Convict Cowboy

Cowpoke Clay Treyton (Kyle Chandler) drunkenly smashes a store window and resists arrest, landing him a severe stretch up the river. Welcomed by old pal Jimmy Letrall (Glenn Plummer), Clay gets a cold shoulder from ex-rodeo star Ryan Weston (Voight). In charge of a convict-run ranch, tactiturn loner Weston recognizes in Clay's wild streak the same qualities that caused him to trash his own career years before by fatally shooting a bouncer. Once he eagerly signs up for Weston's spread, tenderfoot Clay gets the most backbreaking chores. Worse yet, the newcomer must smuggle in drugs for con kingpin Jagges Neff (Stephen McHattie) even though Weston stands against substance abuse. Encouraging his boss's untenable romance with lady vet Maggie Sinclair (Marcia Gay Harden), Clay comes to idolize Weston and is unable to escape the narcotics biz when Neff threatens to kill the rodeo champ. Clay tries outsmarting the dealer by withholding the goods, a ploy that results in Letrall's demise. During a showdown, Clay and Weston rumble with various low-lifes and leave Neff holding the dope and the shank that killed Letrall. Going to bat for his protege, Weston pleads leniency for Clay. Upon Clay's prison release, he awards the ex-con with his prized bronco saddle, thus confirming that the young man can succeed on the outside.

The film doesn't cop out with a clearly-defined happy ending but allows a lifer, who'll never taste freedom again, to gain peace of mind from the knowledge that he's saved someone else from his fate. As this loner determined to survive by suffocating his emotions, Voight sinks his teeth into his first worthy screen character in years. Without him CONVICT COWBOY would take too many tumbles, despite sturdy support from Chandler, totally convincing as the braggart who metaphorically shoots from the hip. Jailhouse drug trafficking gets outlined in luminescent magic marker colors, although the film's approximation of life in the pen is unsettling enough to stifle criticism. What sits less easily is the script's aim to humanize Weston further via his hankering for the lady animal doctor. Their scenes together could have been lifted from an old Warner Brothers B-movie. Instead the film's heart lies in Weston's resistance to the rowdy younger man's insistence on a relationship; the lone wolf's struggle to deny a kinship fuels the drama. CONVICT COWBOY premiered in 1995 on the Showtime cable TV network. (Violence, extreme profanity, substance abuse, adult situations.) leave a comment