to an otherwise wistful and touching story.This film has great acting, beautiful photography, gorgeous music and a wonderfully understated style of direction by Simon Wincer.Worth the time and commercial breaks..
Tom Selleck as "Monte Walsh" is a natural for these westerns.
Yup, this is a very deep and diverse cast.You also get one of the better directors doing this made-for-cable TV movie in Australian Simon Wincer, who directed "Lonesome Dove." Plus, the film is based on a book from perhaps the most famous western author of all- time: Louis L'Amour.The story is not an upbeat one, but not overly depressing despite the fact that few people are left by the end of the film.
A line heard a few times in this excellent film is "Aint nobody sits on a horse like Monte Walsh." I'll amend that by saying aint nobody looks so at home in a western as Tom Selleck.
The time is the late 1800's and the cowboy way of life is coming to a close.
I dearly loved the original "Monte Walsh" (1970), starring Lee Marvin, Jeanne Moreau and Jack Palance.
That was one of the best westerns (and best movies) I've ever seen.This version, a more modern telling of the same story, is also quite good, but I found it lacking in the "grit and dirt" of the earlier one.
Tom Selleck is convincing enough as a cowboy, but unfortunately he still has that "just stepped out of the pages of GQ magazine" aura to him that I don't think he is ever going to shake.
There is nothing wrong with being as handsome as Tom Selleck, it's just that I found it hard to feel totally convinced of his portrayal of an authentic, hard-scrabble cowboy of the dying Old West.I felt that too much attention was devoted to making it all so "pretty pretty" instead of letting it gather a patina of cow dung, as must have been the case in the *real* old West.
All said, it's really a good movie with a powerful, timeless story about people losing their way of life thanks to rapid technological progress and corporate cynicism.
I would recommend this film to any die-hard western movie fan, but please try to pick up a copy of the earlier 1970 version, and watch that one as well.
Selleck has found his post-Magnum PI niche with Westerns, such as Monte Walsh and Quigly Down Under, among others.Selleck delivers a quiet, strong performance.
Monte Walsh is a story about times changing and how that impacts the lives of those that need for times to stay the same.
Watch for the great characterization by Selleck, a very good supporting cast, and wonderful cinematography..
Very good western with a very strong core cast (Selleck, Rossellini, Carradine x2), and an equally good supporting cast.
Strong story about the "last cowboy" and his escapades at the turn of the century.It would be nice to see Selleck and Rossellini together in another western with more screen time together.
Not sure where this movie was shot, but the scenery was magnificent!Keep the Selleck westerns coming!.
Tom Selleck does an excellent job playing a cowboy in 1892 Wyoming, whose way of life is quickly becoming obsolete in a country rapidly moving towards the automated 20th century.
I found myself sympathizing strongly with this group of cowboys who are trying to cope with getting old, being able to sustain themselves and their family, and stubbornly refusing to give up a way of living that they have held onto their entire life.
The entire movie is very entertaining, and it has everything: a solid plot, a good bit of humor, and a few cameo appearances that help to put the icing on an already great film.
After watching this, I almost wish I was born 125 years ago, as Monte Walsh does a great job portraying the cowboy life in an accurate manner...Two thumbs up!.
Monte Walsh is a great western film...The acting is excellent,the location stunning and the direction handled expertly..In short i loved this movie...
It is clearly as labour of love for all those involved making the film..The tale of the old cowboy refusing to change as the old west dies out has been told before but not with as much pride & passion as this effort has...Tom Selleck has at last found a genre that shakes off his Magnum Pi days with success...The last two previous TNT westerns(Saber River & Crossfire Trail) were good but this really stands out above the two.I won't go into plot detail as those who haven't watched the film yet i'll leave that for you to discover for yourself but i will say that this is one of my favourite westerns ever made & i for one can't wait for Selleck to saddle up once again.........
As far as I'm concerned, Selleck should have a western in production all the time.
I like him in other stuff, too, but since he's the main western actor right now, I'm really focused on them.
While not packed with shoot-em-up action like lots of Westerns, this film really depicts what a 19th Century cowboy's life was like--lots of boredom, bad food, foul weather, and little comforts.
The supporting cast of cowboys accurately portray the life of a real cowboy better than most movies of this genre.
It celebrates the "wild west" more like it really was than many of the usual Westerns and I would recommend it unless you want nothing but action..
Monte Walsh(Tom Selleck)struggles to maintain his identity as the job of cowboy is becoming obsolete.
It was like watching the old westerns that used to be on t.v.
Tom Selleck is one of the few actors in Hollywood able to play a convincing cowboy.
Although Tom Selleck's performance is comparable to his others, the supporting cast is average.
The greatest disappointment comes from having seen the original "Monte Walsh" movie in the 1970s with Lee Marvin, and then comparing.
The original movie was sad and gave you the feeling that a way of life had disappeared and things would never really be the same.
In contrast, the current version of "Monte Walsh", while following the same basic plot, and quoting some and paraphrasing other from the original movie, doesn't seem to convey the emotion of the situation, but is more like just the telling of a story of hard times.
The relationships between Monte and his friends and his lady seemed closer and more genuine in the original movie than Tom Selleck conveyed.
Very seldom these days do you see a western that is not simply "look at the young star for 90 minutes."  This movie actually has a plot, and tells a marvelous story about a man who simply will not accept the changing of his world.
He is "going to ride all the way down to Mexico and up to Canada and get paid for it."  I strongly recommend this modern day classic to anyone who really likes a good western..
another great western in tom sellecks' film library!!!
as a budding 53 year old actor who has longed to be in a good if not great western i am truly envious of someone like tom who makes it look so easily real on film..
