eluded him, Selleck still shows why he continues to be the best actor working in traditional Westerners and the natural successor to such screen legends as Joel McCrea, Randolph Scott, Gary Cooper, and John Wayne. Any of those actors would have felt quite at home with the hero of this film, Rafael Covington, a man of few word and an unbending code of honor.Supporting Selleck are the vibrant Virginia Masden, Mark Harmon, Brad Johnson, David O'Hara, Patrick Kilpatrick as well as the always welcomed presence of those two ever-reliable veteran actors, Wilford Brimley and Barry Corben.For Australian director Simon Wincer and star Tom Selleck, CROSSFIRE TRAIL is a re-union since they collaborated in the highly entertaining and grossly neglected QUIGLEY DOWN UNDER. Wincer brings his typically excellent eye to period detail and visual meise en scene that he used so successfully in his groundbreaking epic LONESOME DOVE.Again, if you haven't seen this film, then by all means, do so. If you have, then go back a savor of well-done effort. You will be well rewarded in either case.

of the hammer of his sixgun which I think was a Smith and Wesson . This is a re-occurring theme in L'amour's books.This movie may never get the praise it deserves in the world of westerns but what a great one it is. I hope Tom Selleck does more of these.

to watch at many intervals because for most of the film Madsen does not believe Selleck, who is just trying to help. Selleck does his normal excellent portrayal of a rugged cowboy.Overall, a good movie and highly-recommended for western fans.

ranch and widow. When Selleck proves to be a formidable opponent, Harmon brings in gunfighter Brad Johnson to settle things which of course, leads to the inevitable showdown. The scenery, shot in western Canada, is beautiful and unspoiled. The town looking suspiciously like the one in "Unforgiven" 1992 looks like a real dusty western town and the costumes and make-up have been created authenticly as well. The acting is good all round and the action scenes are as exciting and well staged as any I've seen. Barry Corbin as the town's drunken sheriff and William Sanderson as the bartender are excellent in featured roles. "Crossfire Trail" is a western lovers delight. They don't make 'em like this anymore.

Virginian after he engineered Sonny Tufts getting hung? Well, this film loosely based on a Louis L'Amour story takes us back to a time when heros were just that: bigger than life figures that placed honor, decency and the love of their horses above the petty greed and avarice of the weaker villains. Selleck is outstanding in this role as Rafe Covington who comes to "take care of" the widow of a friend whom we later learn he knew but a short time . What commitment! Now, we get some growls here from the peanut gallery from some who fail to understand the archetype the Western Hero is based on and even one faithful Louis L'Amour fan who cries foul at the departures from the original. OK. We can let that go. Someone observes that Selleck leaving his Magnum PI role is a "natural" for Westerns. I second that! He does. His pals, veteran character actor Wilfred Brimley, Kane and O'Hara add texture to the hero role while the villains are outright scumbags, especially usual good-guy Mark Harmon and refugee from the rapture, Brad Johnson glad he made it out of the apocalypse . These baddies are REAL bad. Cheap made-for-TV has-been Western flick? No way, José. This is FINE entertainment and I wish they had a lot more of it.

the evil banker using a mortgage to blackmail a beautiful widow? All that's missing from this choice of villain is mustache twirling and maniacal laughing. But given that genre prescription, Carner instead gives us an epistemological mystery: the widow has to use her powers of deductive reasoning to figure out whether the handsome banker is trying to protect her from a con man trying to take advantage of her grief, or whether the handsome stranger claiming to be fulfilling a promise to her dead husband is there to protect her interests from the banker.The cast, led off by Tom Selleck and Virginia Madsen, is ably assisted by Wilford Brimley and Mark Harmon, among others. The directing is good, the photography suitably expansive. But this production deserves special kudos for getting the details of the old West dead-on accurate, with every firearm being portrayed historically accurately, and even details of costuming showing loving care. Moreover, I haven't seen that many westerns with dialogue discussing Beethoven, and poetry quoted from Milton. It's nice to see, for once, that just because a cowboy could get physical he wasn't necessarily an ignorant moron.This is a Western that could have been made in the golden age of Westerns. It overcame my skepticism and I give it a rating of 8 out of 10.