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OVERALL IMPRESSIONS: This is the only segment of the movie that I've seen, but it isn't a bad way to kill an hour. This segment has a very good cast and it isn't a bad story at all. The plot is a simple one (an utter nobody finds a cursed gun, wins a duel against a skilled gunslinger through no ability or skill of his own, becomes a local legend, gets too big for his britches and eventually pays a hell of a price for it), but is pretty well done.
Gabrielle's time in this episode is too short to show what she can do - but unlike a fair number of her other credits, at least this show is worth seeing whether you're a fan of hers or not. This episode really belongs to:
a.) Frank Whaley, who played the nobody-turned-somebody after finding the Dead Man's Gun. He's one of those actors you've seen dozens of times but have a hard time placing, but he really excels here. He's been in a number of high-profile productions (NCIS, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, The Dead Zone, Law & Order, The Outer Limits, Broken Arrow, Pulp Fiction), but I have to admit that to me he was most recognizable from his role in a 1992 movie called Back in the USSR (co-starring with Natalya Negoda, see here) and an episode of the most recent version of The Twilight Zone called "Future Trade."
b.) Deanna Milligan, who does quite an impressive job as a reprehensible, manipulative, gold-digging bitch - and gets many more times the amount of screen time Gabrielle gets. Bad luck for me and any other fans of Gabrielle, but it should be pointed out that Milligan was absolutely superb in her role.
KUDOS TO GABRIELLE: Gabrielle really does make the most of what limited time she gets here, though - and although this role isn't anywhere closest to her toughest one, it was strangely magnified by the predictability of the episode. Her character falls for the older brother of the jerk who owns the Dead Man's Gun - this older brother is obviously a good man with a decent heart, so in a show like this you know he has no more chance of surviving than does a previously unseen member of an away team on an episode of Star Trek. When this guy dies, she gets her sole chance to really act in the episode and does it quite well. Because it's so obvious so early on that this guy is absolutely doomed, Louise becomes a sympathetic character immediately - and although none of her role seems to be that much of a stretch acting-wise until her guy bites the dust, her ability to create a likeable character and play it from start to end made everything all the more effective.
NOTES:
1.) In "Tales from Dog River - The Complete Corner Gas Guide" (a book I recommend if you like the show even half as much as I do), during the review of second-season episode Harvest Dance it's revealed (on page 143) that Gabrielle and Deanna Milligan have been close friends ever since they met at an audition when they were teens. Somehow, this fact takes some of the sting out of the considerable pain I felt while watching the all-world bomb Starlight for a second (and the last, I assure you) time after an angry fan of Deanna Milligan wrote to me and objected to part of my review (see here).
2.) The actor who plays Louise's father, Michael Hogan, would be best known to Americans as Colonel Saul Tigh in the latest version of "Battlestar Galactica," although also he's well known in Canada for a variety of roles - not the least of which is Detective Tony Logozzo in the series Cold Squad. Many believe (and not without justification) was that Cold Squad was the inspiration for Cold Case (2003-present).
APPEARING HERE AND ELSEWHERE WITH GABRIELLE:
Deanna Milligan, who plays Little Iris, played Marilyn in Starlight, Heather in Corner Gas episode "Harvest Dance," and Zoe in The Advocate's Devil. Jon Cuthbert, who plays Brand Odom, played Nick in UC Undercover episodes "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye" and "Life on the Wire" and Sergeant Taylor in Moment of Truth: To Walk Again. Michael David Simms, who plays Zack Spencer, played Mr. Cox in Inspectors 2: Shred of Evidence. Michael St. John Smith, who plays Ray Shaw, played Senator Clayton in The Silencer. Patrick Stevenson, who plays Mac Odom, played Jake Hart in Outer Limits episode "From Within" and a mutineer in Voyage of Terror. Reese MacBeth, who plays John Riggs, played a doctor in Jeremiah episode "The Touch." Roman Podhora, who plays Jack Pierce, played Captain Mitchell in Moment of Truth: To Walk Again. Sean Campbell, who played Sy Odom, played a military member in Voyage of Terror. Sebastian Spence, who plays Willy, played Cade Foster in First Wave episode "Susperience."
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