Tubegazing: Broken Trail

Broken Trail (AMC, June 25 & 26, 8 p.m. EDT): Had a hard day at the office? Tune into AMC's "Broken Trail" to find out just how hard, yet rewarding, the simple act of living can be. This elegant, shaggy dog of a 19th-century western takes us on a painfully human journey across the old West as Robert Duvall and Thomas Haden Church drive 500 horses from Oregon to Wyoming to sell. Along the way they fight Indians, fend off horse thieves, and acquire human cargo in the form of women and young girls, whom they rescue from prostitution. The strong but silent duo, playing uncle and nephew, deliver the kind of poignant, quiet lessons in basic civility and morality that have defined the western as the quintessential American movie genre from its inception. Grade: A