Hope Ranch (film)

***Hope Ranch*** is an American made-for-television western film directed by Rex Piano. It was produced by Animal Planet and Regent Entertainment and aired on September 2, 2002.

## Plot

J.T. Hope, a former police officer and marine and now owner of the Circle Hope Ranch, decides to start a program for troubled teens on the ranch to help turn them around. He is assigned three boys, Keith, Booker, and Ernesto; Keith was busted after trying to help his brother Ajax steal drugs from a hardware store to pay off Waxy and Dortch, two men to who he owes money. Warden Sam Brooks gives Hope two weeks to reform the boys and states that she will take them back to the detention center if she does not like the results.

Upon arriving at the ranch, the boys are assigned training under ranch workers Shorty and Colt Webb, who himself was a juvenile delinquent before J.T. gave him a second chance. Also residing at the ranch is June Andersen and her foster daughter Molly, with June tasked with reporting the results of the program to Brooks. During their stay, the boys learn horseback riding, lassoing and rounding up cattle, and are given chores to do around the ranch. As the program goes on, Brooker and Ernesto make progress, but J.T. has trouble reaching Keith. Keith finds the fridge to be full of ketamine and secretly contacts Ajax to come use it to make money and get him off the ranch; Ajax comes and takes the ketamine but refuses to bring Keith home unless he gets the rest of it. Keith later confesses to J.T. about how his relationship with his brother has forced him to take part in crime and drugs. Ajax, meanwhile, is confronted and savagely beaten by Waxy and Dortch for his failure to pay them back.

On the last day of the program, Keith tries to drive a tractor to speed up his chores and loses control of it, and nearly hurts Molly until J.T. jumps on the tractor and shuts it off. J.T., having lost his patience with Keith, decides to send him and the other boys back to the detention center. June comforts Keith as she knows he didn't mean to hurt anyone and convinces J.T. to give him another chance. Because of their progress, the boys are allowed another six months on the ranch, giving Keith another chance at redemption. While the boys head out to help round up cattle, Ajax arrives with Waxy and Dortch to retrieve the rest of the ketamine and take Molly and June hostage. Using the newfound skills they learned from their time at the ranch, the boys work with K.T., Shorty and Colt in confronting and subduing the three men, with Keith finally standing up to his brother. The film ends with the boys becoming full time ranch hands, as Keith gives a rundown on the rules to three newly arrived teenagers participating in the program.

## Cast

* Bruce Boxleitner as J.T. Hope
* Barry Corbin as Shorty
* Lorenzo Lamas as Colt Webb
* Brian Gross as Keith Frazier
* Richard Lee Jackson as Booker Stokes
* J.D. Pardo as Ernesto Mendoza
* Gail O'Grady as June Andersen
* Isabelle Howell as Molly
* Laura Johnson as Samantha "Sam" Brooks
* Brad Hawkins as Ajax Frazier
* Nicholas Hill as Dortch
* Stephen Wozniak as Waxy
* Tina Illman as Rachel
* Clint Jung as Juvenile Court Officer

## Reception

Carolyna Patricia Scott of *The Los Angeles Times* gave the film a mixed review, stating that "The jokes and tenderfoot mishaps played out against the great outdoors carry along the entertaining, if predictable, story, although the idea that these hard cases could be redeemed in two weeks requires considerable artifice and contrivance."