The Toby Keith Movie Hardcore Fans Need To Watch
Toby Keith — who passed away on February 5, 2024, at the age of 62 from stomach cancer — may be best known as a rebel-rousing country singer, but he left his mark behind on the big and small screens as well. While he mainly appeared as himself in projects such as "The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood," he also had a starring role in one big-screen film.
In 2006, Keith starred in "Broken Bridges," playing the character of Bo Price. A one-time big deal in the country music world, Bo has fallen on hard times and lost the esteem he once held in the industry. Back in his hometown to attend his brother's funeral, Price deals with the past in a major way. Into his life returns Angel Delton (Kelly Preston), his former girlfriend and the mother of his teenage daughter, Dixie Leigh (Lindsey Haun). Bo has never met Dixie and soon finds himself falling back into love with Angel while trying to keep Dixie Leigh off the path of alcoholic abuse, which has affected his own comeback. Bo soon must figure out whether to return to his hometown and help Dixie Leigh with her musical ambitions or return to the road.
"Broken Bridges" did not do well with critics (it holds a 5% critical approval score on Rotten Tomatoes) and failed at the box office (it only made $252,539 worldwide). But it ended up with something of a cult following thanks to regular airings on CMT, which also co-produced the movie through its CMT Films arm. It was CMT, which would give Keith another chance at movie stardom, this time on television.
Toby Keith also turned one of his hits into a television movie
CMT Films also involved itself in another Toby Keith acting endeavor — "Beer for My Horses," a TV movie that was based on Keith's hit duet with Willie Nelson. The comedy pits Keith as small-town sheriff Joe Bill "Rack" Racklin and Lonnie Freeman (Rodney Carrington), his deputy, against Tito Garza (Greg Serano) and other members of the Garza crime family. Alongside Skunk Tarver (Ted Nugent), the men must battle the Garzas and their boss, Sheriff Landry (Tom Skerritt), who doesn't want them on the case. Elsewhere, Rack finds himself dumped by his girlfriend Cammie (Gina Gershon) and reunited with his ex-flame Annie Streets (Claire Forlani) and becomes friends with a circus ringmaster (Nelson) who introduces Rack and his friends to a particular sort of homebrewed whiskey.
The movie got a limited theatrical release, making $666,045. However critics, gave Keith and the film quite a drubbing, and it sits at 0% on Rotten Tomatoes. With "Beer for My Horses" in the books, Keith never gave acting another serious pursuit and instead decided to focus on his music career. Since he ended up becoming a member of the Songwriter's Hall of Fame in 2015 and established an undisputable music legacy, that focus definitely ended up paying off.