Maybe it was the fact that it was a western set at the start of the modern time period, but something about this movie was lacking. Sam Elliot as Tiglman is excellent and Carolyn McCormick as his wife was a nice bit of casting. However, Arliss Howard as the corrupt federal agent was so over the top you would think you were supposed to be watching a present day drug film. Elliot should be acknowledged as a master of the western movie genre, if he hasn't been already. However, this movie didn't have enough of the "western" qualities for me. I'll sit back and watch Conagher again to see Elliot in top form with a great "western" storyline.
12 Reviews
Yer Ways Don't Work No More.
rmax3048233 December 2015
Warning: Spoilers
A made-for-TV cowboy movie with no bankable stars -- pretty ominous. Yet it's better than that.
It's the 1920s in Oklahoma and the oil boom is in full bloom. As Bill Tilghman, a famous elderly retired lawman of the old West, Sam Elliot is living a peaceful life on his ranch not far from a boom town called Cromwell. He's engaged in trying to make movies that show the old West as it really was at a time when Tom Mix ("too purty") is the glamorous hero of silent movies.
But Cromwell is having a hell of a bad time. This is prohibition, after all, and, what with Oklahoma being what it is, you have prohibition piled upon prohibition. Yet none of that stops the booze that flows like the Mississippi River through good old Cromwell. More than that, a mixture of cocaine and heroin is on its way from the gangsters in Kansas City. Worst of all, they insist on wearing white after Labor Day.
The local sheriff wises up to this and reports it to the man from the Federal Bureau of Prohibition or whatever it is. He's played as a real skank by Arliss Howard, who has an innocent face and the moral character of a flesh-eating bacterium. When they get in his way he casually shoots the sheriff and the local informer and dumps their bodies into an oil tank.
The good folk of Cromwell appeal to former lawman Elliot to come and introduce family values into their community. Elliot's wife, Carolyn McCormick -- I almost wrote Dr. Elizabeth Olivet -- is supportive but doesn't want her husband putting his life on the line. They have two lovely kids. McCormick, by the way, is pretty foxy and delivers a more animated and nuanced performance than she ever did on the small screen.
So Elliot proceeds to clean up the unrestrained violence and vulgarity of Cromwell and the townsfolk are shocked. Most are supportive but some have grown kinda fond of the booze and the whorehouses and the guns. Especially antagonistic is Arliss Howard, the federal man who gets a big cut of the illegal shenanigans, and his companion in crime, whose name I can't figure out but who resembles Pizza The Hut. It doesn't play out well for Sam Elliot or his family. That much is historical fact.
I don't want to bother researching the history of the real Bill Tilghman but there are some scenes that are so thoroughly Hollywoodized that they lose all credibility. I truly doubt that Tilghman, with two bullets in him, survived just long enough to whisper a few last words to his wife -- "Honey...Take care...Take care of the children. I'm on my way to the big roundup in the sky." And I strongly doubt that, on the death of Tilghman, the good folks of the town finally rallied and burned down all the gambling halls, whorehouses, bars, and stills.
That's probably the weakest part of the film, the writing. There are times when it's not clear who Elliot is arresting or why, or what happens to them. It seems poorly edited. How did Elliot know that bodies were being dumped into the oil storage tank? And casting gets a bonus point for giving the role of the corrupt federal man to Arliss Howard, whose character name is "Wiley." I don't know whether that was intentional or not but it's a palpable touch. The script, however, has made him not just a bad guy but almost the personification of evil -- he throws his girl friend to the floor, he snorts dope, he's always waving around an automatic pistol. A demerit too for casting as the corrupt sheriff a poor actor who could never play anything but an evil part -- the subtlety of a sledge hammer.
But extra points for production design, location shooting, and photography. A lot of attention has been paid to period detail and it pays off.
It's the 1920s in Oklahoma and the oil boom is in full bloom. As Bill Tilghman, a famous elderly retired lawman of the old West, Sam Elliot is living a peaceful life on his ranch not far from a boom town called Cromwell. He's engaged in trying to make movies that show the old West as it really was at a time when Tom Mix ("too purty") is the glamorous hero of silent movies.
But Cromwell is having a hell of a bad time. This is prohibition, after all, and, what with Oklahoma being what it is, you have prohibition piled upon prohibition. Yet none of that stops the booze that flows like the Mississippi River through good old Cromwell. More than that, a mixture of cocaine and heroin is on its way from the gangsters in Kansas City. Worst of all, they insist on wearing white after Labor Day.
