How long can you wait for justice? After being appointed Circuit Judge, John Goodnight (Perry) travels the territory dispensing justice. After returning to a town that brings back memories of his parents murders, he sees someone who looks familiar. After seeing the last two TV westerns (Doc West & Triggerman) I was not expecting much from this one. Although this was nowhere near the caliber of "Tombstone" or "Open Range", this was actually a pretty good western. It is pretty cheesy in some parts and the acting is lacking, but it will keep you entertained and watching. Unlike the "Doc West" series this one will hold your attention and you won't forget what you are watching as you are watching it. The quality of westerns lately has dropped off a lot, this one stands above many of the new ones. Not great, but much better then the latest offerings. I give it a B-. Would I watch again? - I don't think I would.
Goodnight for Justice Goodnight for Justice
2011
Action / Western
Goodnight for Justice Goodnight for Justice
2011
Action / Western
Plot summary
It's the late nineteenth century US. When he was a boy in the Wyoming Territory, John William Goodnight was on a covered wagon that passed as the local stagecoach in the area with his farmer parents and Judge Aldous Shaw and his wife Rebecca Shaw, who the Goodnights had only just met before the start of their travels from what was then a town called Dry Gulch, which has now been renamed Crooked Stick. Targeting Judge Shaw who had just convicted their partner, bandits attacked the wagon, killing all on board except John and Mrs. Shaw, who ended up raising John as her own. A Chicago lawyer who believes in the law but not in lawyers, John, who lives hard and according to Rebecca should long ago have been dead because of it, has just been appointed by the Governor of Illinois as a circuit court judge for the Wyoming Territory, known as the most lawless region on the continent. Rebecca is the one who arranged this appointment, as she feels that John's recklessness is due to still being that tortured little boy who saw his parents killed, and that his restlessness will never cease without that one living bandit who killed his parents facing justice. Living by Rebecca's code, John strives for justice and not revenge though the law. In-between trying the cases brought before him in Wyoming, John tries to discover the happenings of that bandit that killed his parents and Rebecca's husband, he who was masked during the attack but who walks with a limp. When John reaches Crooked Stick on his travels, he finds that the town is run by a man named Dan Reed, who is able to do so because of his wealth. Dan operates by his own rules, which is all for himself, and damned anyone who is against him, including the law. Dan is not averse to murder to get what he wants. John is fairly certain that Dan is the bandit that he is looking for. He may be able to prove it with the help of a widowed local named Dr. Kate Ramsey, a woman who he is falling for, but proof may be a moot point if Dan and his men kill him and Kate first. John, however, may find that all is not as it first appears on the surface.
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Another made for TV western that isn't half bad. Not great, but better then most of the new westerns. I say B-
Goodnight For Justice-The Way Cowboys Used to Be Made ***1/2
I'm old fashioned, particularly when it comes to cowboy films and the old films. Give me Hoppy, Roy Rogers and I was content. "Goodnight for Justice" is the way they used to make old-fashioned cowboy films. Justifiable revenge, meeting the new girl, a town controlled by a horrible person, and some surprises which usually interfered with romance all occur in this interesting film. Justice and the law are interwoven here and the results are quite good.
The ending is exactly the way they did it in the 1950s. We even observe the usual prejudice directed towards Indians and the latter getting the last word.
Luke Perry opens court and dispenses justice
Luke Perry saddles up as frontier circuit judge John Goodnight in the first of three films starring Perry as a Roy Bean type judge. Unlike the fictional Bean, Perry's a real lawyer and not a judge because he's got deputies to back up his ruling. What he does have is a passion for justice and will go the extra mile for it.
The film segments into three stories, the first is a prologue showing Perry's character as a youth played by Sam Duke seeing his family massacred in an outlaw raid.
We next see Perry's character unable to dispense justice to a young black kid whose father was hung by nightriders wearing bedsheets like the Ku Klux Klan. Perry does some extralegal work there however.
Finally Perry returns to the town where his folks were killed and takes on a gang that rides for the owner of the local Ponderosa who is going out of his way to persecute Cheyenne Indians. Again the object is justice and Perry has a way of brushing aside troublesome technicalities.
I like Perry's character and hope he does more John Goodnight films in the future.