Traveller

The film shrewdly humanizes its protagonists to the point where the audience forgets their identity and roots for them to succeed - and survive.

The script is smart and sneaky - by never telling the audience more than is necessary, it develops a keen sense of suspense that persists until the gritty final reel.

The subject's nice - a clan of Irish con artists operating in the rural south - but the movie breaks down into separate pieces, some fresher than others, without much cumulative force.

Directing his first movie, Jack Green, cinematographer on several Clint Eastwood films, shows an ease with the material (written by Jim McGlynn), but there's something a bit dull about the movie.

The narrative is engrossing enough, but it diverts from what is strongest about Traveller, its title characters. [2 May 1997]

Traveller does pass the time painlessly, and it isn't aggressively stupid or hateful, like about half the movies Hollywood makes nowadays. But someone must have stolen its engine - this film has no narrative drive. [p May 1997]

The movie lacks any sense of subcultural specificity, though it has a superabundant country music score. [22 Apr 1997]