The local sheriff wises up to this and reports it to the man from the Federal Bureau of Prohibition or whatever it is. He's played as a real skank by Arliss Howard, who has an innocent face and the moral character of a flesh-eating bacterium. When they get in his way he casually shoots the sheriff and the local informer and dumps their bodies into an oil tank.
The good folk of Cromwell appeal to former lawman Elliot to come and introduce family values into their community. Elliot's wife, Carolyn McCormick -- I almost wrote Dr. Elizabeth Olivet -- is supportive but doesn't want her husband putting his life on the line. They have two lovely kids. McCormick, by the way, is pretty foxy and delivers a more animated and nuanced performance than she ever did on the small screen.
So Elliot proceeds to clean up the unrestrained violence and vulgarity of Cromwell and the townsfolk are shocked. Most are supportive but some have grown kinda fond of the booze and the whorehouses and the guns. Especially antagonistic is Arliss Howard, the federal man who gets a big cut of the illegal shenanigans, and his companion in crime, whose name I can't figure out but who resembles Pizza The Hut. It doesn't play out well for Sam Elliot or his family. That much is historical fact.
I don't want to bother researching the history of the real Bill Tilghman but there are some scenes that are so thoroughly Hollywoodized that they lose all credibility. I truly doubt that Tilghman, with two bullets in him, survived just long enough to whisper a few last words to his wife -- "Honey...Take care...Take care of the children. I'm on my way to the big roundup in the sky." And I strongly doubt that, on the death of Tilghman, the good folks of the town finally rallied and burned down all the gambling halls, whorehouses, bars, and stills.
That's probably the weakest part of the film, the writing. There are times when it's not clear who Elliot is arresting or why, or what happens to them. It seems poorly edited. How did Elliot know that bodies were being dumped into the oil storage tank? And casting gets a bonus point for giving the role of the corrupt federal man to Arliss Howard, whose character name is "Wiley." I don't know whether that was intentional or not but it's a palpable touch. The script, however, has made him not just a bad guy but almost the personification of evil -- he throws his girl friend to the floor, he snorts dope, he's always waving around an automatic pistol. A demerit too for casting as the corrupt sheriff a poor actor who could never play anything but an evil part -- the subtlety of a sledge hammer.
But extra points for production design, location shooting, and photography. A lot of attention has been paid to period detail and it pays off.
The Old West Meets The Roaring Twenties : Could Have Been Better
FightingWesterner3 March 2010
In 1924, legendary lawman turned silent film star Bill Tilghman (Sam Elliott) reluctantly agrees to clean up a grimy Oklahoma town controlled bootlegging gangsters and full of rowdy oil-rig workers. He ends up squaring off against coked-out, renegade G-Man Arliss Howard.
This production looks fantastic, with lots of attention to detail and great atmosphere. Unfortunately, there's too much talk and not enough action to go along with the vivid sets, costumes, and locations. This ends up being more of a character study than a western or gangster story.
Sam Elliott does a great job as Tilghman, who rode with the Earps and went up against the real-life Wild Bunch. If anything, the film does do an excellent job at portraying a man who has little left to offer but his pride and stories of past triumphs.
This production looks fantastic, with lots of attention to detail and great atmosphere. Unfortunately, there's too much talk and not enough action to go along with the vivid sets, costumes, and locations. This ends up being more of a character study than a western or gangster story.
Sam Elliott does a great job as Tilghman, who rode with the Earps and went up against the real-life Wild Bunch. If anything, the film does do an excellent job at portraying a man who has little left to offer but his pride and stories of past triumphs.
Top-notch production about the last weeks of a US Western lawmen
RHM-224 August 1999
Sam Elliott was made for the lead in this film, playing William Tilghman in his final weeks as a lawman in an Oklahoma "Oil Patch" town in the mid-1920s. He's simply over-powering in demeanor and gait and attitude. Pay special attention at the end when he bids farewell to his family. Oh, my!... Other mostly unknown actors are mostly okay, but Arliss Howard's drug-addled primary bad guy seems a tad much over the top (I reckon I cotton to heavies who are bad _and_ smart).... Best all is the production which features a roughneck oil town and mud and iron/steel workers and noise and mobs and blacksmiths and misery and saloons and cathouses and ... well, you get the idea.... As a bonus, movie buffs get to see reproductions of Tilghman's own silent movies about his exploits as a young lawman.... Thus, a many-dimensional treat for us hero-worshipers who grew up with the movies.
