Tall Tale
Tags: good versus evil, violence

Plot synopsis:
In 1905, Daniel Hackett (Nick Stahl), a young farmer from the western town of Paradise Valley, is unhappy with his life as a farmer and dreams of life in New York City. His father, Jonas (Stephen Lang), likes to tell Daniel tall tales about Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan and John Henry to which Daniel has heard many times leading him to doubt their existence. Meanwhile, Paradise Valley is being coveted by a greedy developer, J.P. Stiles (Scott Glenn). Stiles attempts to convince area farmers to sell their land to him, most notably Jonas as his farm lies in the center of where he wants to develop. However, when Jonas refuses to hand up his deed, Stiles hunts him down and shoots him, but not before Jonas hands the deed off to Daniel for safe keeping.
With Jonas in critical condition and unable to farm, his land is put at risk. Upset, Daniel runs out to hide in his father's boat and falls asleep. When Daniel awakes, he discovers that the boat had come untied and drifted downstream to the deserts of Texas. After a brief encounter with some thieves, Daniel is rescued by legendary cowboy Pecos Bill (Patrick Swayze). The duo later team up with lumberjack Paul Bunyan (Oliver Platt), and strong African American ex-slave John Henry (Roger Aaron Brown). Each of these heroes hooks up with Daniel and becomes involved in an increasingly bitter and boisterous fight against Stiles, whose plans to buy up land threaten the very strength of the folk heroes and the well-being of the common people.
When Stiles takes the deed, Daniel wakes up realizing it was just a dream. He ventures towards Stiles train who was about head out into the lands. Daniel confronts him, and they attempt to run him over, until John arrives and holds the train. Stiles orders his men to kill them, but Pecos arrives and shoots off their trigger fingers, and the villages join in to help, while Paul, who went inside while nobody noticed, cuts down the mine poles. Daniel then finishes off the last pole killing Stiles and his men, and the crowd cheers for him.
Daniel then returns to the farm and admits that the stories were true and their land is important. Paul with his blue ox Babe, and John with his mule Cold Molasses, say goodbye to Daniel and disappear afterwards. Pecos leaves his horse, Widow-Maker to Daniel and twirls his lasso at a twister for his departure.

Review: This is a Disney family movie, and the lead character is 12 years old.
The barroom scene with Calamity Jane is a treat for lovers of Old West humor, and Texas son Patrick Swayze is perfectly cast as Pecos Bill.
It is a great family movie that is based on the Tall Tales that many of us learned in literature classes.
If you know who Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan, or John Henry are, you will find those heroes here.
If you don't, what better way to learn about some of American histories classic Tall Tale characters that once put a sense of pride in being American.
The American Tall Tale characters are brought in one at a time to help the boy through the situation and teach him the way of being a man, with respect..
I expected some sort of supernatural-type hero story with he likes of Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan and Jhn Henry, but this movie was more like a regular adventure.
It was that kind of story.The kid in here, "Daniel Hackett," played by Nick Stahl, was a little annoying for awhile, the typical snotty kid they like to show in the movies, but came to his senses by the end and wound up a decent kid who respected the people he was supposed to respect.Meanwhile, all the characters including bad-guy "J.P. Stiles" (Scott Glenn) were a lot of fun not only to watch but to listen to, with some good dialog.
Patrick Swaze was a hot as "Pecos Bill" and Oliver Platt equally fun as "Paul Bunyan," and who doesn't admire big "John Henry" (Roger Aaron Brown)?Why this is not available (at least in Region 1) on DVD is a mystery to me.
Sometimes a person has to make a stand to protect his or her way of life and I think this movie does that in a way that is easy to interpret.
It's really too bad that others can't manage to see it through the eyes of its intended audience:  a seven-year-old who is enthralled by the likes of Patrick Swayze, Oliver Platt, Scott Glenn, Catherine O'Hara, Roger Aaron Brown, Scott Wilson, William H.
I, for one, am glad that there is still mindless, FUN entertainment for children to watch in between the movies we adults view that are full of explosions, blood, gore and full frontal nudity.
Instead of baseball legends a boy receives aid from some legends of the Old West-- Pecos Bill (Patrick Swayze), Paul Bunyon (Oliver Platt), John Henry (Roger Allen Brown), and Calamity Jane (Catherine O'Hara!).
