merklekranz
Here we have two fine actors and that's about it. Burt Reynolds and Bruce Dern are back in the saddle, and given nothing to work with. The villain, David Figlioli, is a cartoon-like character. The script appears to have no direction, as it wanders all over the place, leaving the viewer with questions that are explained along the way only to expand the running time. But by far the biggest negative in "Hard Ground" is the total miscasting of Amy Jo Johnson. Instead of looking, sounding, or acting like a frontier woman, she comes across as if she just stepped out of a designer jeans commercial. Whenever she is on screen, she drags the movie right down to the mat. What you are left with is some nice location photography, and Reynolds and Dern struggling mightily to keep things from falling apart completely. - MERK
Florida2
The movie seems to be another one of Producer Robert Halmi Jr.'s "follow-up films" to his work in the legendary "Lonesome Dove" series, and, in fact, the time line of this film brings the entire Lonesome Dove era up and into the 20th Century (or just into the new century, in the year 1901).The pursuit of Billy Bucklin aside, the movie does have a similar Lonesome Dove feel to it, especially when it comes to the unfinished relationship of John McKay and Joshua - similar to that of Woodruff Call and Newt in the first Lonesome Dove film.However, while not directly related to the story's ending, the film does illustrate how individuals in that period of American history, similar to men like Call - and McKay and Hutchinson - were now discovering in their later years, that their feelings for the American West had become ironically similar to those of the Native Americans they helped to displace - that the wild, unclaimed vast landscape, much to their sadness or even anger, had begun to disappear into history.Unfortunately, viewers who decided to abandon the last few minutes of this film (once the gunfire ended) missed McKay's parting words on this subject, which might give meaning to many older Americans who feel similarly when it comes to life 100 years later, in the early 21st Century...
Rintrah23
Hard Ground is a terribly generic made for TV western. The acting is atrocious all around. Reynolds, who I thought would be good in a western, is bland and boring. The whole cast sucks actually. The shotgun wielding girl came across as absurd and badly casted. As did several other characters,only less so. Maybe the script's to blame. My main issue was the movie never felt real. It felt staged. Actors in period costumes saying their lines is all I could see on the screen. This is a Hallmark western. Due to the excellent Lonesome Dove and the positive comments and decent rating here , I rented this. Don't make the same mistake.
grafxman
I didn't think really good Westerns were made any more but I gave this one 9 out of 10. It's that good and, incredibly enough, it's made for TV!A word of warning however, this film is quite violent. In fact it's the most violent film I've ever seen on the Hallmark Channel.Burt Reynolds and Bruce Dern play friends/enemies/brothers in law as they track down and kill an extremely savage man who murders men, women and children any time he feels like it which is often. He's supported by a gang of bad guys and a corrupt Mexican general.The film has it's share of colorful characters as well as Amy Jo Johnson for some female interest. She packs a 10 gauge double barreled shotgun.
AD
