Monte Walsh

Tom Selleck is at his iconic best in this made-for-cable remake of Monte Walsh, a poignant Western about the passing of an American age and the people attached to it. Selleck plays the title character, a career cowboy whose rhythms are aligned with the seasons and the annual herding of cattle from Wyoming to Texas. Faithful to his ways, loyal to his best friend (Keith Carradine), and satisfied with his part-time romance with an ailing, aging saloon girl (Isabella Rosselini), Walsh is happy until his 1890s world rapidly unravels. Eastern corporations are buying up land and shutting down ranches; trains are shuttling livestock faster than an army of cowhands. Walsh can't accommodate the future, and those closest to him are moving on. Director Simon Wincer (Lonesome Dove) masterfully balances the epic and elegaic, Selleck is perfect as a fading footnote to history, and Monte Walsh becomes a universal tale of loss and integrity. --Tom Keogh