Unjustly arrested and sentenced to a 99-year-term, grizzled half-breed bounty hunter John McKay (
Burt Reynolds) is serving hard time in Yuma Territorial Prison when he is swept up in a prison break engineered by sadistic vigilante leader Billy Bucklin (
David Figlioli). Once on the outside, Bucklin and his brigands cut a swath of terror and murder throughout the Arizona Territory, then head to Mexico, there to link up with a despotic revolutionary leader. Given an opportunity to redeem himself by helping track down and capture Bucklin, McKay reluctant teams with ageing Sheriff Nate Hutchinson (
Bruce Dern) -- the very man who sent McKay up in the first place. Among McKay and Hutchinson's tiny posses are feisty Liz Kennedy (
Amy Jo Johnson), who after her family is murdered by Bucklin has a personal score to settle (if she can ever get accustomed to riding a horse or wielding a rifle, that is), and Hutchinson's deputy Joshua (
Seth Peterson), McKay's own son. The made-for-cable Western
Hard Ground premiered July 12, 2003, on the Hallmark Channel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide