Broken Trail
Encyclopedia
Broken Trail is a 2006 Western
miniseries
that originally aired on American Movie Classics as their first original movie. It stars Robert Duvall
and Thomas Haden Church
, and was directed by Walter Hill.
The screenplay for Broken Trail was written by Alan Geoffrion, who also wrote the novel. Novelist and screenwriter Alan Geoffrion weaves together two facts — British were buying horses in the American West in the late 19th century and Chinese women were being transported from the West Coast
to the interior to serve as prostitutes — along with a series of Western vignettes.
), an aging cowboy who wants to buy a ranch of his own. To accomplish this, he agrees to transport 500 mustangs from Oregon
to Wyoming
, where he will sell them to the British Army
. He recruits his estranged nephew, Tom Harte (Thomas Haden Church
), to join him, hoping to reconnect with him on the ride.
What starts out as a simple horse drive is complicated when Print and Tom encounter a particularly vile slaver
who is transporting five Chinese
girls to a lawless mining town, where they will face a life of prostitution
and indentured servitude. Compelled to do the right thing, Print and Tom rescue the women and take them in, but as they continue their perilous trek across the frontier, they are tailed by a vicious gang of outlaws sent by the whorehouse madam who originally paid for the girls.
based on 15 reviews. Charlie McCollum of the San Jose Mercury News
called it "the finest purely American TV film to come along in some time." Allison Benedikt of the Chicago Tribune
said it was "a gorgeous piece of cinema." Alessandra Stanley of The New York Times
said it was "not as well written or compelling as Lonesome Dove
, but Mr. Duvall brings an earthy believability to even the most plodding lines." The miniseries received 16 nominations at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards
, having the second most overall nominations. It received one less nomination than another film set in America in the late 19th century, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
.
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
miniseries
Miniseries
A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
that originally aired on American Movie Classics as their first original movie. It stars Robert Duvall
Robert Duvall
Robert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....
and Thomas Haden Church
Thomas Haden Church
Thomas Haden Church is an American actor. After co-starring in the 1990s sitcom Wings, Church became well known for his film roles, including his Academy Award-nominated performance in Sideways and his role as the Sandman in Spider-Man 3.-Early life:Church, the fourth of six children, was born...
, and was directed by Walter Hill.
The screenplay for Broken Trail was written by Alan Geoffrion, who also wrote the novel. Novelist and screenwriter Alan Geoffrion weaves together two facts — British were buying horses in the American West in the late 19th century and Chinese women were being transported from the West Coast
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
to the interior to serve as prostitutes — along with a series of Western vignettes.
Plot
Set in 1898, the film concerns Prentice "Print" Ritter (Robert DuvallRobert Duvall
Robert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....
), an aging cowboy who wants to buy a ranch of his own. To accomplish this, he agrees to transport 500 mustangs from Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
to Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
, where he will sell them to the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
. He recruits his estranged nephew, Tom Harte (Thomas Haden Church
Thomas Haden Church
Thomas Haden Church is an American actor. After co-starring in the 1990s sitcom Wings, Church became well known for his film roles, including his Academy Award-nominated performance in Sideways and his role as the Sandman in Spider-Man 3.-Early life:Church, the fourth of six children, was born...
), to join him, hoping to reconnect with him on the ride.
What starts out as a simple horse drive is complicated when Print and Tom encounter a particularly vile slaver
Sexual slavery
Sexual slavery is when unwilling people are coerced into slavery for sexual exploitation. The incidence of sexual slavery by country has been studied and tabulated by UNESCO, with the cooperation of various international agencies...
who is transporting five Chinese
Han Chinese
Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
girls to a lawless mining town, where they will face a life of prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
and indentured servitude. Compelled to do the right thing, Print and Tom rescue the women and take them in, but as they continue their perilous trek across the frontier, they are tailed by a vicious gang of outlaws sent by the whorehouse madam who originally paid for the girls.
