Richard Boone

AGAINST A CROOKED SKY (1975)

Hard to admit, but this movie works.
It runs at the pace of chicory and not coffee;
hey--what folk can afford caffeine,
with the budget of this type of frontier family film.
Nor is it really a movie for fans of Richard Boone,
who is reduced to playing a buffoon.
With no Charlie Allnut or Rooster Cogburn lines
for his character, all that is left
are the snarls and growls that Boone usually used as punctuations.
Still, there are nifty elements such as the mysterious tribe
that abducts the young white woman,
and a plot device based on the Biblical 'greater love' theme.
Frontier-hardy performances by Clint Ritchie
and Jewel Branch (who sings the theme song) also count,
when you're trying to rationalize spending
ninety minutes of lifetime, watching this movie.
Just not for Richard Boone aficionados.