The Ranger, the Cook and a Hole in the Sky

TV Movie
1995
PG
1h 34m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

The Ranger, the Cook and a Hole in the Sky (1995)

In 1919, a cocky sophomore in the forest service has to learn life the hard way.In 1919, a cocky sophomore in the forest service has to learn life the hard way.In 1919, a cocky sophomore in the forest service has to learn life the hard way.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.4/10

746

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win total

Photos7

Storyline

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Trivia
Ricky Jay plays a professional gambler and card shark who is an expert at manipulating a deck of cards. In real-life, Ricky Jay is a professional magician who specializes in card tricks.

Quotes
Mac: [In a gradually increasing crescendo of emphasis, starting in a normal tone, ending in a near roar] Red, let me ask you. Have you ever once, in your whole life, had one, single, solitary, original thought, that didn't bounce off from somewhere else? I mean, have you ever sat down, considered all the available information, weighed it all in your mind, sifted all the possibilities, discarded what you couldn't prove, sorted out what made sense, and came to your own, personal, original, Red McBride opinion?
Red: [after a long pause] Why would I go to all that trouble?

Soundtracks
There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight
(uncredited)
Written by Theodore A. Metz and Joe Hayden
First line sung during first explosion scenes also sung by Mac in the tent on the peak

User reviews14

Review

Featured review

7/10

Realistic western

Jerry O'Connell and Sam Elliot star in this improbably named western, set in Montana in the early 1900s. Forest rangers are clearing a trail over a mountain during one long summer. O'Connell is a 17 year old who learns as he goes, working with a veteran crew. Elliot is the trail boss, and the best mule packer in the group. Before the summer is over, O'Connell's farmboy will have learned a few hard lessons and fallen in love with a gal in town. There's also a humdinger of a bar fight over a poker game involving the camp cook, played by real-life magician Ricky Jay. This is a quiet, introspective movie in many respects, with no gunplay or fancy theatrics other than the bar fight. We can believe this is how forestry people did their job then, and perhaps even now -- with the addition of today's engines, of course. Back then, a lot of it was accomplished by hand. RANGER reminds me of a Hallmark movie, which it probably started out as.