Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
Director: Richard Gray, Defiant Screen Entertainment.
A well-told Western murder-mystery features splendid performances from a wonderful ensemble cast including Gabriel Byrne, Thomas Jane, Richard Dreyfuss, Nat Wolff (The Kill Team), Anna Camp (Pitch Perfect) and Isaiah Mustafa (IT: Chapter Two).
From a screenplay by Eric Belgau, Australian producer-director Gray (Robert the Bruce, Summer Coda) is enthusiastic about this film. “I’ve dreamed about the wild west since I was a kid, so to make this film with such a talented cast, at our own western backlot in Montana is beyond my wildest dreams. It’s a really special story – a thrilling western.”
Set in the years following the Civil War, Yellowstone City is a shadow of the gold rush boom town it once was, peopled by an array of outcasts, hoping for peace and still waiting for prosperity. The pace is measured, but this is a place of secrets, a town of suspects.
When a local prospector is murdered after striking a new vein of gold that could bring the town back to life, it sets off a chain of events that could tear the town apart.
There is Sheriff James Ambrose (Byrne, A Touch of the Poet, In Treatment), a stern ex-soldier who isn’t given to unreasonable brutishness, but feels totally (and justifiably) confident in his ability to keep the peace because of his fearsome reputation.
He assumes the killer to be a newcomer, a former slave who calls himself Cicero (Isaiah Mustafa, Shadowhunters), because “he’s the only man who doesn’t know what I’ll do to him.” However, as it becomes clear that Cicero is innocent, and as the mystery of the prospector’s death deepens and puts the town in jeopardy, the new minister, Thaddeus Murphy (Thomas Jane) and his straight-shooting wife Alice (Anna Camp) must stand-up to Sheriff Ambrose and bring the true culprit to justice.
We have been given 3 DVDs to give away of Murder at Yellowstone City. Tell us who plays Sheriff Ambrose … and send your entries to [email protected] by Monday, 25 July 2022. Names of the winners will be published in Frank Cassidy’s PS-sssst…! column on 26 July 2022
- Murder at Yellowstone City is out on DVD and Digital
