Hot Picks
|
|
|
Badlands 2005
Badlands 2005: The Brides of Lizard Gulch
USA 1988
produced by Reuben Leder (executive) for Lizard Productions, Hoyts Productions/ABC
directed by George Miller (II)
starring Lewis Smith, Miguel Ferrer, Sharon Stone, Caitlin O'Heaney, Debra Engle, Lloyd Alan, Kevin Miles, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Gus Mercurio, Steve Kuhn, Justin Monjo, David Arnett, Marc Caleb, David Bennett
written by Reuben Leder, music by Bruce Rowland, robot effects by Tony McVey/Menagerie Productions
TV-pilot
review by Mike Haberfelner
|
|
|
A severe drought in 1995 has forced the American's out of the West of
their country, but now it's 2005, and the settlers are slowly returning -
and it's up to highway patrolmen Macbeth (Lewis Smith) and Rex (Miguel
Ferrer) - the latter just happens to be a cyborg - to see to it that the
settlers have safe passage, since there are many outlaws out there in the
badlands. This time around, Macbeth and Rex are to ship two mailorder
brides (Caitlin O'Heaney, Debra Engle) to Lizard Gulch, where they are to
marry two engineers ... but Macbeth has the feeling there's something
wrong with the bridegrooms, and he's right of course, as they belong to
Johnny Cantrell's (Lloyd Alan) gang, as does one of the brides, Sarah
(Caitlin O'Heaney), who's actually the sister of Cantrell, and the other
bride's late husband has obviously spoilt a good deal for Cantrell. Well,
Macbeth and Rex dash to the rescue, are captured and almost killed, Rex's
flesh is burnt off his artificial skeleton, eventually they manage to
create chaos by locomotive (for some reason, Cantrell and his gang have
hidden out in a train depot), but ultimately, it's up to Sarah to shoot
her own brother after a heart-warming speech Macbeth has given her ... and
everything ends happily ever after ... Pre-superstar Sharon Stone plays
Macbeth and Rex's boss. The concept sounds interesting, but the
execution is less so: It's pretty much Mad Max (by the way directed
by a different George Miller) after a whitewash, a mediocre Western tale
set in post-apocalyptic days (if you even want to call them that), with
your typical not all that exciting made-for-TV stunts and effects, and a
few too many 1980's TV clichés to really create too much interest - so no
wonder this pilot did not catch on ... and if you argue other pilots of
the same or lower quality did, then this says less about the quality of
this one and more about the unpredictability of TV-land as such.
|