I caught this film on Encore Westerns, it's title left off 'The Last of the Wild Bunch' part. Technically, that's not correct, since Tracy met his end in 1902 and the Bolivian ambush of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid occurred in 1908. I guess the film makers were looking for a hook and that sounded plausible enough for anyone not bothered to investigate it's accuracy.Bruce Dern is one of those character actors I've come to appreciate in the company of guys like Warren Oates and Dennis Hopper. They always gave an outstanding performance, are often better as outlaws instead of good guys, and sometimes even found themselves cast as the principal character instead of a supporting one. Dern fills the bill on all three counts here in this tale of a twentieth century desperado who lives on his own terms and consequently, dies that way too.The bigger surprise in the film of course, is the role of lawman Morrie Nathan portrayed by Canadian Gordon Lightfoot. I'll have to add his name to my list of well known singers I would have lost a bet on who appeared in a Western, right up there with Bobby Darin ("Gunfight in Abilene"), and more recently, David Bowie ("Il Mio West"). Lightfoot's role in the story isn't a big one, and he did have to suffer an ignominious fall into a latrine. You may wonder how that could possibly happen but for that, you'll have to catch the flick.If you do a quick internet search on the real life outlaw Harry Tracy, you won't discover much, but what you will find pretty much corroborates the story here of how Tracy fell out with his partner David Merrill (Michael C. Gwynne) and met death by his own hand with a sheriff's posse closing in. I didn't think about it while watching, but that's what might have happened with Butch and Sundance as well if you go with the revisionist history of his contemporaries. But that's another story.Oddly enough, Harry Tracy was also the subject of an ancient TV episode from 'Stories of the Century' aired in 1954. That show included elements from this movie, among them the train hijacking, the fallout with Dave Merrill, and the suicide. A love interest for the outlaw doesn't show up in that story or the meager written history, so the inclusion of Catherine Tuttle (Helen Shaver) in the picture was probably brought in to add a touch of humanity to Tracy's character.

You gotta love those goshdarned IMDb volunteer reviewers (of whom, of course, your humble scribe is one). Generally they appear literally out of nowhere to heap praise on a movie that really appealed to them, back in the day, no matter how obscure the production, or what the reaction of the crowd was at the time. (A phenomenon I noted specifically in my IMDb review of Johnny Cool.) Interestingly, unlike Marc Antony, they seldom "come to bury Caesar," but, rather, almost always to praise him. (There is a reason for this -- if you point a finger at a beloved flick, someone's pet favourite, you are penalized with a "not useful" rating. The bittersweet irony, of course, is that the time spent contemplating the review is always the same, whether the review is judged "useful" or not, so in all cases where a comment is ticked the reviewer has still done his job, regardless of the heaping scorn.) Which brings us, in a roundabout way, to this film. Rather than engage in fisticuffs with all the other commentators who are simply beside themselves telling you how good this film is, I would rather draw your kind attention to the significant fact that the IMDb has only one single professional review listed, FROM AN OUTFIT THAT MAINLY TALKS ABOUT THE QUALITY OF TRANSFER FROM CELLULOID TO DVD; in other words, an outfit what will usually try to ENCOURAGE you to buy the DVD, and even THAT review deployed the specific words "this is not an especially good film." And, frankly, truer words were never written. Leaving aside Dern's work -- he could not give a bad performance if the character he was playing was actually written as a "bad actor" -- this film actually destroyed the career of the producer and the production company behind it, as well as (as is the nature of the biz) a daisy-chain of other films, in development, that were conditional on the success of this one. That's how bad it was. Think about that. Put on your sci-fi Trekkie hats for a moment. Go all "Butterfly Effect" on me. Because of the wretchedness of this film, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of other films that simply do exist in the IMDb database because they were never made, at least in this reality timeline. And please keep this information in mind the next time you are tempted to sing the praises of a production which, at the time of its release, was rejected both by its peers and its audience both. Yes, film is indeed a journey to a magical land. But reviewers, on the other hand, need to keep both feet firmly in the mundane world.

Safe to say I don't know much about the career or films of Bruce Dern.I do however know all about the career of Canadian singer/songwriter Gordon Lightfoot,who plays the U.S. Marshall in the film,he's almost unrecognizable. He's the one in the picture to the left/right with the beard,mustache & hat. (I'm a major fan of his with every album he's put out.) Most remembered for songs like 1974's "Sundown" and 1976's "The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitrzgerald",this was his 1st and only foray into acting (except for an episode of ABC's "Hotel" in 1988). I can honestly say that he doesn't do too bad a job,although Mr. Lightfoot may tell you different. His character vows to hunt Harry down and bring him in.Trouble is,Harry always seems to be able to embarrass him by escaping just the same or making him look foolish in other ways.Still,I'm happy to say the now 67 year old (2005-2006) stayed in the music business and still draws a crowd. Besides,whoever said a Marshall had to be larger than life anyway? Hollywood?As for the overall movie itself,its really good! Harry Tracey is a robber,a killer and "Desperado" as they were called back then. Still,when he goes from town to town,people greet him like he's a celebrity. Which is true of most outlaws back then. Harry doesn't however just shoot down folks in cold blood,he only shoots those who may be trying to get him first.The sets fit perfectly with the era,making it historically accurate for 1899 to early 1900's. The cast does a great job at making this an exciting believable drama & love story. Although,I had a little trouble believing a man like Harry could have time to frolic on the beach with a woman he's fallen for though.Overall,it's a truly great adventure,love story and western...right up to it's great climax,which I wont spoil it for you but I will say the closing song "My Love For You" (by Gordon Lightfoot),plays over the end credits and while not available on record,tape or CD...it's a beautiful coda to all that you'll have watched. I have 2 copies of this on DVD,one open one not,re-titled: "Harry Tracy,Last Of The Wild Bunch" (Which he wasn't by the way) One star short of ten because there's no closed captioning/sub-titles on the DVD. (END)

The good news is that Bruce Dern just can't turn in a bad performance. Along with Dabney Coleman, he's a guy we just love to hate. He takes a despicable character and forces us to watch him, despite the instinct to turn away. The other good news about this movie is that it cured Gordon Lightfoot of the acting bug and we can safely assume after 20 years that this supremely talented singer and songwriter will never try to act again. His embarrassing performance rivals that of Glen Campbell's in True Grit; wooden, stilted and just painful to watch!