The basic storyline being based on a real person and real events was OK. It was in my opinion quite good for a low budget movie. But, the flaws were in the acting (some characters over acted whilst others under acted). I guess this is down to the director as much as the actors.

Some of the scenic photography was OK whilst the action scenes were somewhat thwarted and lacked fluidity. The end "shoot out" was apalling. Again no fluidity, no direction and rather scenes just did not work. As an example the "taking out" of the sharp shooter "California" was pathetic and unplaisible with a single shot from the protagonist taking him out whilst completely hidden whilst hundreds of simple shots with targets in plain sight failed to hit their mark. So whether it was director or editor to blame it just did not work.

Last of all the research was very flawed with one of the "baddies" pulling doemwn his zipper. Baring in mind that the zipper was only invented in 1893, and the movie was set in 1893 but the zipper did not go into production until 1913!

Result poor show on many fronts.

As a person that lives in North Texas and a huge Bass Reeves fan, I really wanted to like this film. I was truly disappointed. But first the good stuff. The villains were truly bad men and did not make excuses for their evil behavior. Isaiah Washongton was excellent as Bass Reeves. He looked the part and acted the part. The photography was beautiful. So why did I give it a mediocre rating? Two reasons. First the writing was high school level. Robert Johnson needs to stick to his day job. The second reason was writing. More specifically the use of geography in the writing. The action takes place around Corsicana, Texas. While hunting for the fugitives Bass and his posse chase them from Corsicana to Liberty to Val Verde to Eagle Pass, all the while, never leaving the North Texas area. Surely Robert Johnson, a native Texan that grew up less than half an hour from Corsicana knows that Liberty is 200 miles from Corsicana and Eagle Pass is nearly 400. There is no town called Val Verde but Val Verde County, again, is 400 miles away. Why would anybody write such blatant errors in a script when a simple search of Google Maps would help you out. They may as well used names like Pecos or Mule Shoe. Am I being petty? I don't think so. When your making a fictional film based on history is asking for accuracy too much. I will give credit for placing Bass in Paris, Texas at the beginning, because that was correct. After watching this and Hell on the Border (another Bass Reeves movie) I can only hope that the Taylor Sheridan series does a better job. Bass Reeves is a true American hero and icon, he deserves a better effort. As for all the 9 and 10 reviews, please send me some of what you were smoking when you watched Corsicana.

I have really wondered for years why someone hasn't done a great movie about Mr. Bass Reeves. Oh, there have been some movies made, but they have all been disappointments thus far. Add this one to that heap. I got excited by the reviews I read here and thought perhaps it would be a hidden gem, but no. In fact I would've given this a 4 star review for their effort but I felt I really needed to off set the false positives here. I feel Mr. Washington and the movie would've benefited from a seasoned director or at least better storyboarding before they began shooting. Oh, well. Fingers crossed for the new series.