Matthew Hallsworth Being a huge fan of the "modern" westerns such as the Lonesome Dove trilogy, Open Range etc..... I was eagerly looking forward to this but couldn't help but feel slightly let down by the end result. Although Duval is as solid as ever everything was too slow moving and the plot development was poor. Its almost as if they didn't have enough story ideas to fill the 3 hours so kept adding in strange little scenes which lasted about 30 seconds or so....Character development was strange too.....after the end of the first episode I commented to my girlfriend that "Big Ears" was supposed to be the bad guy but they hadn't really given any reason why..... then at the start of the second he commits a bad act, almost as if they realised they needed to force something in there to make him feared......The scenery was beautiful, the acting was good by some, limited by others......I didn't really feel ANY empathy or warmth for any of the characters and on the whole it could've been much, much better.

adriennemay Robert Duvall is as good as he was in Lonesome Dove, which was Duvall's favourite movie. He is such a charmer, a gruff cowboy ladies man with a cold exterior and a warm heart. Duvall was into his seventies when this was filmed but he retains his old brilliance. Cold and calculating, generous and thoughtful, a portrayal of an old cowboy making his peace within his small family and mending the rift between his dead sister and her son.The photography is excellent and you really feel you are there in the foothills of the Rockies. Excellent supporting cast and believable story line. The final written notes suggest that this is based on a true story. For those who love the Western, you can do no better than this other than the Lonesome Dove collection.Suspense, blood chilling violence contrasting with periods of extreme peace and human nature at its best and worst.Simply brilliant.

Gunn You can tell a classic film the first time you see it and that was the case with Broken Trail. The same goes for Dances with Wolves, Lonesome Dove, E.T., Close Encounters, Braveheart, The Godfather series, The Star Wars series, Shawshank Redemption and so many others. This film has all the elements of a classic and more. Robert Duvall and Thomas Haden Church are terrific as usual as are the rest of the brilliant cast. As for those strange few reviewers on here who found the story dull and boring, what were you drinking or smoking? The story here, like Lonesome Dove, is engrossing, riveting, emotional, sometimes tense, sometimes heart-breaking; I mean, what more could one ask for in a story. The film also had stunningly visual scenery, a fine, servicing music score, authenticity galore in sets, costuming, art direction. Yes, they are making them like they used to. That old line no longer fits. If you think they aren't (making them like they used to) then you're going to the wrong films. I have to give 'props' to the young Asian girls in this film. They were completely charming and made us care about them. BTW, I don't know what 'props' means but I think it fits here. I highly recommend Broken Trail!

Neil Welch Duvall has always been great. I'm surprised (but not that surprised) to see the mountain of TV he did at the start of his career and how few films - To Kill A Mockingbird was his first one in 1962, with a couple of bit parts (including in Bullitt) before Ned Pepper in 1969 and M*A*S*H in 1970, which which was the one which lined up the Godfather in 1972. He has always brought an air of seriousness and gravitas to his performances, which makes even something like that trashy Schwarzenegger 6th Day seem better than it is. He was, as expected, excellent in this, although I felt that to some extent, his part was a retread of Boss Spearman in Open Range.Thomas Haden Church was also very good - he seems to select mostly quirky non-mainstream parts (although he was Sandman in Spider-Man 3). This part didn't do him many favours - fairly dour throughout, it didn't exactly generate vast quantities of audience sympathy. But it was still a solid picture of a man who was rough and ready, a little bitter in view of the cards life had dealt him, but essentially very moral.Greta Scacchi did well with not very much, and the Chinese girls were fine. I felt sorry for the bloke playing Gilpin - apart from a bit of fiddle playing, he hardly had anything to do apart from be a bit of mobile scenery and get shot at the end.The film had something of an odd story. Not a bad story, but an odd one. I quite like the way it unfolded at some leisure and, particularly, the way the relationship between Duvall and Church developed - not very much, and slowly. I was puzzled by the ending - the closing titles present what subsequently happened to the characters as if it was a true story, but I haven't been able to verify it on the net. And if it wasn't true, then there were some strange decisions as to how to end it - a story intended to satisfy an audience would have brought Duvall and Scacchi together, especially after all the pussyfooting around in the closing half hour or so. And, on a critical note, I felt that there were more than enough (loads more than enough) shots of backlit horses with foggy breath as seen through CSI: Miami orange filters.But overall, it held my attention for 3 hours and I was always interested in what happened next.