Broken Trail » (Reprint)

Alan Geoffrion has written short stories and screenplays, including Time and Chance, and has been in the horse business for more than forty years. He lives in the Virginia Piedmont.

Broken Trail is the basis for the AMC cable network's first original production starring Robert Duvall and Thomas Haden Church. During the late 1800s two unique events were taking place in the American West. The British were deep in the throes of the Boer War and were coming to the U.S. to purchase horses for their military campaigns. Meanwhile, another trade was taking place. Chinese women were being kidnapped from the West Coast and brought to the interior west to serve as prostitutes. In Broken Trail, the story unfolds upon these historical facts, following the story of five Chinese women, kidnapped and destined for a life of misery, whose fate becomes intertwined with two horseman (Duvall/Church) wrangling horses for sale to the British Empire. In the process, we see the personal growth of Print Ritter (Duvall) from lonesome cowboy to father figure. Unlike most westerns, Broken Trail's follows the female characters, making the story unique, compelling and timely. In Duvall's own words, "Broken Trail completes a personal trilogy for me on Lonesome Dove and Open Range."