Grim Prairie Tales

Grim Prairie Tales
Grim Prairie Tales movie poster
Directed by	Wayne Coe
Produced by	Andrzej Kamrowski Chet Halperin Evan Brunenstein Larry Huber Richard Hahn
Written by	Wayne Coe
Starring	James Earl Jones Brad Dourif Will Hare Marc McClure Michelle Joyner William Atherton Lisa Eichhorn
Music by	Steve Dancz
Release dates	1990 (1990)
Running time	86 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Grim Prairie Tales is a 1990 American horror film, directed and written by Wayne Coe, and starring James Earl Jones and Brad Dourif. It is an anthology film of four western stories, told by two travellers around a prairie campfire. Morrison (Jones) is a grizzled bounty hunter carrying a body, while Farley Deeds (Dourif) is a clerk on the way to a romantic reunion with his wife.

Synopsis

The first story, told by Morrison, is about an Indian tribe's revenge against a grouchy old man (Will Hare) who desecrates their burial ground. When that tale fails to impress Deeds, the second story, also by Morrison, tells about a man (Marc McClure) who helps a seductive seemingly pregnant woman (Michelle Joyner) in trouble. Deeds then responds with the only non-supernatural story of the three, about a homesteader family whose father (William Atherton) is forced to participate in a lynch mob. Finally, Morrison tells about a gunslinger (Scott Paulin) haunted by a gunman (Bruce Fischer) he has killed in a shootout. The next morning, Deeds points out to Morrison that the body he's carrying doesn't match the description on the wanted poster; Morrison cuts the body loose and rides out.

Atherton appeared in the lead role in the 1978 NBC television western miniseries Centennial. Tom Simcox appeared in Grim Prairie Tales as the wealthy rancher Horn. In an acting career from 1962-1991, he appeared in eight Gunsmoke episodes and in other television westerns.

External links

• Grim Prairie Tales at IMDb
• "Grim Prairie Tales" New York Times review by Stephen Holden