John Cusack Movie:

Editorial Review:
The Jack Bull was produced for and premiered on HBO, but it's easily the most respectable job that feature director John Badham (Saturday Night Fever, WarGames) has done in the past two decades. The title refers not to a piece of livestock but a metaphorical Jack Russell terrier that, once it's annoyed enough to close its jaws on something, will hang on to the point of death.

That would be Myrl Redding (John Cusack), a horse-breeder of limited means but a deeply entrenched sense of justice. His independence galls Henry Ballard (L.Q. Jones), the crusty land baron out to set his brand on most of the countryside. Ballard insults and cheats Redding several times over, and his men beat Redding's horse trainer and friend, an Indian (Rodney A. Grant). When Redding seeks redress from the law, its agents can't be bothered (the local magistrate is in Ballard's pocket). So Redding musters a vigilante army to enforce his own law.

Scratch this handsome but rigorously unromanticized Western--fully an hour passes without a shot being fired--and you find the classic Heinrich von Kleist book Michael Kohlhaas transposed to Wyoming Territory on the eve of statehood. The script--by the star-producer's dad, Dick Cusack--is sturdy and uncompromising, willing to engage the knotty ambiguities of embracing vigilantism even in a just cause. Badham's decision to treat the authorities (Scott Wilson, Jay O. Sanders, John Goodman) as period caricatures is regrettable. But John Cusack is solid as a figure of utterly matter-of-fact integrity. --Richard T. Jameson

The Jack Bull [Region 2] Reviews:
Not so bad
2009-11-17 - John Cusack doest what he can and he does it good . So does John Goodman but both of them just look so far from true westerner's look . They're not Robert DUVALL or Sam ELLIOTT .
But I was so glad about good old L.Q. JONES who's a wild one !
Better get such a western than no western at all .
Thanks a lot .

new to me
2009-10-27 - I was pleasantly surprised by this movie & actor. This is a good western.

Rent it. Buy it. This is excellent.
2009-07-20 - The Jack Bull is a complete surprise among westerns. John Cusack is brilliant as per usual. But the story transcends the genre. The story is powerful and surprising. I'm not going to say any more than that because you should just discover this work of art on its' own terms. Rent it. Watch it. Buy it. Watch it over and over. (BTW, John's Dad appears in this film. Pretty cool.)

Good western.
2009-06-28 - Old style western. All about standing up for yourself.
And standing up for whats right. Not the best movie ever.
But you will enjoy it. John Goodman was great.
And John Cusack really made the part come to life.

TRUE WESTERN STORY
2009-06-27 - I have this movie on VHS, but needed to upgrade to DVD. Yes, it is based on a true story. (But being a sap at heart,I am not happy with the ending of the story.) Excellent work from John Cusack, John Goodman and L.Q. Jones.
The tag line for this movie: THE JACK BULL: ALL MEN WANT JUSTICE...FEW ARE WILLING TO PAY THE PRICE,
Buy the video and a box of tissues. Enjoy! TERI