Palo Pinto Gold

MONARCH
Street: Jan. 20
Prebook: Dec. 29
> Cheap but ambitious horse opera that tries to emulate such westerns as Open Range.

Although this low-budget oater aspires to be another Open Range, it more closely resembles the grade-B westerns of yore: unpretentious formulaic actioners with clearly defined heroes and villains. Pure-hearted young farmer Jake Landers (Trent Willmon) teams up with gunfighter Ben Crowder (director/co-writer/co-star Anthony Henslee) to rescue a kidnapped girl and bring ruthless ex-Ranger Shane Stocksteal (Glynn Praesel) to justice. Country music legends Roy Clark and Mel Tillis appear as old timers who tell the story in flashback to a Depression-era reporter, and novelist Kinky Friedman has a last-reel cameo as the Texas governor (a post he coveted in real life). The action is stereotypical and not terribly well staged, but this film will appeal to the small, passionate constituency for old-fashioned westerns.

Shelf Talk: These days, westerns aren’t generally popular unless they have marketable stars, so Palo Pinto Gold is at a disadvantage. It doesn’t stand up to comparison with the likes of Unforgiven, Tombstone, Open Range, Lonesome Dove or Broken Trail. Absent big names and A-movie production values, Gold will be a niche item at best and probably perform well in the country’s Southern and Western regions.