Prairie Fever

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From the descriptions I'd seen, I picked this up, expecting a cat and mouse game based around transporting a trio of insane women from a small town to the railhead. A horror version of 3:10 to Yuma. Instead, I got a film that seems to have been written by a committee of executives from WE, Lifetime, and the Hallmark Channel. Neither the writing nor the acting were top notch. Though, between the two, the acting was better. The plot was fairly cookie cutter, and only the mules couldn't have seen everything coming after the first fifteen minutes. The budget seemed on-par with an episode of Brisco County Jr, and I think they may have shared some sets. Most of the cast was unknown to me, but it was fun spotting familiar faces like Silas Weir Mitchell. Still, I can't say it was terrible.

A western hero can fearlessly out-drink and out-shoot everyone without ever getting drunk or missing. In the rare cases when he does get drunk or - God forbid - may even become A drunk, he still never misses, sobers up with no relapses - usually helped along by a beautiful saloon-lady with a colourful past and a golden heart, meant to be mainly a decorative accolade to the story - and gets to shoot all bad guys single-handedly in the final show-down, that traditionally happens either at dawn or - naturally - at high noon. Well, not this time. We have the saloon-lady and she's beautiful, 'golden-hearted' and provided with a colourful past all right, but she's not alone: there are a fierce bible-quoting dragon of a woman, a sobbing, hysterical, agoraphobic, but sweet and naive cry-baby as well as an awesome, mad, ferocious pianist turned farmer's wife turned man-killer joining her for a long ride meant to take all of them out of the prairie, that drove them nuts, and back to civilisation. They are being accompanied by the former sheriff of the town they want to leave behind, a guy who, attempting to stop some bank-robbers, accidentally shot his wife instead, drowning ever since in self-pity, guilt and whiskey. Forced to accept the assignment of getting the ladies back home, he embarks on the journey of his life, gets nearly driven out of his mind by the company he has to keep, sobers up (when his bottles get smashed), discovers his... more feminine side, gets shot, heals, makes friends out of harpies and finds hope, a new purpose in life and true love, despite of staying to the bitter end respectful of dangers, reluctant to risk any other life but his and finally getting by without having to kill anyone. All of this in less than 90 minutes, which makes the entire thing seem a bit rushed, despite the noticeable attempt of the film to take its time. Unfortunately it doesn't have any, an impression stressed by a rather random editing and a not always very confident directing. The story and the acting though more than make up for this. Kevin Sorbo oscillating between exasperation and gentleness is definitely worth seeing, his whiskey-drenched, yet dry-humoured Mr Biggs an endearing and welcome addition to the traditional fallen, but somehow miraculously scrambling-back-to-their-feet heroes of the Old West (although I did miss occasionally his usual, contagious playfulness). And equally worth seeing are Lance Henriksen's remarkably relaxed and somehow charming villain, Jillian Armenante's gruff, dangerous and ultimately deeply touching shrew, as well as Dominique Swain's quite fascinating Abigail. The rest of the cast is solid, but remains a little pale.

guys, i put 10 out of ten and can tell why... first: I don't't like dramas, nothing will make me watch them, even good criticism. but just of curiosity wanted to watch a movie with Kevin Sorbo. this movie looks a lot like Australian-made series. it is somewhat naive but it has gentleness and truth. when you watch it it reminds old black-and-white movies. yes, it could be better - but on the other hand - i'm tired of s-o-o much blood, "realistic" camera, computer soundtracks, sex, cursing, etc. when you watch this - it's like reading books of Jack London, Mark Twain. if you want some shock ('cause you might be some couch potato bored of everything), want some bloody shooting, yelling and another macho cowboys - it's not for you. but if you like old western stories like Tom Sawyer - this IS for you! yes, it could be better - villains could be "badder", drinking former-sheriff could act more like a drunk, but, gosh, this was like a movie of my childhood... give it a try!

When I stumbled upon the 2008 Western movie titled "Prairie Fever", I had only noticed that the movie starred Kevin Sorbo. And that was actually the reason why I picked up the movie. And then I saw that the movie also had Lance Henriksen and Dominique Swain on the cast list as well, and things were definitely looking all the more brighter. But there were more familiar faces on the cast list here, with the likes of Jillian Armenante, Felicia Day, Don Swayze, Michael Ensign and a couple others. The storyline in "Prairie Fever" was adequate. Writer Steven H. Berman put together a fair enough script that proved entertaining enough for what it was. Sure, this wasn't cutting edge cinema in the Western genre, and there wasn't really a lot of classic Western elements in the storyline. Instead, you have a drama about a former sheriff who has to escort a group of women to Carson City, and the movie follows their trek across the prairie. Well, while the storyline was adequate, I have to say that the acting performances in "Prairie Fever", and the many familiar faces on the screen, definitely helped to keep the movie afloat and kept it as a watchable movie. The movie was struggling somewhat with a lack of proper Western atmosphere, feel and look to it. Everything was just a bit too mint condition and lacking the dirt and dust you would assume that garments would accumulate living in those conditions back in the day. My rating of directors Stephen Bridgewater and David S. Cass Sr.'s 2008 Western "Prairie Fever" lands on a five out of ten stars.

I thought Kevin Sorbo was the only highlight. The 4 women...couldn't tell them from the 2 mules. And I think it was filmed on the same piece set. They simply shot from every conceivable angle to make it look like they were traveling. And now this stupid website says I have to make ten lines of comments? Waste more words on this piece of celluloid trash? Well, the only good looking woman gets shot and killed - thankfully, as her character was the most annoying. The female lead who saves Sorbo from his character flaws, zero sex appeal. I think everyone mailed in their performances. Yikes, and now it wants more comments from me. Lance Heinriksen is in this flick too. Once upon a time he had a career. Now, well, he's in tripe like this.