Extremely accurate historically, this western chronicles the clash of the cowboy culture with 20th century progress - a popular theme in U.
Selleck is excellent as Monte (as he is in most roles!) The production is very accurate, amazingly so for a T V western; "...Dove" was the archetypal western but this comes very close.
Tom Selleck cuts a World-weary figure trying to cope with the changes that take the cowboys' Western World into the 20th century.
With a small but talented cast of work-soiled trailmates, he plays out the end of an era in fine form.The beautiful scenery of Alberta substitutes well for the Wyoming Territory it portrays.
Monte Walsh is one of those movies that at the time of viewing, appears to amble along at a slow pace with no apparent direction.
The movie delivers a powerful message about how change affects people as they grow older and how much they long for the way things were in 'their' younger days.
This a movie that has the same pleasant after affect as a trip down memory lane does and has so many elements of cowboy life in the late 1800's that I recommend it not as a history lesson but a very enjoyable period movie the whole family will enjoy.
Monte Walsh was a good movie that my wife and I enjoyed very much..
Released in 2003, "Monte Walsh" chronicles the mundane adventures the title character (Tom Selleck) & Chet Rollins (Keith Carradine) and other itinerant cowhands in remote Wyoming in 1892-93, with an epilogue taking place in 1900.
Can these old cowboys adapt to the new century?
Isabella Rossellini plays Monte's romantic interest while George Eads and William Devane play Shorty and Brennan respectively.Being made-for-cable (TNT), this newer version of Jack Schaefer's novel lacks the sheen of, say, 2003's "Open Range," but it's not far off in overall quality and shows that a superlative Western can be made on a TV-budget.
I've seen the 1970 version, but it was so long ago that I can't compare the two.The movie starts out dull as it shows the everyday life of the cowhands, but I caught a grip with the realistic vibe and was fully immersed into the story by the second half where the story perks up.
The story is nigh elegiac in tone as we witness the limited opportunities for these tough Westerners as their way of life is stifled by progress.
"Monte Walsh" is akin to similar Westerns like 1967's "Will Penny," which was hampered by its subplot of cartoony villains.
"Monte Walsh" has no such flaw.The film runs 117 minutes and was shot in Alberta, Canada.GRADE: B+.
Better than a lot of westerns, but still there's really nothing there.I suppose the irony is that this "vanishing way of life" was really only around for about sixty years (ca 1850-1910).
So, if the above is true, the end of the cowboy way of life is...
Excellent portrayal of the wild west cowboy in the waning years of the 19th century.
Tom Selleck has done justice to the part of Monte Walsh.
Tom Selleck looks like he was born to play Monte Walsh, but he still talks like Magnum, P.I. Keith Carradine would have been a better choice for the lead role, but then I suppose he doesn't have the audience drawing power of Mr. Selleck.
The story is just after the turn of the 20th century and there just isn't much of a role for real cowboys any more, but there are still a lot of them about.
William Devane finally puts in a performance I like and Isabella Rossellini does a nice job as the whore with a heart of gold.
Every element, every line, every character falls into place perfectly, like a work of nature, rather than a mere movie script.
You really care whether they live or die.And like a true tragedy, you even care when a bad guy dies, having a sense that it is a waste of a life that could, and should have turned out differently.Perhaps what is so remarkable about this movie is that, like High Noon, it does not exactly have a happy ending.
Selleck plays the symbolic last cowboy of the open range West, who resists or tries to ignore all the technological and economic changes that threaten to diminish or end his lifelong cherished working life as a wandering open range cowboy -for-hire.
The point was that the cowboys wanted respect for their jobs and way of life.
I found most all the characters well cast especially Selleck as the mule-headed last cowboy.
Unlike most cowboy stars of the past, Selleck typically spends considerable time meditating and grinning, slowing down the overall action.
At some point, Monte considers giving up cowboying to join a wild west show, to make a more proper husband for her.
Monte somehow manages to find enough work cowboying to get by.
Penny's problem is he's getting old rather than the free ranging cowboy is becoming obsoleteThe current DVD, part of a small set of Selleck's westerns is of excellent quality.
I believe that the movie, Monte Walsh tells me to strive for my desires and dreams because in the movie, Monte continues doing his job as a cowboy even though he lost his close friends and he continues even with technology taking his job away.
However, at one point he has second thought on whether he is doing the right thing to leave his passion for being a cowboy.I saw this movie at my father's house on DVD on September 25th 2005.
At one point I never had an intention of seeing this movie until my father recommended it, so I decided to watch it.In the movie, it shows Monte and his friends enjoying their jobs as cowboys.
With automobiles making horse obsolete and trains doing the job of moving animals much faster; the need for cowboys was decreasing.
Recently, I have been getting more social and this difficulty is starting to disappear.When Monte lost all his friends; he had second thoughts on whether to continue his job or not.
A Waste of Great Skies & Tom Selleck.
Well, I guess I expected another satisfying Tom Selleck movie.
I had watched two excellent TS Westerns prior to this one - that were part of a 3 pack: Last Stand at Saber River & Crossfire Trail.
Selleck and Carradine are members of the cowboy subculture of post-war Wyoming and, boy, do they have fun when they're not working.
As his way of life is squashed by higher economic powers, he loses his friends one by one and turns into a kind of Willy Loman, talking alone to his horse.I don't want to repeat any observations from my earlier review of the original "Monte Walsh", with Lee Marvin.
The stories, and even the individual scenes, are pretty much the same.Tom Selleck is okay in the lead role.