Tom Selleck, in the title role, is an aging cowboy at the turn of the 19th century. Arriving back in town after wintering on the range minding a cattle herd, Monte and his trail pardner, Chet Rollins (Keith Carradine), learn that the hard season has broken the backs of the local ranch owners and their spreads are being bought up by a consortium of Eastern dudes. Jobs are scarce, but Walsh and Rollins are hired by Cal Brennan (William Devane), a former owner now managing the consortium's local holding. Cowboys are a dying breed and, as Monte and Chet soon discover, times only get tougher as even the distant bosses can't show a profit.

Ostensibly in Wyoming but actually filmed in the gorgeous Canadian Rockies, MONTE WALSH is a bittersweet tale of a man, supremely talented in a very narrow niche, finding himself outliving his best friend (Chet), his long-time lover, the aging saloon whore "Countess" Martine (Isabella Rossellini), and his own ability to earn a living in the only craft he's ever known.

Except for Selleck, Carradine, and Devane, the film is populated by actors that you may not recognize, though it's good to see again Barry Corbin (Deputy Roscoe Brown in LONESOME DOVE) as Bob the Storekeeper and William Sanderson (Lippy in LONESOME DOVE, E.B Farnum in DEADWOOD, and Larry on NEWHART) as the odiferous ranch cook, Skimpy.

Perhaps the most poignant and tragic scene involves a cowboy nicknamed "Fightin' Joe Hooker" (James Gammon), who, at the end of his career, is relegated to "riding fence", i.e. stringing barbed wire to a line of fence posts stretching endlessly across the landscape - the most hated of ranch jobs. Joe got his moniker from having ridden alongside General "Fightin' Joe" Hooker at the Battle of Missionary Ridge back in '64. Now, his spirit crushed by age and lack of prospects, Joe deliberately races his mount over a precipice to their deaths. Only after his demise do the other ranch hands, while going though his meager belongings, learn that his real name was Albert Miller.

MONTE WALSH isn't a great film, but I enjoyed it immensely for its perspicacity regarding the end of an era in general, and the challenge confronting the individual at life's useful end in particular. At some point, I suspect, we're all faced with "riding fence".

A classic western
Review date: 2004-12-01 Rating: 8 out of 10

Tom Selleck turns in his best performance since Magnum PI in this made for tv western....
Everything about this movie shows that it was clearly a labour of love for all those involved making it...The story takes it's time to unfold giving all the characters time to make themselves known but it does not slow the pace down at all.

The cinematography of the picture is excellent..lovely sweping shots of the western landscape....

Like Costner's excellent western "Open Range" you get the build up to the final gun battle & when it does come it makes it all the more tense & exciting when you see it.

In short this is a great western,a great film with a fanttastic performance by Tom Selleck...Not to be missed.

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