I totally dug this movie when I was a kid (like 7 or 8 or 9 years old).
Anyway, I guess it's just personal preference, but I remember digging it, and to say that no child got anything out of this silly movie would be wrong.
Wild West Wizard of Oz. Disney has retold (again) the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, this time with a male protagonist, Paul Bunyan as the Cowardly Lion, John Henry as the Tin Woodman, and Pecos Bill as the Scarecrow.
I saw this movie for the first time today with my 8-year-old son, and as cheesy as this sounds, I know we will both remember this day forever.
But if you are the father of a small boy, go to the public library's children's room and get this movie pronto.
And if, like me, you're an old movie propman, get ready to enjoy some of the nicest set dressing and model work you've seen for a long, long time.
Written by Steve Bloom and Robert Rodat, and directed by Ornie Orsatti, Tall Tale stars Nick Stahl, Patrick Swayze, and Scott Glenn.
Released in 1995 this Action/Adventure film takes place in an old western town at the start of the twentieth century and focuses on the modernization of America.In 1905, Daniel Hackett (Nick Stahl) lives with his mother and father on the farmlands of Paradise Valley.
As the film progresses the audience learns that Daniel is growing sick of his life on the farm and expresses his bitterness to his father, Jonas.
Daniel's father tells him repetitive stories of folk heroes, Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan, and John Henry, in whom Daniel no longer believes.
When Jonas stands up to stiles and refuses to sell his land he ends up being shot, but not before he hands the deed to his land to Daniel.
The two of them later meet up with famous lumberjack Paul Bunyan and ex-slave John Henry.
The team gets into a tough battle with Stiles, whose greediness threatens the strength of the folk tales and the livelihood of the farmers.The acting by the Stahl, Swayze, and Glen was very impressive.
The costumes were dead on for what viewers would imagine Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan, and John Henry to look and dress like.
The costumes really brought out the feeling that this film was based in the early Midwest and the set was designed perfectly to give the feeling that the audience is involved in a folk story.
For example Paul Bunyan's log home was exactly what you would imagine it to be, along with his blue ox, Babe.I would highly recommend this film, as I have loved it since I was a child.
It is a great movie for children and for families, and should be watched by anyone who enjoys adventure films..
The movie was a great way to introduce my kids to the folk tales of our country in an engaging, comical way.
The family-film presentation is true to the Code championed by those legends: Protect the land, defend the defenseless, and don't never spit in front of women nor children.
The scene in which Pecos emerges, like heroic resolve itself, from the midst of a richly diverse public that has F I N A L L Y come together to nobly stand against the takeover by predatory eastern greed and its hired guns --- Rodat's script does not favor a disarmed populace --- deftly fulfills the principle of showing not saying it.
See this serious as a heart attack film --- we get a horrific prophetic vision, in a scene that is Hell on Wheels not Little Red Caboose, of a subjugated West whose workers are getting additional productivity squeezed out of them (to use a post-Bailout euphemism) with literal whips --- before or after the documentary Inside Job. Speaking of hired guns, Wall Street and the Business Roundtable, America's unelected, voter-unaccountable rulers with politicians in their pockets, have a vested interest in popular media as both profit sector and opinion influencer.
That this deeply patriotic lament/warning is fit for children older than perhaps 7 --- a 12-year-old boy is propositioned by a pathetically degraded woman then nearly killed by a knife-wielding Wall Street hatchet man and former farmer (played presumably as written with non-cartoonish touches of passionate hate, cold honesty, restrained pride with demanding eastern bosses, and even a flash of tenderness by Scott Glenn) --- does not make it lightweight.
Pecos Bill, Calamity Jane, free man John Henry, and Paul Bunyan are what many used to want America, at least the American West, to be: an America standing morally tall.
(We still talk about it and it was almost ten years ago!) All of our favourite fairy tale characters came to life and were transported to a place where heroes lived and dreams came true.
Then watch this movie again and see it for what it is; a child's imagination on-screen.
Disney fantasy set in Old West America at the turn of the century: young farm boy, imaginative but unhappy, dreams up Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan and John Henry when the family farming home is threatened by a slimy land-developer.
Other cast members (Patrick Swayze, Oliver Platt, and Nick Stahl) do commendable work, but film lacks real emotion and depth.