A Cowboy Struggling to Adapt to a New Era
Uriah4310 June 2020
This film essentially documents the real-life story of a famous American lawman by the name of "Bill Tilghman" (Sam Elliott) who rode with legends such as Wyatt Earp and faced down notorious outlaws in the process. Having retired from law enforcement his fame subsequently attracted the attention of Hollywood where he has starred in numerous silent films which further increased his popularity. And it's at this time that a prominent citizen from Cromwell, Oklahoma approaches him and offers him a position as sheriff in order to bring some law-and-order to the town. At first he declines but after further consideration he accepts even though his wife "Zoe" (Carolyn McCormick) tries to advise him against it. It's only later that he realizes that due to the Volstead Act--and the implementation of prohibition--that crime has become much more organized that it was in the 19th century and all of his skills and experience will be put to the test from that point on. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was an interesting "transitional" film in that it managed to capture the impact of the changes brought on by the dawning of the Industrial Age quite well. To that extent, Sam Elliott put in a solid performance as a cowboy who finds himself becoming more and more obsolescent as time passes by. Be that as it may, while certainly not one of Sam Elliott's best films ever made, I found it to be enjoyable enough and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.
If It's A Western With Elliott It's Usually Good
ccthemovieman-126 September 2006
Any western that stars Sam Elliott is usually a good one. Few people have ever looked and sounded more like a cowboy than Sam. Also, most westerns feature beautiful landscapes and overall photography, and this film is no exception. Being made-for-TV, it could have been made on-the-cheap but it wasn't. I am not a fan of Ted Turner but his TNT westerns look beautiful, all of them.
Elliott plays a lower-key role than usual, being an appealing sort as a loving father and husband and a good-guy marshal. This western is a bit different in that the time period is the early 1900s with automobiles and such dotting the landscape.
There is not a lot of action in here and not an especially happy ending, either, but it's a good western that worth you while to check out.
Elliott plays a lower-key role than usual, being an appealing sort as a loving father and husband and a good-guy marshal. This western is a bit different in that the time period is the early 1900s with automobiles and such dotting the landscape.
There is not a lot of action in here and not an especially happy ending, either, but it's a good western that worth you while to check out.
This could've been a good western
bux23 August 1999
The true(?)story of Oklahoma lawman Bill Tilghman. Producer/star Elliott who is legendary for his characterizations of western lawmen and pioneers, falls flat on this project. Some one needs to explain to me why, WHY, when many of the original locations in the movie-Cromwell, Wowoka, and Chandler, Ok, are still much as the same as they were in the 20s-when this story takes place-did Elliott and crew feel it necessary to film in Canada?? Must be a NAFTA thing. And again, there is the attempt to make the west seem more like the present (large drug shipments parachuting into rural areas-reminiscent of the "Mena legend"!). .. my guess this is done to appeal to the Gen Xers. This is just another picture, made in the last three decades that gives proof to the adage "Western pictures have gone down-hill ever since Robert L. Lippert died!
His Last Job In Law Enforcement
bkoganbing9 May 2009
It's too bad that Sam Elliott didn't come along 20 or 30 years earlier to films. If he had he would never lack for work as a cowboy hero. He's not done too bad in the present day in any event. In You Know My Name he plays one of the west's last genuine heroes from the old days in a new era with little regard for law enforcement which proves to be his undoing.
Bill Tilghman, one of the great frontier marshals of the old west took his last job in law enforcement in Cromwell, Oklahoma in 1924. It was an oil boom town, a wide open town with roughneck money fueling the economy the way the trail hands did back in Tilghman's prime. Now however big city gangsters and their hirelings are running things and even though Prohibition is in the Constitution, that doesn't seem to matter to a thirsty public. It's a world of rumbleseats in flivvers, tommy guns, and bobbed hair on women, Tilghman is out of his time.
He's also got a jurisdictional dispute with Prohibition Federal agent Arliss Howard playing the corrupt T-Man, Wiley Lynn. For all the agents like Eliot Ness, there were more like Wiley Lynn, getting rich on bribes enabling people to flout an unpopular law.
Elliott gives one of his best performances as Bill Tilghman. A weary man who could sit back on his laurels and they were considerable, at the age of 70, yes 70, he goes back to doing the work of a younger man because the younger man are corrupt in a corrupt age. This part was one where Sam Elliott's premature gray hair stood him in good stead.
