A TV movie with big screen actors coming towards the end of, for some of them, illustrious careers. Richard Widmark for one.
This film starts off with John Henry Lee, (Willie Nelsen) trying to rob a train of its gold and he is caught by Capt. Owen Hayes, (Richard Widmark) who was an old friend of John Henry, but they had a difference of feelings over a woman named Maggie Hayes, (Angie Dickinson).
After spending twenty years in prison, outlaw Willie Nelson gathers together his old gang, including brother Dub Taylor and Royal Dano, before returning to his old preoccupation with robbing a Texas train. Meanwhile retired Texas Ranger Richard Widmark gets his boys back together in order to capture them.
I found this 1987 movie now out on DVD to be very charming. Especially endearing were the initial descriptions of the players, markedly different from reality due to the passing of 20 years.
When I watched this movie I had no idea it followed the exploits of the characters of "The Over-the-Hill Gang", so that was a pleasant surprise, since I liked those two old corny TV movies.This entry has some pretty good dialogue, at least in the first half.
Written and directed by Burt Kennedy, Once Upon a Texas Train stars Willie Nelson, Richard Widmark, Shaun Cassidy and Chuck Connors. Music is by Arthur Rubinstein and cinematography Ken Lamkin.
Director Burt Kennedy took the same foursome of Texas Rangers from the Over The Hill Gang of 1969 and now has given them a new quest. Captain Richard Widmark is on the trail of Willie Nelson, an old war buddy from the Confederate Army and now a bank robber, who's back to his old tricks again.
Okay, Willie Nelson has to be one of the worst actors that ever opened his mouth in front of a camera. Can you say "self-conscious"???
With that old familiar call to arms code word 'Brazos!', the Over the Hill Gang rides again in this late Eighties made for TV flick that fans of classic Westerns will be glad to catch for one last roundup.
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