The Night They Came Home

• Directed by Paul G. Volk
• January 12, 2024

In the Old West, a US Marshal partners with a Native American tribe to catch the Rufus Buck Gang hiding in Indian Territory.

Another day and another random watch. This one left me very conflicted. I can see so much potential in this. Mostly from three actors that turn this dreck into something palatable and also building a film around several underrepresented on the screen Western figures. Yet it undoes itself in so many ways.

The Night They Came Home sounds a lot more ominous than it is. Not that it doesn’t possess moments of darkness but the title implies a slasher film to me over something that adheres broadly to what is known about Rufus Buck (Charlie Townsend) and his gang. I am not implying by any means this is factual enough to be used in place of a historical text. As always use fact-based films as a starting point.

Townsend has a twinkle in his eye and general charm in his performance mixed with an undercurrent of dangerousness. He often opens a scene appearing quite kindly but there is a slow turn as things go along where Townsend makes his character feel ever increasingly threatening until you realize the person he is talking to is f****d. The man is quite talented, and I hope to see more from him.

The obvious fiction comes from the Danny Trejo character called ‘Digger’ (he digs graves) who’s interviewed by two randos that never get named. One is a dude with hair that would have made Joe Lando in his Dr. Quinn days jealous and the other a woman with some of the best manicured eyebrows this side of the 21^st-century. This was the best they could cast?

Danny Trejo is usually the spice that makes something better. Here he’s the addition that stretches this out though not by much. I’m not sure if his dialogue is meant to add context to any of the scenes it’s between but Digger often breaks the stride of the movie. He is good but the narration hurts the movie.

This is one of a handful of movies that I’ve seen where they could do better without narration. Open with some text that sets the thing up and points the audience in the direction of the message you wish to say. This may have a message but it may not even know. Danny Trejo’s wraparound dialogue muddies the water on what this is about if it’s about anything at all. His view is that the Old West ended with the capture of Buck. So was Digger pro r**e and killing?

I think with either a little more money or perhaps a more experienced/better director this would’ve been on par with something from a major studio. Looking at Paul G. Volk’s IMDb page tells this was probably in jeopardy from the start. I have watched plenty of crap and my quick perusal revealed nothing familiar or potentially entertaining.

A rape victim turning the tables on her attacker should be a great scene in the hands of most directors. Volk manages to suck all the thrill and desire to cheer that you should have from it. While her escape is to get the heroes to the villains quickly (and save another victim), it is just so tepid.

The whole film looks very clean. Clothing is brand new in appearance. Hair is too modern. Sometimes they aim for authentic looking structures which is fine so they shoot in and around abandoned buildings which is also fine. You need to clear away the rubble or do something to dress it up just enough to make it look not so abandoned. Using the actor to block a clean view inside is not it.

Some of the dialogue bothers me. I have a little trouble believing the term ‘sexual abuse’ would come out of any person’s mouth during the time. It’s too clinical and modern. It gets tossed about a few times to shed light on the actions of the Rufus Buck Gang and in reference to something that happened to other characters.

The Rufus Buck Gang (called ‘half breeds’ by characters) are posing as marshals, raping and killing as they move West with a stated goal of driving away white people and carving out a little area for themselves in some fashion. Buck fancies himself as some kind of revolutionary leader though really he is just a violent thug. That’s what he often is viewed as in the film. Conversely, there are moments when those making this try to make him look like a misunderstood hero. He rapes and kills people. There’s nothing misunderstood there!

In hot pursuit is Heck Thomas (Tim Abell) and Paden Tolbert (Tommy Wolfe) both of whom have great chemistry as characters and as actors. They engage in some old school begrudging respect in a very guy movie aesthetic though this is certainly not that.

Yet there is real lack of talent elsewhere. More accurately most everywhere in this movie. The members of the Buck Gang are capable but the actors portraying the minor characters are just terrible and should pursue no further acting opportunities up to and including all community theater and any possible elementary school productions.

They take time to stop the story for moments of dialogue where characters lament the white man which is obviously aimed at today but also acts as a bit of an excuse for everything Buck does (raping and killing) as does the sexual abuse. Add in some of Trejo’s words and it edges very close to rehabbing this rapist/thief/killer posing as a marshal to win the trust of victims before he strikes. Is the point that he was misunderstood? Was it he had good goals but did them terribly? Was this actually commentary on today? All these questions and more won’t get answered.

With The Night They Came Home there is the good idea of building a movie around a lesser known but no less intriguing figure undone by so much. It might be passable to very few but nobody should risk it.