Series Description

Broken Trail was a 184 minute western miniseries that aired on two nights in June of 2006 on AMC. It was about a cowboy named "Print" Ritter who was getting a bit old for the life of a hired hand so he decided that he needed to purchase his own ranch. In order to raise the funds to do that he got his nephew Tom Harte to join him in moving 500 mustangs to Wyoming from Oregon. With the money he would receive from the British Army for the horses, he would be able to buy the ranch. The trip is complicated when Print and Tom run into a slaver who is taking five Chinese girls to a whorehouse where they will become forced prostitutes. The slaver is killed by the guys when he tries to steal their money and horses. Then the trip continues with the Chinese girls in tow while the madam who has already paid for the girls has sent a gang of bloodthirsty outlaws after them. Print and Tom are determined to protect the girls despite the danger.

Broken Trail Miniseries Cast

Robert Duvall .... Prentice "Print" Ritter
Thomas Haden Church .... Tom Harte
Greta Scacchi .... Nola Johns
Gwendoline Yeo .... Sun Foy
Rusty Schwimmer .... "Big Rump" Kate Becker
Chris Mulkey .... Ed "Big Ears" Bywaters
Scott Cooper .... Henry "Heck" Gilpin
Valerie Tian .... Ging Wa
Caroline Chan .... Mai Ling
Olivia Cheng .... Ye Fung
Donald Fong .... Lung Hay
Jadyn Wong .... Ghee Moon
James Russo .... Captain Billy Fender

Broken Trail Miniseries Trivia

At the 2007 Emmy Primetime Awards, Broken Trail won four Emmys and was nominated for another twelve! It won for "Best Miniseries". Robert Duvall won for "Best Lead Actor", Thomas Haden Church won for "Best Supporting Actor" and there was also a win for "Outstanding Casting of a Miniseries or Movie". It's hard to believe but that was not the best performance that year! The TV movie, "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" won six Emmys and was nominated for another eleven!

The Broken Trail miniseries takes place in the year 1898.

You may wonder what movie star Robert Duvall was doing in a TV miniseries but he actually was a pretty logical choice after playing a similar role in the 1989 hit TV miniseries, "Lonesome Dove". On top of that, Duvall spent most of the first decade of his on screen career on television in the 1960s with multiple guest-starring appearances on "Naked City", "Route 66", "The Outer Limits", "The Fugitive", "The Defenders", "Combat," and "The F.B.I.". In the 1950s while they were just beginning to develop their acting skills, Duvall was friends with Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman. Even he shared an apartment for a while with Hoffman!