Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

Redwarmin This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Colibel Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

classicsoncall With a title like "Aces 'N' Eights", you know it's only a matter of time before the obligatory reference is made to Wild Bill Hickok's dead man's hand. That was provided by villain turned good guy D.C. Cracker (Bruce Boxleitner) later on in the story, but you know, it's funny because there was nothing even remotely related to playing cards or gambling that had anything to do with the picture. Take another movie with the same title, 1936's "Aces and Eights" starring Tim McCoy; in that one McCoy's character is a card sharp and all around tough guy who's wanted posters tell prospective gamblers to just stay away from him. He could tear a pack of playing cards into quarters he was so tough! Now Westerns are my favorite movie genre, so don't take what I'm about to say the wrong way. There's only so many times you can tell the greedy land grab story before it gets to be redundant. That's one of the main reasons Westerns eventually fell out of favor with the public, which is why it takes something like Eastwood's "Unforgiven" to encourage the genre's revival. The story here is another one of those formula pictures repackaged and made over the top violent to appeal to Western movie junkies like myself, but after just so many (I've reviewed well over six hundred on IMDb before losing track) it seems more like going through the motions.Even with all that said I thought this was an OK film. Casper Van Dien made for a staunchly rugged hero opposite Jeff Kober's sadistic Tate character. I started to get a little distracted when Jack Noseworthy showed up looking just a little too much like a young Val Kilmer. Then later on when Monty (Rodney Scott) made his way back to Oak Hill, I got distracted even more when the bruises on his faces kept changing shape and position. But then it's all balanced out by Ernest Borgnine at ninety one years of age! riding horses and throwing down with his shotgun making me wish once again he could have made it to a hundred.

SanteeFats I was surprised at first when Bruce Boxleitner (D.C. Cracker) starts out as a gun thug with a murdering leader named Tate, who is thoroughly despicable and ugly too. He leaves the gang because he will not kill a kid. Ernest Borgnine is the old rancher who refuses to sell to make way for the railroad. So if you have seen this plot before guess what happens now? Ernest gets killed off while in town but so does every one of the gang except, of course, Tate. He has to live so he can die by the right man. Casper Van Dien character also left Tate's gang when Cracker did. Then there is the hot love interest schoolmarm played by Dierdre Quinn. If you watch many westerns you are led to believe that all school teachers are at the least pretty and always falls for the hero. The showdown happens at the ranch property fence. Here a Chicago RR man offers a plan that both sides agree on. So Tate makes his move and shoots at the ranchers. Many of the RR men that came along get shot, Bruce gets shot up and dies. Tate is about to finish Van Dien, who has been shot to doll rags as they say, when the Chicago man kills him. I guess CVD lives to marry the teacher. There a couple minor points that were very unrealistic. CVD fanned his gun. Doesn't work, your shots go all over the place and you have no accuracy. CVD was using a double barrel, breech loading shotgun. He used it one handed, rather hard to be accurate. Also he shot it twice and then without reloading, shot it two more times. Got to love those Hollywood infinite ammo weapons!!!

FightingWesterner Local railroad boss William Atherton sends hired killers Jeff Kober and Bruce Boxleitner to get rid of pesky landowners like Ernest Borgnine, who refuse to sell out. Complicating things for Atherton is progressive thinking railroad executive Jack Noseworthy and Borgnine's hired hand Casper Van Dien.A competent cast of familiar character actors try hard, but this is pretty much done in by the extreme familiarity of the material (see Once Upon A Time In The West) and the fact that the script focuses on too many characters at once, resulting in a lot of half-formed characterizations, sort of like a television series highlight reel.As usual with director Craig R. Baxley, it's well made and the action scenes are expertly handled. However, Baxley (as well as most modern filmmakers) seems to have left out the nuances that made many of the older westerns true classics.One thing I could never understand about these type of westerns is the railroad's desire to to take the whole ranch in order to lay a single five-foot wide track. Didn't those wackos ever hear of an easement?

dale999 I really like this film better than other westerns because it has a real story that we can relate to in today's world. The acting, cinematography, dialogue, directing and editing all made me feel like I was there experiencing it all. An excellent script with frequent close-ups in so many scenes, not just of the actors, makes this unusual for a Western. A lot of attention is paid to detail, so that with an expression on an actor's face you can see the nuances and what they are feeling and thinking.The pace of this film lends itself to thinking about what is happening within each character and how they are developing and in some cases changing.The only reason I rated this as a 9 and not a 10 is due to the amount of violence which takes place. I must say that the entire cast is believable in their roles. Casper Van Dien shows more through his facial expressions than most do. The same could be said about Bruce Boxleitner, but his dialogue also shows the direction of his thinking. I can not leave out the remarkable Ernest Borgnine who plays a strong and determined rancher. An actor new to me is Jack Noseworthy as Mr. Riley who draws a character of some interest as he represents a railroad. William Atherton, whom I've seen many times, played the deceptive banker Charles Howard just right. Not space here to mention each one in detail, but the schoolteacher and young boy are excellent in their characterizations. Jeff Kober as the outlaw without remorse is riveting.This film brings attention to the Right of Eminent Domain and how the government can take land and homes from people.But the story also includes how some men tire of taking lives and find there must be some other way of living. "We all have choices...." and "people can change" are the essential messages.