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24/03/1995 Adventure, Family, Western 1h 38m
62
User score

A journey into a world where legends come to life. Dreams come true. And every boy is a hero.

Overview

A young boy draws on the inspiration of legendary western characters to find the strength to fight an evil land baron in the old west who wants to steal his family's farm and destroy their idyllic community. When Daniel Hackett sees his father Jonas gravely wounded by the villainous Stiles, his first urge is for his family to flee the danger, and give up their life on a farm which Daniel has come to despise anyway. Going alone to a lake to try to decide what to do, he falls asleep on a boat and wakes to find himself in the wild west, in the company of such "tall tale" legends as Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan, John Henry and Calamity Jane. Together, they battle the same villains Daniel is facing in his "real" world, ending with a heroic confrontation in which the boy stands up to Stiles and his henchmen, and rallies his neighbors to fight back against land grabbers who want to destroy their town.

  1. Jeremiah S. Chechik

    Director

  2. Steve Bloom

    Writer

  3. Robert Rodat

    Writer

Top billed cast

  1. Patrick Swayze

    Pecos Bill

  2. Oliver Platt

    Paul Bunyan

  3. Roger Aaron Brown

    John Henry

  4. Nick Stahl

    Daniel Hackett

  5. Scott Glenn

    J.P. Stiles

  6. Stephen Lang

    Jonas Hackett

  7. Jared Harris

    Head Thug Pug

  8. Catherine O'Hara

    Calamity Jane

  9. Burgess Meredith

    Old Man (uncredited)

  10. View more

Full Cast & Crew

Reviews

A review by r96sk
Written by r96sk on 2020-10-04
A tad messy in its execution, but a cool film nevertheless.

I'll be honest, it oddly took me a while to catch on to what was happening; I found all the dots, so to speak, but didn't connect them quick enough for some reason. Nonetheless, throughout, I was very much enjoying the film.

The cast are terrific, they certainly elevate the film up in my thoughts. Patrick Swayze, Oliver Platt and Roger Aaron Brown are entertaining in the respective roles as Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan and John Henry. A young Nick Stahl isn't amazing, but his performance is satisfactory. Scott Glenn, meanwhile, is a ...read the rest
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Status
Released

Original Language
English

Budget
$32,000,000.00

Revenue
$0.00

Keywords