Synopsis
In 1907 Arizona, lawman Valentine Casey faces a violent personal reckoning when the outlaw Henry family invades his town. After fleeing into the desert, Casey seeks refuge in Dunfries and falls for Adalyne, but the gang soon follows. Forced to confront both his past and the family's brutality, Casey must decide whether to keep running or make a final stand.
Factoids & Trivia
- Production took place in southeastern Arizona, including Old Tucson, Mescal, Benson, Sonoita, and the San Rafael Valley. Filming ran from April through June 1999.
- The film's financing collapsed shortly before production began. Dwight Yoakam reportedly helped finance the project himself, including through the sale of his Malibu home.
- The production company's financial difficulties eventually led to a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. Crew members also pursued union complaints and small-claims actions over unpaid work.
- Yoakam originally intended Vincent Gallo to play Valentine Casey and had not planned to take the leading role himself.
- The film premiered as the closing-night selection of the 2000 Slamdance Film Festival before receiving a limited theatrical release.
- Yoakam also composed the score and released a companion soundtrack album. The project became an unusually broad extension of his work as a country recording artist.
- The film's ensemble was notable for combining established Western performers with musicians and offbeat comedy figures, giving the production a deliberately eccentric tone.
- With a reported budget of about $4 million and a very limited theatrical run, the film earned little at the box office and became better known as an ambitious, troubled cult curiosity than as a conventional Western.