The Jack Bull is a 1999 American Western television film directed by John Badham and written by Dick Cusack. It is loosely based on Heinrich von Kleist s novel, Michael Kohlhaas. Much of the movie was filmed at the CL Ranch and the Heritage Park Historical Village in Calgary, Alberta.

Plot

Myrl Redding (John Cusack) is a horse trader living with his son Cage (Drake Bell), wife Cora (Miranda Otto) and some ranch hands. When Redding attempts to take his horses to a horse market in Casper he discovers local wealthy landowner, Henry Ballard, has erected a tollbooth on the road to Casper, which goes through Ballard’s property. Ballard, who disagrees with Redding regarding making Wyoming a state (which will restrict Ballard’s commercial opportunities), charges Redding ten dollars to pass through his land. Unable to pay, Redding leaves two horses as collateral for payment along with a Native American ranch hand, Crow, to ensure the horses are not mistreated.

After selling the horses at Casper, Redding returns to Ballard’s ranch to discover that the horses are malnourished and beaten, with Crow nowhere in sight. Redding vows that Ballard will pay to restore the horses’ health, while Ballard refuses to pay anything. Redding approaches a local lawyer seeking to sue Ballard, however the lawyer is doubtful the local judge, Judge Wilkins, who is friends with Ballard, will do anything. Redding soon learns that the Judge Wilkins has indeed thrown out the lawsuit, prompting his wife to attempt to meet the Attorney General, whose wife she is friends with, escorted by ranch hand Woody. During her visit, some of Ballard’s men attack Woody and throw him in front of a horse carriage, which swerves to avoid him and ends up hitting and killing Cora. Redding, furious at the law’s failure to do anything about the death of his wife and the loss of his horses, rallies a local militia of ranch owners and farmers and attacks Ballard’s home, sending him fleeing.

Ballard manages to plead his case to the Governor of Wyoming, who dispatches a sheriff to arrest Redding. Redding manages to ambush the Sheriff’s men and in the confusion one of Ballard’s men is killed. Seeking to ease the escalating violence, the Governor of Wyoming offers Redding amnesty if he surrenders. Redding accepts but later sends a letter promising to support Crow’s tribe against the United States, jeopardizing his amnesty agreement. He is subsequently charged and convicted of murder. Ballard, meanwhile, is brought to Court and ordered to restore the horses’ health by a sympathetic judge, Judge Tolliver, who also orders Ballard imprisoned for two years. Nonetheless, Judge Tolliver is forced to sentence Redding to be executed following his conviction.

After saying goodbye to his son, Redding is hung and executed. Wyoming becomes a state, and Redding’s son Cage and Woody take the two healthy horses back to the Reddings’ ranch.

Cast

• John Cusack – Myrl Redding
• John Goodman – Judge Joe B. Tolliver
• L.Q. Jones – Henry Ballard
• Miranda Otto – Cora Redding
• John C. McGinley – Woody
• Rodney A. Grant – Billy
• Kurt Fuller – Conrad
• Rex Linn – Shelby Dykes
• Drake Bell – Cage Redding
• Ken Pogue – Judge Wilkins
• Scott Wilson – Governor
• Dick Cusack – Jury Foreman

