The Sacketts

The Sacketts
DVD cover
Genre	Western
Based on	The Daybreakers and Sackett by Louis L'Amour
Screenplay by	Jim Byrnes
Directed by	Robert Totten
Starring	Sam Elliott Tom Selleck Jeff Osterhage Glenn Ford
Music by	Jerrold Immel
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
Production
Executive producer(s)	Douglas Netter Jim Byrnes
Producer(s)	Douglas Netter Jim Byrnes
Location(s)	Buckskin Joe Frontier Town & Railway, 1193 Fremont County Road 3A, Canon City, Colorado Mescal, Arizona Old Tucson Studios, Arizona Red Hills Ranch, Sonora, California
Cinematography	Jack Whitman
Editor(s)	Howard A. Smith
Running time	170 minutes
Production company(s)	Douglas Netter Productions M.B. Scott Productions Shalako Enterprises (produced in association with) Media Productions
Distributor	NBC
Release
Original network	NBC
Original release	May 15, 1979 (1979-05-15) (USA)

The Sacketts is a 1979 American Western television film directed by Robert Totten and starring Sam Elliott, Tom Selleck, Jeff Osterhage, and Glenn Ford. Based on the novels The Daybreakers and Sackett by Louis L'Amour, the film recounts the story of the Sackett brothers in 1869 who leave their Tennessee home and start a new life together in Santa Fe.^[1]

Plot

Three brothers from Tennessee, Tell, Orrin, and Tyrel Sackett, are brought together by the tragic events that occur at Orrin's wedding. Tell (Sam Elliott) is a mountain man who hasn't seen his family in almost ten years, Orrin (Tom Selleck) is a former lawman now looking to settle down with his family, and Tyrel (Jeff Osterhage) is the youngest brother who is very good with a revolver. At the wedding, the brother of a man Orrin had previously killed arrives in the middle of the ceremony and holds Orrin at gunpoint. The man pulls the trigger, but Orrin's fiancée gets in the way and is shot and killed. Tyrel arrives and shoots the man dead.

Having killed a man, Tyrel clears out of Tennessee and heads west. Following the funeral of Orrin's fiancée, his mother tells him to join Tyrel and find Tell, and to go start a life in the west. Meanwhile, Tell has found work in a mining camp in Uvalde, Texas. During a card game, Tell accuses one of the men, Wes Bigelow, of cheating and shoots him dead. The leader of the mining camp suggests that Tell should leave before the victim's brothers arrive to seek revenge, and Tell heads out alone into the wilderness.

On his way west, Tyrel meets with a cattle drive and signs on as a cowhand. He immediately becomes friends with aging cowhand Cap Rountree (Ben Johnson), and former gunfighter Tom Sunday (Glenn Ford), who becomes a mentor to Tyrel. Orrin catches up with the group and joins them. As they finish the drive in Abilene, Kansas, Cap, Tom, Orrin and Tyrel make plans to collect wild cattle near the Purgatoire River. While in the town, Orrin becomes attracted to the daughter of wealthy man Jonathan Pritts (John Vernon), while Tyrel becomes attracted to the Drusilla (Ana Alicia), the granddaughter of wealthy Mexican Don Luis (Gilbert Roland). Don Luis and Pritts are arguing with each other over Luis' land in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Orrin and Tyrel eventually meet up with Tell in a small town in Colorado called Purgatorie. Cap and Tell decide to go searching for gold up in the mountains, while Orrin, Tyrel and Sunday continue with their plan to collect wild cattle on the way to Santa Fe. Soon after they leave, Ira Bigelow (Jack Elam) arrives in town and declares that he is tracking Tell Sackett with the aim of killing him.

In Elizabethtown, New Mexico, Tell and Cap are confronted by a young gunfighter named Kid Newton. Tell avoids a gunbattle with Newton by talking him down and ordering him to leave. When Ira Bigelow's search for Tell brings him to Elizabethtown, Newton offers to be his guide.

After reaching Santa Fe, both Orrin and Sunday run in the election for town sheriff. Pritts helps Orrin win the election by disclosing that Sunday is a disbarred lawyer and ex-convict from Louisiana. Sunday starts drinking heavily and becomes increasingly hostile towards Orrin. Orrin asks Sunday to be his deputy, but Sunday blames Orrin for ruining his dream of a fresh start in Santa Fe and angrily refuses the offer.

Don Luis soon dies of old age. Orrin and Tyrel, now appointed as deputy sheriff, prove that Pritts has been attempting to run the Mexicans out of Santa Fe and send him to jail. Orrin decides to run for mayor if Tyrel stays as sheriff. As Orrin is announcing his intention to the townspeople in the plaza, Sunday arrives seeking a final confrontation with Orrin. Tyrel sees him first and stands in his way. When Tyrel refuses to move, Sunday draws his gun. Tyrel draws and shoots Sunday first. Tyrel weeps as Sunday dies in his arms.

While searching for gold in the mountains, Cap and Tell find a lost woman, Ange Kerry (Wendy Rastatter). Ira Bigelow, his brother Jack (Slim Pickens) and their hired men soon arrive and assault Tell's camp, wounding Cap in the leg. Ange escapes on a stolen horse and wires a message for help to Orrin, while Tell and Cap escape back to Purgatorie on foot. The Bigelows and their men catch up to them in town and challenge Tell to a gunfight the next day at daybreak. Orrin and Tyrel receive Ange's telegram and rush to join Tell at Purgatorie.

The following day Tell strides out onto the street alone to face the Bigelow gang. Unbeknownst to Tell, Cap grabs a shotgun and hobbles after him. Tell finds Orrin and Tyrel waiting for him in the street. As the Bigelows and their men start to emerge from the livery stable, the Sacketts open fire and the gun battle begins. With the help of Cap, the Sacketts kill all seven of the Bigelow gang. Cap joins the reunited Sackett brothers as they walk away down the street.

Cast

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links

• The Sacketts at the Internet Movie Database
• The Sacketts at AllMovie
• The Sacketts at the TCM Movie Database