Thought I might have been missing something but based on the majority of reviews here, apparently not. The most frustrating part of the story was figuring out who the principal characters were supposed to be. That was finally cleared up about half way through, but with virtually no coherence to a rational story line. The Doc Holliday segment caught my attention for the mere reason that he charged $13.14 to pull a bad tooth; how did he come up with that fee? The business with John Wilkes Booth might have been more interesting if the theory that he survived after the assassination of President Lincoln had some credibility. And gee, do you really think a mule would lose his balance and fall off a cliff? Although thinking about it now, that might have been an appropriate metaphor for this picture. The Legend of Hell's Gate likely needs a new origin story.

What could have been a good movie was let down by bad acting,particularly by the Director/Actor. A terrible Irish accent and "hammy" at the best of times. Others weren't much better. I understand that this was a low-budget indie film and applaud the effort, but surely there's more acting talent than this. Apart from the acting, the events leading to the "main plot" do not get there until halfway through the movie and then fade away almost as quickly. What we are really watching is a movie about three bad guys on the run; and that could have worked,but didn't have enough character development to make us care.

Writer & Director Tanner Beard's western "The Legend of Hell's Gate: An American Conspiracy" boasts terrific scenery, evocative photography, atmospheric settings, and some fair acting by a motley crew of character actors and television thespians. Unfortunately, this dreary, low-budget oater wanders all over the range and lacks central dramatic focus. The characters are drawn with all the depth of a sketch, and the obstacles that they encounter seem more annoying than challenging. The story concerns three desperadoes who find themselves on foot in the wilderness after they shoot their mounts. They're lugging several jugs of stolen moonshine whiskey as they struggle to elude a posse as well as a mountain man. Nothing remotely memorable occurs in this PG-13 survival of the fittest yarn. Outlaw Will Edwards (Eric Balfour of "Skyline"), small-time railroad thief James McKinnon (Tanner Beard), and a conniving youngster named Kelly (Lou Taylor Pucci) evade a posse on horseback and commandeer a boat that belongs to a mountain man (Jim Beaver) who has just loaded it up with furs and whiskey. Later, this trio of ill-fated fugitives stumbles onto a camp of Native Americas and get them drunk so they can appropriate their one and only horse. Edwards and McKinnon leave Kelly behind as they strike out on their own. Meanwhile, a man who claims to be John Wilkes Booth (Henry Thomas of "E.T.") lies dying in a small Texas town. While he tries to convince a man that he is Abraham Lincolon's assassin, Kelly ransacks his room and steals all his memorabilia. Chiefly, the characters lack charisma, and Beard never generates any suspense and tension about their pursuit. The film concludes on a historical note about the actual story behind Hell's Gate, but even a last-minute history lesson cannot salvage this outdoor adventure is hopeless forgettable.