What you see in You Know My Name is the truth, exactly what happened to Tilghman. I would commend people to read up on Tilghman and find out that this last of the frontier marshals had one glorious career that came to a sad end. This is a wonderful film about a western hero who literally did die with his boots on.
Bill Tilghman, one of the great frontier marshals of the old west took his last job in law enforcement in Cromwell, Oklahoma in 1924. It was an oil boom town, a wide open town with roughneck money fueling the economy the way the trail hands did back in Tilghman's prime. Now however big city gangsters and their hirelings are running things and even though Prohibition is in the Constitution, that doesn't seem to matter to a thirsty public. It's a world of rumbleseats in flivvers, tommy guns, and bobbed hair on women, Tilghman is out of his time.
He's also got a jurisdictional dispute with Prohibition Federal agent Arliss Howard playing the corrupt T-Man, Wiley Lynn. For all the agents like Eliot Ness, there were more like Wiley Lynn, getting rich on bribes enabling people to flout an unpopular law.
Elliott gives one of his best performances as Bill Tilghman. A weary man who could sit back on his laurels and they were considerable, at the age of 70, yes 70, he goes back to doing the work of a younger man because the younger man are corrupt in a corrupt age. This part was one where Sam Elliott's premature gray hair stood him in good stead.
What you see in You Know My Name is the truth, exactly what happened to Tilghman. I would commend people to read up on Tilghman and find out that this last of the frontier marshals had one glorious career that came to a sad end. This is a wonderful film about a western hero who literally did die with his boots on.
It's unethical to slander a good man's name like this movie does
mrpoizun23 May 2021
Tilghman was the corrupt one in this story, not Wiley Lynn. Tilghman was extorting protection money from the casinos and bawdy houses in Cromwell. Lynn was the federal agent in charge of enforcing the prohibition of alcohol in the area. Tilghman had made public threats to kill him, but when he tried to as Lynn was raiding one of his client's businesses, Lynn was able to fire his weapon first and kill the corrupt marshal. He was tried for the killing and found not guilty, but the myth of the old "lawman" was stronger than the truth, and Lynn's reputation was destroyed and he resigned from his federal job. He became an alcoholic and eventually died in another shootout.
I'm disappointed that Sam Elliott would agree to make a movie like this, which is so obviously based on lies.
I'm disappointed that Sam Elliott would agree to make a movie like this, which is so obviously based on lies.
Great Western Star Vehicle for Sam Elliott
Leo-1217 February 2002
If a SMILE could be the star of a movie, Sam Elliott's inimitable smile would be the star of "You Know My Name." Elliott may well be the greatest leading man in westerns in the post-1970 period, and he is at the top of his game in this based-on-a-true-story oater set in Oklahoma in the early twentieth century. There have been better westerns, sure, but there have not been many better western star turns than this. Elliott makes you want to laugh and cry at the same time, ALL the time, and at the end you just do both.
Sam Elliott excels in this nifty depiction of clashing sensibilities
Woodyanders13 February 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Proud and rugged cowboy law enforcer Bill Tilghman (a spot-on terrific performance by the always dependable Sam Elliott) lives off his past triumphs by making authentic Western movies in the early 20th century. Tilghman gets hired to clean up a scrappy small town that's rife with crime and vice. He faces opposition from manic coke-snorting Federal agent Wiley (a lively and deliciously slimy portrayal by Arliss Howard). Writer/director John Kent Harrison relates the enjoyable and engrossing story at a brisk pace, offers a flavorsome evocation of the Roaring Twenties period setting, and astutely explores the radical discrepancy between the blunt and honest Old West way of doing things and the more shady and decadent attitude of the 1920's. Naturally, it's a real treat to see Elliott expertly play a colorful large-than-life living legend figure who counts as a true hero because of how he inspires others to rise to the occasion with his firm disposition and strongly felt beliefs. Moreover, there are sound contributions from Carolyn McCormick as Tighlman's feisty wife Zoe, James Gammon as the amiable Arkansas Tom, R. Lee Ermey as the loyal Marshal Nix, and James Parks as wormy stoolie Alibi Joe. Both Lees Van Oostrum's sharp cinematography and Lawrence Shragge's twangy harmonic score are up to par. Worthwhile viewing for Sam Elliott fans.
Great Story! Great Actor! What Happened?
djkruse5 September 1999
This movie definitely could have been better. First, you've got a great story of a great man to the people and law of Cromwell. Second, without a doubt, you've got Sam Elliot! After Clint Eastwood, nobody took the role of a great western actor...until Sam Elliot.
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