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The Jack Bull Details

1999 Certificate 15
  • Rated:
  • 60
  • from 559 members

At a time in the West when colonies dreamt of statehood and men forged their own laws with power and pride, a honest rancher is forced to face the injustices of a power-hungry neighbor. John Cusack stars as Myrl Redding, a just and forthright horse trader who becomes the brutal victim of his wealthy neighbor, Henry Ballard (L.Q... Read more

Starring John Cusack, John Goodman, L.Q. Jones, Miranda Otto
Director John Badham
Genres Action/Adventure

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The Jack Bull

At a time in the West when colonies dreamt of statehood and men forged their own laws with power and pride, a honest rancher is forced to face the injustices of a power-hungry neighbor. John Cusack stars as Myrl Redding, a just and forthright horse trader who becomes the brutal victim of his wealthy neighbor, Henry Ballard (L.Q. Jones), when he disagrees with him about political issues. After Ballard sets up a toll gate on his property, Redding is forced to leave two of his prized horses with Ballard's men in lieu of payment. When Redding returns he find his horses near death he demands justice. Ballard refuses to restore the horses to good health and denies any wrong-doing, infuriating Redding, who enacts an elaborate plan of revenge. A feud erupts that quickly becomes a deadly manhunt with an army of cowboys fighting for justice. John Goodman portrays the ethical judge who must make a decision in condemning or excusing Redding's actions. Director John Badham's finely crafted western harkens back to classics of the western genre, with Cusack as a modern-day John Wayne or Clint Eastwood.

Starring John Cusack, John Goodman, L.Q. Jones, Miranda Otto, John McGinley, John Savage, Rodney A. Grant, Kurt Fuller
Director John Badham
Studio CINEMA CLUB
Run time DVD: 1 hr 51 mins
Certificate Certificate 15
Genres Action/Adventure
Language DVD: English
Released DVD: 20 Mar 2004
Production year: 1999
Format DVD
  • Critics' reviews (2) of The Jack Bull

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  • 4 stars out of 5

    John Badham's unheralded but outstanding western was written by Dick Cusack and stars his son, John, as the horse dealer whose animals are mistreated by a neighbouring rancher. When the neighbour is backed up by the courts, Cusack launches an armed insurrection on the eve of Wyoming's bid for statehood. The story is based on Heinrich Von Kleist's novel Michael Kohlhaas and it gains rather than loses by its transposition to the American West. Cusack's Myrl Redding has the tragic overtones of a Thomas Hardy hero, a man to whom dreadful things happen, even in the best of times. This is a beautifully staged, unrelentingly sombre movie with a satisfying political complexity.

    • Radio Times
  • Rating: B

    • Entertainment Weekly
  • Most helpful member's review of The Jack Bull

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  • 5 out of 5 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 4 stars

    Highly recommended

    This is a great little film. A gritty , realistic western about one man's fight for justice in the wild west.Even if you don't normally like westerns I would recommend you give this a try. As it's an independant production it suffers from none of the normal Hollywood cliches and the story could easily have been set in another time or place without losing any of it's impact.

    John Cusack ( who also produced ) is magnificant in the lead and the rest of the cast, mostly unknown (to me at least )are as good.

      • A customer from Southampton
  • Most recent members' review of The Jack Bull

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  • 5 out of 5 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 4 stars

    Highly recommended

    This is a great little film. A gritty , realistic western about one man's fight for justice in the wild west.Even if you don't normally like westerns I would recommend you give this a try. As it's an independant production it suffers from none of the normal Hollywood cliches and the story could easily have been set in another time or place without losing any of it's impact.

    John Cusack ( who also produced ) is magnificant in the lead and the rest of the cast, mostly unknown (to me at least )are as good.

      • A customer from Southampton
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Rating breakdown

559 Member ratings
  • 100
31
  • 90
35
  • 80
86
  • 70
95
  • 60
130
  • 50
76
  • 40
52
  • 30
27
  • 20
17
  • 10
10

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    • The Jack Bull
      At a time in the West when colonies dreamt of statehood and men forged their own laws with power and pride, a honest rancher is forced to face the injustices of a power-hungry neighbor. John Cusack stars as Myrl Redding, a just and forthright horse trader who becomes the brutal victim of his ...