''Hope Ranch'' is a 2002 American

made-for-television A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

western film The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referred ...

about a rancher who takes three teenagers from

juvenile court A juvenile court, also known as young offender's court or children's court, is a tribunal having special authority to pass judgements for crimes that are committed by children who have not attained the age of majority. In most modern legal s ...

to try to turn them around. It stars

Bruce Boxleitner Bruce William Boxleitner (born May 12, 1950) is an American actor and science fiction and suspense writer. He is known for his leading roles in the television series '' How the West Was Won'', '' Bring 'Em Back Alive'', ''Scarecrow and Mrs. King ...

, Brian Gross,

Richard Lee Jackson Richard Lee Jackson (born May 29, 1979) is an American drummer and actor. Since 2004, he plays drums in American band Enation, of which his brother, Jonathan Jackson, the lead singer. Early life Jackson was born in Redlands, California, the s ...

, and

J. D. Pardo Jorge Daniel Pardo (born September 7, 1980) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Jack Toretto in '' F9'' (2021), as well as the lead role of Ezekiel "EZ" Reyes in the television series '' Mayans M.C.'' (2018–present). Early life ...

. ''Hope Ranch'' was the first

The Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...

Animal Planet Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1, 1996, the network is primarily dev ...

original feature film, which initially aired in 2002 and was later released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

on March 9, 2004. ''Hope Ranch'' was directed by Rex Piano.

Plot summary

J.T. Hope, a former police officer and marine and now owner of the Circle Hope Ranch, decides to start a program for troubled teens on the ranch to help turn them around. The first three boys are Keith ( Brian Gross), Brooker (

), and Ernesto (

). The workers at the ranch are Shorty (

Barry Corbin Leonard Barrie Corbin (born October 16, 1940) is an American actor. He is best known for his starring role as Maurice Minnifield on the television series ''Northern Exposure'' (1990–1995), which earned him two consecutive Primetime Emmy Award ...

) and a former

juvenile delinquent Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, is the act of participating in unlawful behavior as a minor or individual younger than the statutory age of majority. In the United States of America, a juvenile delinquent is a person ...

Colt Webb (

Lorenzo Lamas Lorenzo Fernando Lamas (born January 20, 1958) is an American actor. He is widely known for his role of Lance Cumson, the irresponsible grandson of Angela Channing—played by Jane Wyman—in the soap opera ''Falcon Crest'' (1981–1990), for ...

), who was given a second chance with the help of J.T. As the program goes on, Brooker and Ernesto make progress but J.T. can't get to Keith. He finds out that Keith was being made to do crime and drugs by his older brother Ajax ( Brad Hawkins) and he wasn't actually a bad kid. Keith is driving a tractor and it gets out of control, almost running over a young girl called Molly (Isabelle Howell). JT is really angry at Keith and wants to give up on trying to turn him around, but Molly's mother convinces him to give Keith another chance because he isn't trying to be bad. The next day, the three boys have to go back to Juvenile court, and because they made progress, they are allowed another six months at the ranch, giving Keith another chance. The film ends with three more Juvenile court teenagers arriving at the ranch and Keith telling them the rules of the ranch.

Cast

as J.T. Hope *

as 'Shorty' *

as Colt Webb * Brian Gross as Keith Frazier *

as Booker Stokes *

as Ernesto Mendoza *

Gail O'Grady Gail Ann O'Grady (born January 23, 1963), an American actress and producer, is best known for her roles on television. Her roles include Donna Abandando in the ABC police drama '' NYPD Blue'', and Helen Pryor in the NBC drama series ''American Dre ...

as June Andersen * Isabelle Howell as Molly *

Laura Johnson Laura Johnson is an American actress. She is best known for playing Terry Hartford in the CBS primetime soap opera ''Falcon Crest'' from 1983 to 1986. Career Johnson made her film debut in the 1977 drama film ''Opening Night'' directed by John ...

as Samantha 'Sam' Brooks * Brad Hawkins as 'Ajax' Frazier * Nicholas Hill as Dortch * Stephen Wozniak as 'Waxy' * Tina Illman as Rachel * Clint Jung as Juvenile Court Officer

Critical reception

Carolyn Patricia Scott of ''

The Los Angeles Times ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' gave the film a mixed review, stating that "The jokes and tenderfoot mishaps played out against the great outdoors carry along the entertaining, if predictable, story, although the idea that these hard cases could be redeemed in two weeks requires considerable artifice and contrivance."

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0327888, title=Hope Ranch 2002 television films 2002 films American Western (genre) television films Animal Planet original programming 2002 Western (genre) films 2000s English-language films