"Jory" follows the fortunes of the 15 year old son (named Jory) of a down-on-his-luck drunkard lawyer trying to restart life in the tough western frontier. It begins dramatically with Jory orphaned on the first night after a bar fight because his father played Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata on the bar piano with Jory later fighting and killing the drunken killer of his father. Jory is then forced to grow up fast as a cowboy joining a horse drive to Texas and then protecting the rancher's teenage daughter.
What is interesting about this western is that the 15 year old lead happens to be the major screen acting debut of '70's teen idol Robby Benson whose claim to fame was as a blue eyed pretty boy with model quality features, a kind of lankier, more tanned 1970's version of Justin Bieber! Benson later became famous for doe eyed, whispy voiced sensitive roles and you certainly see the beginning of this in Jory and at first glance, Benson seems to be altogether the wrong type of actor for this rugged boy-to-man story but he actually carries it off very well. This is partly because he's the same age as his character and that is rare in modern films where the norm is young looking 20+ year olds acting in mid teen roles, in much the same way Logan Lehman brought similar realism to his role in "3:10 to Yuma", another boy forced to grow up fast Western.
Benson as Jory actually gives this movie a unique flavor for what would ordinarily be just a pretty run of the mill Western of the type so common in the 70's.
What is interesting about this western is that the 15 year old lead happens to be the major screen acting debut of '70's teen idol Robby Benson whose claim to fame was as a blue eyed pretty boy with model quality features, a kind of lankier, more tanned 1970's version of Justin Bieber! Benson later became famous for doe eyed, whispy voiced sensitive roles and you certainly see the beginning of this in Jory and at first glance, Benson seems to be altogether the wrong type of actor for this rugged boy-to-man story but he actually carries it off very well. This is partly because he's the same age as his character and that is rare in modern films where the norm is young looking 20+ year olds acting in mid teen roles, in much the same way Logan Lehman brought similar realism to his role in "3:10 to Yuma", another boy forced to grow up fast Western.
Benson as Jory actually gives this movie a unique flavor for what would ordinarily be just a pretty run of the mill Western of the type so common in the 70's.