A young boy draws on the inspiration of legendary western characters to find the strength to fight an evil land baron in the old west who wants to steal his family's farm and destroy their idyllic community.Director Jeremiah S.
Great family movie.
It is a good all around family movie.
The movie takes us through some American mythical characters who we can reminisce about such characters as Pecos Bill.
LAO, a true family movie: there's something anyone can relate to, but with some hokey flaws that ultimately don't matter.There are so many great parts to it, that it's a shame that some of the editing and a few character blunders are handled so badly.The John Henry competition is pretty much thrown away, just because of some bad editing.The bad guy is an out-of-place cartoon, supposedly in the "real world" but seems like a fugitive from THE WILD, WILD WEST.
He is pitted against the well-drawn characters of Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill, John Henry and Calamity Jane, all of whom start out as cartoons, then are cleverly nuanced.
Tall Tale: A movie that tells a tale of a boy growing up in the 1800's.
It goes on, into the Sahara Desert, through fights with bad guys, standing up to Paul Bunyan (one of the best quotes of the movie is at this point), basically any sort of adventure you can imagine!
Patrick Swayze's dry humor is perfect for the role, as are the roles of Paul Bunyan and John henry equally well played.
If someone is looking for a lighthearted adventure, Tall Tale is the movie for you!!!!!.
That's the one good thing I can say about this movie.
Patrick Swayze, Oliver Platt, and Roger Aaron Brown make the most of their characters and have great chemistry together.
At the last minute, Jonas's son Daniel gets ahold of the deed to their land and runs away with it, because Stiles will stop at nothing to snatch it right out of his hands (a tried-and-true legal tactic).
Tall Tale is a fun little movie.
The basic plot is that a young boy enlists the help of fictional heroes to save his family's farm from an evil capitalist.
The fictional heroes are all that separate Tall Tale from a normal "Kid tries to save his family's farm/home/whatever from an evil land baron" story.
If you like American folktales, then rent Tall Tale.
A fun movie even if you haven't heard the Tall Tales!.
It features all of the same stories I heard about Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan, and John Henry.
Nick Stahl (Daniel Hackett) proves in this movie that he is a very talented actor, at a young age, by making a normally cheesy script sound...
Another admired actor of mine would be Oliver Platt (Paul Bunyan) He adds more humor to this already funny movie.
A good cast stuck in the wrong movie.
A remarkably distinguished cast gets lost with a poor script in this live action Disney film set in the 1905 American WestScott Glenn can play a good villain (see Night of the Running Man), but he is completely flat here as evil industrialist JP Stiles.
In one of his last roles Burgess Meredith is wasted, as is the talented Oliver Platt who given a character as thin as a piece of paper and asked to do his best.In the lead role fourteen year old Nick Stahl, who was absolutely riveting in Mel Gibson's 'The Man Without a Face', could've done the movie in his sleep.
Even so, he delivers the best performance out of anyone here.The fact that this is a Disney family film seriously hampers it's realism in depicting the West.
Some of us may wonder how appropriate it was for Disney to make a movie linking American legends and historical events, but I wish to assert that "Tall Tale" is worth seeing.
It portrays a boy (Nick Stahl of "In the Bedroom") joining up with Pecos Bill (Patrick Swayze), Paul Bunyan (Oliver Platt) and John Henry (Roger Aaron Brown) to fight a developer (Scott Glenn) in the American West in 1905.
The movie sort of gives one the feeling that these tales may have had some truth to them.
But the actors in the movie made it ok to watch (Patrick Swayze and Nick Stahl)the thing is I couldn't understand that Walt Disney made this picture and I have never heard of Caravan pictures.
All I know is that Walt Disney made all those animation films like the classics Snow White and the seven Dwarfs, 101 Dalmations, Lady and the Tramp etc.
But this movie just doesn't fit Walt Disney's idea of a great film.
"Superstar Patrick Swayze stars as gun-slinging, tornado-riding cowboy legend Pecos Bill in Disney's most rousing Western adventure yet.
Summoned by the imagination of a young boy, Pecos sets out to help the lad save the family farm from a greedy land-grabber.
