Riders of the Purple Sage (1996 film)

Riders of the Purple Sage is a 1996 American Western television film based on the 1912 novel by Zane Grey, directed by Charles Haid, adapted by Gil Dennis, and starring Ed Harris as Lassiter and Amy Madigan as Jane Withersteen. The film aired on TNT on January 21, 1996.

Plot
A homesteader joins forces with a mysterious gunslinger to protect her land from a town that's turned against her.

Cast

 * Ed Harris as Jim Lassiter
 * Amy Madigan as Jane Withersteen
 * Henry Thomas as Bern Venters
 * Robin Tunney as Elizabeth "Bess" Erne
 * Norbert Weisser as Deacon Tull
 * G.D. Spradlin as Pastor Dyer

Production
This TNT Original Production is the fifth screen adaptation of Grey's novel across an eight-decade span.

Reception
Variety described the film as "moody" and saying that, "Charles Haid directs efficiently, with occasional moments of artiness — including filming a falling horse from several angles and cross-editing them, and action in a genuinely spooky thunderstorm."