1867 California, Chief railroad
engineer Dalglish (Wes Bentley) walks into Daniel
Dillon's gold-diggin' town to survey the land for the
coast to coast rail. Coincidentally, the same day,
Dillon's long lost wife and daughter stroll right
into his "Kingdom Come." That provides plenty of
fossil fuel for an old-fashioned cowboy romance with
a touch of the artsy.
Though breaking no pace records, the film makes
every effort to be real. Peter Mullan's Dillon
character is preciously interesting; in fact, he's
the main character, not Bentley. All act well, but
none fantastic. The golden nugget of the production
lies in Dillon's heartfelt attempts to buy
forgiveness.
Characters talk as they do today ... not as we
might have guessed they'd been speaking over a
hundred years ago. This adds to the realism.
'Choked me up a time or two.
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