The Shadow Riders (L'Amour, 1982)

 

Louis L’Amour. The Shadow Riders. (1982) Colonel Ashford believes the South can raise again, with himself at its head. To make it happen, he’s assembled a gang of thirty-some drifters, mostly criminals. They attack and loot ranches on their way to Mexico, where Ashford expects to build a new Confederate Army, attack Texas, and then sweep across the South, etc and so and so forth.

Problem is, he’s attacked a Traven ranch, and then kidnapped some women whom he plans to sell in exchange for weapons. One of them is Mac Traven’s fiancee Kate Connery. Mac, his brother Dal and their Uncle Happy Jack trail Ashford’s wagon train through southeast Texas to the final showdown.

The copy I have touts the CBS TV movie (with Tom Selleck, Sam Elliot et al) based on the book, but it’s another L’Amour tale told with his usual skill. This one’s a bit thin on character, has useful backstory inserted where the plot demands it, and so on. Enjoyable for the L’Amour fan, but merely average. **½