Crossfire Trail | |
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DVD cover
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Directed by | Simon Wincer |
Produced by | Michael Brandman |
Screenplay by | Charles Robert Carner |
Based on |
Crossfire Trail 1954 book by Louis L'Amour |
Starring | |
Music by | Eric Colvin |
Cinematography | David Eggby |
Edited by | Terry Blythe |
Distributed by | Turner Network Television |
Release date
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January 21, 2001 |
Running time
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95 minutes |
Language | English |
Crossfire Trail is a 2001 Western television film directed by Simon Wincer and starring Tom Selleck, Virginia Madsen, and Wilford Brimley. Based on the 1954 Louis L'Amour Western novel of the same name, the film is about a wanderer known for his honesty and steadfastness who keeps his word to a dying friend despite great adversity to himself. The tagline of the picture is "A hero is measured by the enemies he makes." Crossfire Trail was originally broadcast on Turner Network Television on January 21, 2001.
Selleck has also starred in other L'Amour novels adapted to films, including The Sacketts and The Shadow Riders with Sam Elliott, another veteran of L'Amour motion pictures. As Rafe Covington in Crossfire Trail, Selleck is believable in his portrayal of the laid-back cowboy certain in his beliefs, which he reveals were taught by his mother who hoped that her son would have become a Jesuit priest. Covington says that he has difficulty with the lesson on "turning the other cheek" when faced with evil.
L'Amour's short story "Hondo" was the first of his voluminous works converted to film through a 1953 picture starring John Wayne and Geraldine Page. Hondo won L'Amour an Academy Award nomination. His books eventually sold over 260 million copies.
Crossfire Trail premiered to 12.5 million viewers, making it the most-watched made-for-cable television movie ever, until the premiere of High School Musical 2 in 2007.