Best movie ever!

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

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The little girls all going for Porter Rockwell was really funny - I cracked up at the scene where the third and final girl indicates she likes him, and he tells himself he must be the only man alive that happens to. He handles it really well, and the whole thing is really cute. I also like his loyalty to his woman, and the fact he can't settle down because his town needs him. I understood why she wanted to leave him because it was too painful to hold out hope they could settle down.His friends were cute and funny - I liked that they were so loyal to him - willing to follow him anywhere. It was fun to see all the fights and the "good guys" winning out in the end. The rattlesnakes were a bit unsettling, and I may have made it less graphic, but it was still well done.

I wasn't expecting much from this low budget film but was looking forward to it all the same. It could have gone either the folklore route or historical route and been incredibly interesting if done at least half-way decent. That is where this goes all wrong. It did nothing except show a guy dressed up as him trying to make tough, thoughtful facial expressions.None of the scenes are personal in any way. There is a guy with a name. Girls have crushes on him. He falls in love with a pretty girl with a pretty dress. We are shown that there are historical characters who were in history. There are shady guys who feel the need to shift shady glances constantly each time they mention the Mormons' property. People shoot at him and he shoots them. Carl Malone is there. All of the time spent tying in a narrator feels convoluted and does nothing to provide insight into the title character.I really don't see how it was possible to write such horrible script and direct such a horrible film when there is so much material to write it off and so many effective, straight-forward methods of telling the story. For instance, the first scene shows some kid's parents get shot. He goes to Joseph Smith's house and sees Rockwell there. Now we know he was a friend of Smith, and we are later told they were friends from childhood. Why not just open by showing Rockwell trying to bust Joseph out of prison? Later we see a reenactment of Smith's assassination, who has been introduced but not developed. This tells us nothing about Rockwell. Also it was hard to not get distracted by the comic mob noises. By now you're getting the idea.Now throw in stale dance scene to give Carl Malone some time on stage. Others have mentioned the play scene. By now we feel like we're being deliberately insulted.The only saving grace, of which there is little, are the scenes and quotes that made Rockwell a legend. The ear collector scene was solid enough. The problem is that at least 80% of the film should be like that, but we get less than 10%.Conclusion: If you have a Mormon grandpa, go camping with him and he'll spin a good Porter Rockwell yarn or two. If you don't, find a good book on him. I'm sure some day there will be an amazing film, too, but this ain't it.

I thought the movie was as true to the real story of Porter Rockwell it could be. However; This page on IMDb has no section for goofs. If it did there would be a lot of errors sent in. for example, Before Mary-Ann Neff is held at gun point she puts a large board across the door to lock it. Rockwell comes through the same door and the board is gone. Also, during the square dance, one of the band members is playing an open-back tenor banjo. The Windsor Banjo Company is credited with inventing the open back banjo after they started making fretted instruments, in 1887. Also when Porter Kills the two men that he later dumps into the well, then he comes up with two body bags wile in the wilderness. I thought the movie was pretty well done for a low budget.

Didn't really like the movie, it seemed pretty anti-climactic. I wonder if any other viewers caught this: In the scene where Karl Malone was in the play, there was a song playing on the piano in the background. The song was "I Am Thinking of my Pickaninny Days" by Scott Joplin. Scott Joplin was not even born until about 1865, therefore, the song was probably not even written till at least 1885 or 1890. I just HAD to tell people that. SoyeahGoodbye.