ctomvelu-1 Jerry O'Connell and Sam Elliot star in this improbably named western, set in Montana in the early 1900s. Forest rangers are clearing a trail over a mountain during one long summer. O'Connell is a 17 year old who learns as he goes, working with a veteran crew. Elliot is the trail boss, and the best mule packer in the group. Before the summer is over, O'Connell's farmboy will have learned a few hard lessons and fallen in love with a gal in town. There's also a humdinger of a bar fight over a poker game involving the camp cook, played by real-life magician Ricky Jay. This is a quiet, introspective movie in many respects, with no gunplay or fancy theatrics other than the bar fight. We can believe this is how forestry people did their job then, and perhaps even now -- with the addition of today's engines, of course. Back then, a lot of it was accomplished by hand. RANGER reminds me of a Hallmark movie, which it probably started out as.

windust1 This film realistically captures the mood and tempo of the time in the Idaho-Montana forest wilderness. The emphasis on social relationships and hard work in remote settings is amazingly accurate. I was surprised how close the film story-line replicates the true story of my grandfather as Selway NF Ranger from 1927-1942 and that of my father growing up in the Selway forest at that time, including his assignment to run a telegraph line solo on horseback along the Lolo Trail to Missoula, MT. In 1930 my grandfather, also a WWI Army Chaplain, married my parents at Lowell, ID. In 1933 the Selway forest was burned out and my grandfather reassigned to the Forest Supervisor's office in Grangeville, ID. Notes from his diary reflect the scenes of the movie.

bix1950 Just viewed this movie. Thought it is a great western. It showed me realistic scenes of how the people of the early 1900's of the western section of the U. S. lived. It has a good plot to where it was teaching a young boy who was starting on his the ways of his future will be. It seem that he was learning the ropes of forestry work from the schooling of Bill Bell Ranger in Charged. The Forest crew worked as a team with some problems that seem to be handled. This movie reminded me of the days of when I was a young sailor on my first ship at sea. We were isolated on the water and we worked as a team to keep things going and moral high. The cook in both situations is one of the moral makers. This cook had a thing with cards and keeping the crew happy. In the end, the cook brought the ship in by winning at the poker table and the end of the summer season in the forestry camp end in a happy ending.

thehl A heartwarming coming of age movie. There is no sex, very little violence and no profanity in this heartwarming film about a boy working in the Forestry service in 1919 .Why can't they make more movies like this?