John Cusack’s Forgotten ’90s Western Based On A True Story Deserves Reappraising Just As Much As Tombstone

The 1990s saw a resurgence in the western genre, and a 1999 John Cusack film deserves as much attention as bigger hits like Tombstone. The western is as old as cinema itself, and the genre was able to bridge the gap between the silent era and the birth of sound in the 1930s. As Hollywood movies began to get more expensive, the western often became a showcase for all that the art of film had to offer. With its grandiose vistas, larger-than-life heroes, and an idealized vision of the past, the western became synonymous with Hollywood filmmaking.

However, as the decades began to wear on, the western changed into something else entirely. The ’60s and ’70s produced a ton of westerns that intentionally deconstructed the rose-tinted vision of U.S. history presented in earlier films, and opted for a more gritty experience. The “anti-western” recontexualized the gun-toting heroes, and questioned the morality of earlier movies. After that cycle ran its course, the western largely faded into the background. However, a heap of excellent westerns came out in the 1990s, many of which returned the genre to its original, idealized, vision.

John Cusack’s The Jack Bull Deserves Another Look As A Great ’90s Western

A Story About The Taming Of The American West

Sneaking in at the tail end of the 1990s, The Jack Bull was one of the most epic made-for-TV movie undertakings of the decade. Despite its TV movie status, the film didn’t cut any corners and features a star-studded cast including the likes of John Cusack, John Goodman, and Miranda Otto. More importantly, the film doesn’t skimp on storytelling, and offers a compelling tale that captures the spirit of the American West without being entirely beholden to the rosy vision that many older westerns present. The Jack Bull strikes a balance between realism and idealism.

The film claims to be based on a true story, but is actually a loose adaptation of the 19th century German novella, Michael Kohlhaas, by Heinrich von Kleist. It deftly adapts the novel to fit into 1890s Wyoming, when the territory was on the cusp of becoming a state. This allows The Jack Bull to contextualize the wicked corruption that often tainted frontier life through the story of one man’s struggle against an unfair system. This narrowed focus makes it feel more human, and condenses very complicated issues into a more digestible and emotional story.

Though many TV movies from the time were overly long, The Jack Bull is a brisk two hours which helps the story tremendously. The film lacks the big action set pieces of other westerns, but makes up for that by offering compelling character drama and an air of tragedy. The Jack Bull is not a story of a hero conquering evil, and actually has a somewhat dour tone and an even bleaker ending. The noble sacrifice of Cusack’s Redding is symbolic, and he’s a man who is willing to stand up against injustice even though it puts him in danger.

John Cusack’s only western movies include:

Why Westerns Like Tombstone & The Jack Bull Weren’t Fully Appreciated In The 1990s

Audiences Weren’t Quite Ready For Westerns In The 1990s

Despite it being a decade that produced a ton of great westerns, generally audiences weren’t particularly receptive to the return of the genre. Decades had passed since the explosion of “anti-westerns” in the ’60s and ’70s, but the angsty ’90s crowds still largely rejected Hollywood’s turn back to traditionalism in the western genre. Generally accepted classics like Tombstone were not heralded upon release, and even good reviews were somewhat pandering. Variety gave the film a positive write-up in 1993, but still dismissed it as light fluff and nothing particularly compelling.

What viewers missed back then was that Tombstone wasn’t just a shift back toward a more conventional western, but a reinvention of the genre. Taking the sweeping scope of Golden Age movies, Tombstone added a modern approach to its storytelling which created a somewhat anachronistic angle. This seems obvious over 30 years later, but it was still pretty groundbreaking in the early 1990s. Unforgiven came out a year earlier, but that western classic feels more like it was ripped from the 1970s and not 1992.

The Jack Bull was held back by the fact that it was a TV movie, and was already limited in its available audience. HBO was a big platform, but it would have reached more viewers if it aired on a basic cable or over-the-air channel. Even then, the stigma around TV movies was strong, and despite its quality, it was never going to live up to the exacting standards of theatrical releases. However, the western could likely have done good business if it had been released theatrically, and it remains a classic what-if from the late 1990s.