Where Was I In 1979?

Hey folks,

I don't know what I was doing in 1979, but somehow I managed to miss this two-part TV film, and I have never seen it advertised in re-run since. I have seen 1982's The Shadow Riders a number of times and enjoyed it quite a bit, but 1979's The Sacketts just slipped past somehow all these years. Both films were based on Louis L'Amour novels, and both films starred Sam Elliott, Tom Selleck, and Jeff Osterhage as the three main characters, but The Shadow Riders is not based on or connected to the many L'Amour novels that make up the larger saga of the Sacketts. In The Sacketts, Elliott, Selleck, and Osterhage play Tell, Orrin, and Tyrel Sackett, and in The Shadow Riders, they play the Traven brothers, Dal, Mac, and Jesse.

Having said that, however, it should be pointed out the three characters in both films were virtually the same except for their names. Jim Byrnes wrote the screenplay for both films, and it would appear he simply plucked the three Sackett brothers from the first film and dropped the three characters into the second film with nothing much more than a change in name. That is not a complaint on my part; it is just a statement of observation. L'Amour was a prolific writer, and he wrote many stories that were similar to earlier stories he had written. In this case, the Traven brothers and the Sackett brothers were pretty much the same characters, and when the two films had them played by the same actors, it is a bit hard to not notice the similarity.

It should also be pointed out that I thoroughly enjoyed The Sacketts, and I thoroughly enjoyed The Shadow Riders. I suspect all of the actors had a good time making both films. In addition to Elliott, Selleck, and Osterhage, The Sacketts had a host of other mostly older film friends to entertain us with their characterizations: Glenn Ford, Ben Johnson, Jack Elam, L. Q. Jones, Gilbert Roland, and Slim Pickens.

The time was supposed to be the latter years of the 1860s, and while you mostly saw period correct Colt cap and ball pistols, there were several instances where more modern Colts were used. They also fouled up with nearly all the lever action rifles which were not present in 1869. I don't know why they could not manage to get rid of the few modern Colt pistols and also replace the Winchester rifles with Henry rifles. It really would not have been difficult to do, but let's not dwell on this one period issue.

The story is a good one. The Sackett brothers are about as pure American pie as you can get. The shooting scenes are mostly realistic, and the good guys win in the end.

How can you go wrong with a film like that?

Best wishes,
Dave Wile