Monday, June 11, 2007

You're so Butch




I took my family to the Utah Family Film Festival this weekend. Didn't even know it was going on until my wife heard Chunga talking about it on the radio.

We saw Ryan Little's new film Outlaw Trail, which was absolutely charming. It's the story of Roy Parker, a teenage boy in the 1950's that lives with the family embarassment that his uncle Leroy Parker was better known to the world as the outlaw Butch Cassidy. While the world believes Butch and Sundance were killed in Bolivia, Roy is convinced his uncle survived, came home, and tried to turn his life around to become an honest guy. When Roy catches a couple of thugs stealing artifacts from an archaeological dig, he is led on the adventure of his life to try and recover Butch's treasure and clear the family name.

The story has a definite Indiana Jones feel to it, with some great moments, and a lot of use of dynamite. The script is not as strong as Ryan Little's last picture Saints and Soldiers, but it was plenty of fun.

There were some familiar faces for those of us that see films shot in Utah, like Rick Macy and Steve Anderson, plus some great performances from the rest of the cast, especially Dan Byrd, who was fantastic as Roy's nervous friend Jess.

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