Packed with plenty of rollicking action and visual effects, untamed adventure doesn't ride any faster or shoot any straighter than 'Tall Tale: The Unbelievable Adventure'!" "Tall Tale" is a competent, unabashed re-envisioning of "The Wizard of Oz" (1939).But, they went down the wrong yellow brick road by retrofitting it to the American West of 1905 - with folk heroes "Pecos Bill" (standing in for the Scarecrow), "Paul Bunyan" (the Cowardly Lion), and "John Henry" (the Tin Man) made more ordinary than they were even in the old adventures told before the arrival of radio, television, and motion pictures.
Most exciting scene has young Nick Stahl (as Daniel) standing up to a train driven by Scott Glenn (The Wicked Warlock of the West).
Chechik ~ Nick Stahl, Patrick Swayze, Oliver Platt, Roger Aaron Brown.
A young boy named Daniel Hacket doesn't believe his father is doing the right thing when he passes up an opportunity to sell the family farm for purely sentimental reasons.
He also doesn't believe all the tall tales his father tells him of Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyun and Jonn Henry.He is later entrusted with the deed to the farm by his father who then gets critically injured.The villain of this film, Mr. Stiles, won't rest until he has every deed to Paradise Valley, the area where the Daniel lives.Daniel falls asleep in a boat and is carried off.
Along the way they meet Paul Bunyun and John Henry.
They also must struggle to avoid Stiles and his men who are hot on their trail.On the journey, Daniel sees why the land is so important to his father and finds himself fighting for it just as hard.I find this to be a charming and heart warming film.
too bad because it's so well made and intelligent that it should be appreciated more than it is.a almost virtually unrecognizable Patrick Swayze gives a powerful and memorable performance that i think is one of the best of his career and one of the best Pecos Bill interpretations.
all the performances here are well done, but it is Swayze's "Pecos" that stands out.director Jeremiah Chechik gives the film a elegant look that is unusually refined for family films of this kind.
especially notable is the design of Scott Glen's villain's ominous looking train.the film also amusingly and accurately, conveys these early American legend stories fear of progress and the machine/industrial age, that was such a common theme with stories like 'Paul Bunyan' and 'John Henry'.so much of this is so well done that you almost hate to quibble about it but i feel it does have a basic flaw.
Tall Tale is a pretty dumb film, and contains an UNFORGIVABLE 'twist' 15 minutes from the end...
Such as Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan and John Henry.
And then, fail to even follow through on that miserable old plot device.So, in a final confrontation that even defies the pathetic logic set up by the makers, you wonder: Just what is the moral here?It's a good thing to risk your life for a farm, which is probably going to kill you through stress and overwork anyway?Fictional figures from history will save your bacon when all else fails (I'm thinking Bill & Ted did that one better)?
This is my favourite Disney film of all-time!I'm a mixed foreigner from Japan, and I feel like one of the PRIVILEGED people who got to see this movie!
It's an educational film for those studying American Tall Tales.This is a Disney Drama Classic!!
Nick Stahl, Patrick Swayze, Oliver Platt, Scott Glenn, Stephen Lang, etc...
I was really hoping for Doug Walker to review this film during his last "Disneycember" (yeah I know) Great family movie, with a great story, and good morales, too!
;)And in my book, it seems quite Biblical too, with the facts that 3 legendary characters, Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan, & John Henry are sent to help this boy, Daniel Hackett; they're somewhat like 3 GUARDIAN ANGELS (since the Number "3" appears quite a lot in the Bible).
Motivation is very important, always , but to Daniel Hackett a boy who hates the farm his father is giving his life for, mythological characters like Pecos Bill, John Henry and Paul Bunyan are just big lies.
John Henry will compete with a steam powered hammer, Pecos Bill will ride a tornado, and Paul Bunyan has a blue ox sidekick (with whom he once dug the Grand Canyon).
P. Stiles one of the baddest guys you will ever meet and Patrick Swayze is an excellent Pecos Bill.
Typically when your parents arrived to ask you how the movie was, someone in your party was sure to say "so and so, got to sit in the front row!" America in its innocence (good or bad) dropped their children off for the double feature that usually ran on Saturday afternoon.
As the movie progressed, I understood why Paul's character had to portray more of a gruff Uncle.
The sunglasses added to the costume in the desert scene finally made him Paul Bunyan to me.Speaking of eye candy, that smile on Brown had to be the deciding factor that he was cast as John Henry.