MOVIE REVIEW
Love’s Long Journey
Network: Hallmark Channel
CAST:
Erin Cottrell ... Missie LaHaye
Logan Bartholomew ... Willie LaHaye
William Morgan Sheppard ... Scottie
James Tupper ... Henry
Frank McRae ... Cookie
Johann Urb ... Fyn Anders
John Savage ... Trent
Jeff Kober ... Mason
Richard Lee Jackson ... Sonny Huff
Graham Phillips ... Jeff Huff
Irene Bedard ... Miriam Red Hawk McClain
Gil Birmingham ... Sharp Claw
Colin McCabe ... Sean McClain
Stephen Bridgewater ... Frank Taylorson
Diane Salinger ... Barbara Taylorson
PLOT:
from RHI:
On the frontier ...
all they have is each other.
A headstrong prairie teacher follows her husband’s dream to forge West and set down new roots in this inspiring continuation of Janette Oke’s beloved bestselling books.
After two years of marriage, and with a child on the way, Missie (Erin Cottrell, Little House on the Prairie Movie Mini-series) and Willie LaHaye (Logan Bartholomew, Love’s Enduring Promise) part with family ties to start a new life and new family of their own. As part of a wagon train heading west across beautiful, desolate country, their summer trek begins. The “start-up” settler’s town of Tettsford Junction is where it ends—a spread of buffalo trails, make-shift shops, and a half-finished railroad line. Missie hopes to continue her teaching. Willie dreams of prosperity as a cattle rancher. Together, they claim a sixty-acre homestead that families before them have struggled with, and abandoned. For a God-fearing couple with patience and passion, and a lot of faith, it’s a golden opportunity.
Burying their small fortune on their new land, stocking up on supplies from Barbara (Diane Salinger, Carnivale) and Frank Taylorson (Stephen Bridewater, 21 Grams)—a couple with stock in all of Tettsford’s stores—and readying a bare-as-bones house and a barn, the LaHayes are on their way. As Missie makes an invaluable friend in a Shoshone named Miriam (Golden Globe nominee Irene Bedard, Lakota Woman), Willie hires Cookie (Frank McRae, Houdini), an aging and restless cowboy who travels with his own stove—a luxury that the LaHaye’s find invaluable. But for all their perseverance and prayer, forging a new life in a new world becomes a test of faith and fortitude that pushes their endurance, as violent unrest in the outlying foothills threatens the peace of Tettsford Junction and Missie and Willie’s future.
Adapted by Michael Landon, Jr. (Love Comes Softy, Love’s Enduring Promise), Love’s Long Journey carries a genuine message of hope that the whole family will cherish.
Movie Review:
This is another cherished movie in the Love Comes Softly Series. It's so nice to see a young married couple start their lives together and work with one another while struggling to make it on the wild frontier.
Each of these stories are beautiful and touching. God's faithfulness and love are shown throughout the movie - whether it was in Willie's selection of Ranch Hands or in Missie finding a friend in the Indian Woman, Miriam, who promises to be there for Missie when the time comes for her to deliver her baby.
Missie is a caring, nurturing woman, and also a bit of a tomboy, due to growing up as a little girl with a single father who taught her how to shoot and ride and take care of the farm. She isn't so good in the kitchen, however, until one of the Ranch Hands, an older cowhand named Cookie, teaches her how to cook. Missie's toughness is a great asset for her living out in the wild prairie and dealing with rough characters. However, her caring nature is needed when she and Willie befriend a young boy, Jeff, who has no parents, and only a brother, Sonny, who chooses to associate with the wrong crowd.
Willie and Missie have to deal with a lot of troubles out on the prairie, but they share a beautiful Christmas all together, until it is disrupted by robbers (Jeff's brother, Sonny, is one of them) who threaten to not only hurt them, but to take all of their live's savings. There ends up being a struggle and Sonny is shot. This, of course, is such a sad moment in the movie. Willie and Missie make a promise to raise and care for the young boy, Jeff.
If you are looking for a good family film, then this series is it. There is always such good values and great faith in the Lord to learn in each. I would highly recommend this movie for any fan of Little House on the Prairie, Christy, or Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman.
It is very touching when Missie quotes from the Bible at the end of the Movie, "To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven."
See or Skip:
A Must See, if you Love the rest of the Love Comes Softly Series!