Soundtrack

• Music by Lennie Niehaus
• Ring Them Bells – Bob Dylan

Year	1999
ReleaseDate	1999-04-17
RuntimeMins	116
RuntimeStr	1h 56min
Plot	After being wrongfully denied justice, a horse trader seeks his own justice on a treacherous rancher.
Awards	Awards, 2 nominations
Directors	John Badham
Writers	Heinrich von Kleist, Dick Cusack
Stars	John Cusack, John Goodman, L.Q. Jones
Produced by	Cammie Crier,John Cusack,Doug Dearth,D.V. DeVincentis,Grace Gilroy,William E. Githens,Thomas J. Mangan IV,John C. McGinley,D.C. Mitchell,Steve Pink,Kevin Reidy
Music by	Lennie Niehaus
Cinematography by	Gale Tattersall
Film Editing by	Frank Morriss
Casting By	Stuart Aikins,Carol Lewis
Production Design by	Rick Roberts
Art Direction by	Tracey Baryski
Set Decoration by	Louise Middleton
Costume Design by	Ha Nguyen
Makeup Department	Iloe Flewelling,Rose Gurevitch,Chris Harrison-Glimsdale,Heather L. Ingram,Gail Kennedy
Production Management	Grace Gilroy,Michael Tinger
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director	Lisa Jemus,Elizabeth Scherberger,Pamela Wintringham,Richard Worden
Art Department	Britt Bancroft,Pierre Peeps Bartlette,Dave Grizz Borley,Corran Brownlee,Barbara Chandler,Laura Cuthill-Luft,John Dambrauskas,Ron Darby,Dean Eilertson,Jason Eskeland,Dale Wesley Fischer,Gerald Gerlinsky,Joel Hansen,Michael Hentges,Shauna Hepner,James A. Hosick,Charmaine Husum,Jean Jeffrey,Brad Kaughman,Brian Kent,Carrie Marklinger,Alan McCullagh,Cameron Patterson,Melodi Petrigo,Gary Clayton Ripley,Robert Sawchuk,Randy Schrader,Warren Simmons,Dwayne Smolnicky,David Trainor,Susan Turner,Bev Ulmer,James Weeks
Sound Department	Petra Bach,Ron Bedrosian,Paul Timothy Carden,Garrell Clark,Andy D Addario,Tom E. Dahl,Paul Flinchbaugh,Nerses Gezalyan,Kimaree Long,Nancy MacLeod,Wade Maude,Peter Melnychuk,Joe Milner,James Moriana,Thomas O Neil Younkman,Neil Porter,Chris Sparkes,Jeffrey Wilhoit,Kerry Dean Williams,Greg Zimmerman
Special Effects by	Terence R. Bunce,James Paradis,Scott Stofer,Scott R. Treliving
Visual Effects by	Edward Irastorza
Stunts	Guy Bews,Chad Cosgrave,Lyle W. Edge,Corry Glass,Jason Glass,Reg Glass,Tom Glass,Billy Laye,Roger Lewis,Quentin Lowry,Allan Phillips,Blake Schlosser,Greg Schlosser,Jim Shield,Cam Sutherland,Marty Chiefcalf,Jim Finkbeiner
Camera and Electrical Department	John Adshead,Scotty Allan,Jared Bunnin,René Collins,Ciaran Copelin,Tim Dutchak,Regan Enderl,Candide Franklyn,Derek Fyfe,Steve Giroux,Mike Gould,Charles Koetke,Chris Large,Joseph Lederer,Corey Lee,Tim Milligan,Damon Moreau,Curtis Otte,Chooch Paglaro,David Vernerey,Michael Woodland
Casting Department	Victor Blanchette,Sean Cossey,Wanda Keam,Sara Lewis,Alyson Lockwood
Costume and Wardrobe Department	Carolyn Devins,Gaylene Fisher,Lizzie McGovern,Heather Moore,Tim Ranson,Christine Thomson,Leah VanLoon
Editorial Department	Kenny Becker,Matthew Evan Walsh,Debra Beth Weinfeld
Location Management	Peter Horn,Rino Pace,Matt Palmer
Music Department	Dominick Certo,Tommy Holmes,Evyen Klean,Alan Oldfield,Casey Stone
Script and Continuity Department	Nancy McDonald
Transportation Department	Ray Breckenridge,Grant McPhee,Bruce Milward,Doug Slupski
Additional Crew	John Albanis,Jacqueline Chuckrey,Anne Devereux,Lyle W. Edge,Anne Fraleigh,M.K. Gleason,Miles Gorovich,Jill Heather,Natalie Kangropool,Anisa Lalani,Roger Lewis,Grace Loh,Brooke K. McGill,Paul Messick,Jeanmarie Murphy-Burke,John Perry,Stuart Robinson,Heather Roscorla,Troy Rudolph,John Scott,Lyle St. Goddard,Cam Sutherland,Cathy Sutherland,Tammy Taylor,Ron Webber,Jacqueline Wechselberger,J.T. Wotton,Lori Boyle
Genres	Drama, Western
Companies	HBO Pictures, Home Box Office (HBO), New Crime Productions
Countries	USA
Languages	English
ContentRating	R
ImDbRating	6.8
ImDbRatingVotes	4817
Keywords	horse trader,justice,wyoming,death of wife,frontier justice