Brigham City
Brigham City
PG-13 | 30 March 2001 (USA)
Brigham City Trailers

Wes Clayton is a lawman and a bishop in a Mormon community called Brigham. The town is shaken when a woman from California is found murdered. Clayton and his young deputy work with an FBI agent sent to investigate. As a civil and spiritual leader in the frightened town, Clayton must uncover the town's deepest secrets, find the murderer and keep Brigham from ripping itself apart.

Reviews
Sexylocher Masterful Movie
Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.
Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.
Marva-nova Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.
Eileen McHenry Brigham's sheriff -- a terribly sad, but extremely decent man -- is forced to admit that there is a serial killer in his small, friendly, pretty little town. He sets about looking for the killer from what appears to be a hopelessly blinkered perspective, refusing to believe that anyone but an "outsider" could be responsible. He gradually finds his way to the answer, and it hurts to watch. I could happily see a film by this director every day of the week. This was absolutely brilliantly done -- such a nice change from all the crash and bash of more typical overacted, overplotted, punctuated-by-explosions movies. Dutcher gives the lie to the idea that movie characters (especially the police) need to be wisecracking, high-octane, postmodern cardboard cutouts in order to solve a crime. It's a rare example, too, of a film filled with deeply religious people who are not simply a bunch of flakes.
dwzobell This film will go down as being the most important study of the LDS faith on film. Those unfamiliar with the American LDS culture might not see the displeasureDutcher finds in it. He never finds a fault in the beliefs, but rather in the culture that has risen from those beliefs. And to the many critics of the bendings and breakings of the Constitution, I strongly believe Dutcher knew just what he was doing. The people of Brigham didn't. In the end, that community search didnothing but frustrate and humiliate. I have lived in Utah for close to a year now and have been amazed at how many people here believe that they're aseperate country. That scene is shockingly accurate in how many citizens try to make it here. And to those of the LDS faith who felt the film was a downer. It is anything but! Watch it again - the film's messages of redemption, personal growth, andintegrity are strong and far more effective than the messages of many religious films. Stop trying to pull God down to us with grand orchestras and specialeffects. Religious directors need to take note of Dutcher and try to pull US up to God with simple, quiet peace.
byson5186 Brigham City was a good movie, with great acting. The actors made that movie look like it was real. They should have had it come to the east coast, because I am originally from Pennsylvania, and the only Mormon movies that came out there were "God's Army" and "Other Side of Heaven." I recommend you show Brigham City to your friends that aren't Mormon, they should enjoy it. It's also a perfect movie to watch late at night, the movie is an action movie and scary. It's about some people being murdered in Brigham City Utah, and two cops played as Richard Dutcher and Matthew Brown. You don't find out who the suspect is until the end, but there didn't seem to be enough evidence that it was who it was. I tried to see if the suspects gun matched his or hers, but it didn't. When it showed the suspects gun really fast it matched the sheriff's, but I'll tell you only one person the suspect wasn't, it wasn't the sheriff. Could anyone email me and tell me some of the evidence that helps lead us to the suspect..
Ajtlawyer Though I'm an ex-Mormon, I actually sort of like Richard Dutcher's work as a filmmaker. One thing's for sure, he got the sterility and spiritual emptiness of LDS church services and Sunday school down pat. In the Sunday school scene the teacher drones on and cannot get even the simplest comment from anyone in the class. As a murder mystery I'll admit that I hadn't figured it out before Dutcher finally reveals the killer. As a spoiler, I liked it that he had the guy who did the baptism earlier be the serial killer. I thought it was a bit of a cop out to have the killer be a fake Mormon--the inference I got is that he was never a Mormon to begin with. The killer makes a pretty good speech at the end before Dutcher kills him but what he didn't point out to the Sheriff/Bishop was that the Sheriff/Bishop obviously didn't have one whit of the "spirit of discernment" otherwise he would've never have hired a rapist to be a deputy! I have to admire Dutcher's "boldness" when it comes to his movies. He isn't cawing and always very complimentary of the Mormon Church he's a member of. He pushes the envelope about as far as he may dare and keep his good standing in the Church (since he probably is a millionaire now after LDS audiences flocked to him movies, I'm sure the Church appreciates his tithing). Obviously Dutcher isn't running his movies by any high ranking "correlation committee." I'll be interested to see how many warts he leaves on Joseph Smith in his next movie. If he maintains his semi-independent bent, he will probably offend a number of Mormons, maybe high ranking ones, that is unless he makes a vanilla, "sacred" movie about Smith. I would like to see Dutcher have a chance to make a film without any LDS themes. He's pretty capable with a camera and he should have the chance to work with some better actors than what he's had to work with in "God's Army" and "Brigham City." Wilford Brimley, the only main-line actor he's had in those films, just blew everyone else off the screen. Wilford's a good actor but it isn't saying much for the quality of the rest of the cast to end up saying he's the best one in the show. I did like the sheriff's secretary though and how she vamped herself up to work at the bar where all the jack Mormons and non-members hung out.