Cast
- Robert DuvallRobert DuvallRobert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....
as Prentice "Print" Ritter - Thomas Haden ChurchThomas Haden ChurchThomas Haden Church is an American actor. After co-starring in the 1990s sitcom Wings, Church became well known for his film roles, including his Academy Award-nominated performance in Sideways and his role as the Sandman in Spider-Man 3.-Early life:Church, the fourth of six children, was born...
as Tom Harte - Greta ScacchiGreta ScacchiGreta Scacchi is an Italian-Australian actor.-Early life:Scacchi was born Greta Gracco in Milan, Italy, on 18 February 1960, the daughter of Luca Scacchi Gracco, an Italian art dealer and painter, and Pamela Carsaniga, an English dancer and antiques dealer...
as Mrs. Nola Johns - Gwendoline YeoGwendoline Yeo-Early life:Born in Singapore, Yeo is the niece of George Yeo, Singapore's Minister for Foreign Affairs. She moved to California as a teenager, graduating from St. Ignatius College Preparatory in 1994...
as Sun Foy - Chris MulkeyChris MulkeyChris Mulkey is an American actor who most recently appeared in Against the Wall, Cloverfield, the NBC TV movie Knight Rider, and as a corporate executive in season 7 of 24...
as Ed "Big Ears" Bywaters - Rusty SchwimmerRusty SchwimmerRusty Schwimmer is an American film and television actress and singer. Her most prominent role so far is that of Barbara Ludzinski on The Guardian.Among her movie appearances are those as Joey B in Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, Mrs...
as "Big Rump" Kate Becker - Scott CooperScott Cooper (director)Scott Cooper is an American actor, writer, director, and producer. He is known for writing, directing and producing the 2009 film Crazy Heart starring Jeff Bridges...
as Henry "Heck" Gilpin - Valerie TianValerie TianValerie Tian is a Chinese-Canadian actress. She is known for her role as Su-Chin in Juno.-Career:In the summer of 2001, Tian auditioned for Canadian director Mina Shum, while she was casting for her feature Long Life, Happiness and Prosperity and won leading role of Mindy Ho...
as Ging Wa - Caroline Chan as Mai Ling
- Olivia ChengOlivia Cheng (Canadian actress)Olivia Sonya Cheng is an actress, broadcast journalist, and former correspondent for Entertainment Tonight Canada.Her filmography includes the mini-series Broken Trail, and the episode The New World on the television series The 4400....
as Ye Fung - Jadyn Wong as Ghee Moon
- Donald Fong as Lung Hay
- James RussoJames RussoJames Vincent Russo is an American film and television actor. He has starred in over 90 films in three decades.-Early life:...
as Capt. Billy Fender
Reception
The miniseries received generally favorable reviews from critics. As of August 7, 2007, the film had a score of 78 out of 100 on MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
based on 15 reviews. Charlie McCollum of the San Jose Mercury News
San Jose Mercury News
The San Jose Mercury News is a daily newspaper in San Jose, California. On its web site, however, it calls itself Silicon Valley Mercury News. The paper is owned by MediaNews Group...
called it "the finest purely American TV film to come along in some time." Allison Benedikt of the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
said it was "a gorgeous piece of cinema." Alessandra Stanley of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
said it was "not as well written or compelling as Lonesome Dove
Lonesome Dove (film)
Lonesome Dove is a western television miniseries based on Larry McMurtry's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name. Starring Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones, Lonesome Dove was originally broadcast by CBS on February 5, 1989, drawing a huge viewing audience, earning numerous awards, and...
, but Mr. Duvall brings an earthy believability to even the most plodding lines." The miniseries received 16 nominations at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards
59th Primetime Emmy Awards
The 59th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California on September 16, 2007 and were televised live on Fox at 8:00 p.m. EDT for the first time in high definition...
, having the second most overall nominations. It received one less nomination than another film set in America in the late 19th century, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (film)
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is a 2007 television film adapted from the book of the same name by Dee Brown. The film was written by Daniel Giat, directed by Yves Simoneau and produced by HBO Films. The book on which the movie is based is a history of Native Americans in the American West in the...
.
Awards
59th Primetime Emmy Awards59th Primetime Emmy Awards
The 59th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California on September 16, 2007 and were televised live on Fox at 8:00 p.m. EDT for the first time in high definition...
- Outstanding Miniseries (win)
- Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie: Robert DuvallRobert DuvallRobert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....
(win) - Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries: Thomas Haden ChurchThomas Haden ChurchThomas Haden Church is an American actor. After co-starring in the 1990s sitcom Wings, Church became well known for his film roles, including his Academy Award-nominated performance in Sideways and his role as the Sandman in Spider-Man 3.-Early life:Church, the fourth of six children, was born...
(win) - Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries: Greta ScacchiGreta ScacchiGreta Scacchi is an Italian-Australian actor.-Early life:Scacchi was born Greta Gracco in Milan, Italy, on 18 February 1960, the daughter of Luca Scacchi Gracco, an Italian art dealer and painter, and Pamela Carsaniga, an English dancer and antiques dealer...
(nom) - Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie, or Special (nom)
- Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie, or Special (nom)