Last Stand at Saber River

Last Stand at Saber River is a 1997 television movie starring Tom Selleck, based on the 1959 novel of the same title by Elmore Leonard. Directed by Dick Lowry, the film also featured Suzy Amis, Haley Joel Osment, Tracey Needham, Keith Carradine, David Carradine, and Harry Carey Jr..

In 1997, Osment won a YoungStar Award award for Best Performance for a TV Movie. In 1998, the film brought Selleck, Leonard, Lowry, Ronald Cohen, Thomas John Kane, Keith Carradine, Michael Brandman, Mary Ann Braubach, and Stephen J. Brandman Western Heritage Awards.

Plot

As America recovers from the Civil War, Paul Cable (Tom Selleck) returns home to Texas after being away from his family for years while fighting for the Confederacy. His wife, Martha (Suzy Amis), is a pretty but strong-willed frontier woman, whose independence makes her a force in and of herself. She had been told that he was killed in action. Upon her husband's unexpected return, she once again devotes herself to being his wife, but resents him for having left her and their children behind to fight a war she didn't care to understand. Despite having loved each other since childhood and being married, Paul and Martha are now like strangers to each other, and the tension between them is evident. During his absence, their youngest daughter died from a fever, and Martha, having borne that without him, has developed a hatred for her husband. Her father, James Sanford (Harry Carey Jr.), scolds her for her attitude toward Cable, but she stands her ground, never backing down from her stance on the subject. Her father knows her well, and subsequently leaves the subject alone.

Cable decides he will return to Arizona and reclaim the ranch he owns there. The family members, consisting of Paul, Martha, and their daughter and son, load up their belongings, bid farewell to Martha's father, and make their way to Arizona. While en route, they come into contact with Lorraine Kidston (Tracey Needham), the beautiful ramrod cowgirl daughter of rancher Duane Kidston (David Carradine). During the night, horses headed by her men accidentally stampede through the Cables' camp, leading Paul and Martha to scold the men. Lorraine agrees that her men were foolish to run the horses at night, and scolds them. Through this interaction, the cowhands and Lorraine learn that the man in front of them is, in fact, Paul Cable. They had been told that he was dead, and since then, her father has assumed control of Cable's ranch.

Lorraine's father, Duane Kidston, is a former Union soldier, as is his brother Vern (Keith Carradine). They have little use for former Confederates, and feel that Cable's ranch now belongs to them. Upon reaching the ranch, Cable confronts the Kidston men staying in his house. However, when one man attempts to draw on Cable, he is shot and killed by Martha Cable, who is in the dark shadows.

This leads to an ongoing feud between Paul Cable and the Kidston men, during which several of Kidston's hired guns are killed by Cable. Vern and Lorraine Kidston, however, begin to sympathize with the Cables, feeling it is better to simply return the ranch to them and let things be. Duane disagrees, but relents to his daughter and brother's wishes. In the end, the real threat to the Cables' new life in Arizona does not come from the Kidstons, but from a one-armed Confederate sympathizer and former soldier, Edward Janroe (David Dukes), who kills Duane, an event for which Cable is blamed.

Despite everything pointing to Cable as Duane's killer, not even Duane's brother Vern believes it. In the end Janroe kidnaps Cable's daughter as security during an illegal gun transaction with Mexican bandits. Cable and Vern team up and chase down Janroe, killing him, then get involved in a shootout with the bandits. Cable eventually asks Vern to take his daughter out of harm's way, which Vern does. Cable then takes on the remaining bandits alone, with them eventually just deciding to take the guns from Janroe's wrecked wagon and leave.

Cable returns home wounded, where he is nursed by Martha, who has finally learned to accept him as he is. She decides to forgive him, forget all the animosity between them, and love her husband again.

External links

• Last Stand at Saber River at the Internet Movie Database
• Last Stand at Saber River at AllRovi
• Last Stand at Saber River at the TCM Movie Database