Boring

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Desolation Canyon is a western that takes some of the themes from the John Wayne classic Big Jake and develops them a bit further. In fact it's quite the family tangle for Stacy Keach who essentially plays the Duke character and admirably fills his boots.Some outlaws come to the town where Patrick Duffy is the sheriff and his old partner Stacy Keach lives in retirement and raising his two grandkids. The outlaws include his son who is the father of the grand children and on the way out of town grab the boy Drake Johnston. The boy's mother Kelly Overton is divorced from the son Victor Browne and she's keeping company with David Rees Snell the town banker who is nearly killed in the robbery. He's an Easterner and insists accompanying Duffy and Keach. In fact when the final showdown comes it's almost a relief because for what should be a straightforward story, the plot has an incredible amount of twists and turns. There are a couple of bounty hunters also on the trail with their own agenda, the outlaws have one aside from the robbery, it's all a bit hard to follow.Still the players do very well in an extremely and needlessly convoluted story.

I happened upon this modern traditional Western by accident, and it turned out to be well worth watching, indeed, a movie that I would watch again...and again. The plot is a good one, with a number of quirks that keep one involved and wondering what just might happen next. I found the script writing to be terse and believable. Duffy and Keach work well together, and, in fact, the entire cast does well. Photography is almost entirely outside, with good shots of mountainous scenery and good camera work. Additionally, this is a movie that you can watch with the entire family, without fear that over-the-top "adult" situations will mar the viewing. I hope that it will show up on DVD.

Desolation Canyon is quite possibly the worst "made for TV movie" I've seen in the past 10 years. The writing was very amateurish and predictable. Patrick Duffy is totally unbelievable as a "cowboy" and Stacey Keach delivered so many ridiculous lines that I constantly had to remind myself that it wasn't his fault that the movie was so bad. I actually snickered a few times at the ridiculous writing and by the end of the movie I was hoping someone would say "Let's head them off at the pass!!" I have long maintained that the most important aspect of any movie is NOT the acting but rather the writing. I also maintain that more recognition should be given scriptwriters than actors at the Academy Awards. Well, the writers of Desolation Canyon should probably have their writing credentials suspended until they can show some originality. Hallmark can do much better than this and usually does; shame on you Hallmark for foisting Desolation Canyon on your viewers.b shiznit questions my appreciation for a good movie but I stand by the above review and invite him/her to watch "Broken Trail" with Robert Duvall. AMC aired Broken Trail over two nights and it was simply outstanding. Minimal if any special effects were used and Robert Duvall is most likely going to be nominated for a "Best Actor" award. Broken Trail makes "Desolation Canyon" look like an inferior high school play!! Mr/Mrs Shiznit is obviously easy to please.

This movie is sad, I didn't expect the ending, but it was a good ending. Wish there weren't commercials, when it came to the good parts.I would recommend this movie to my friends. Patrick Duffy goes a great job. And Victor Browne is one of the hottest bad boys I've seen on t.v lately. There are lots of twists and shocking parts in this hallmark movie. I wish that the outlaw father wouldn't have died , but he risked his life to save his father's and his son's. The best part was probably when the outlaw father told his father he loved him and his father said it back. It was such a tender warming moment. It was also sweet when the boy was reunited with his sister and mother.