Skip to content
HOLLYWOOD METRICS
HomeAboutCraftNewsAnalyticsScriptsBooksPricingAPIMCP
Catalog/Drama/The Ranger, the Cook and a Hole in the Sky
The Ranger, the Cook and a Hole in the Sky poster
B
Strong
MASTER SCORE 62.3 / 100
1995·Drama / Western / TV Movie·1h 34m

THE RANGER, THE COOK AND A HOLE IN THE SKY

“The year is 1919 - a time when being a ranger meant forest fires were fought with guts and courage.”

A young ranger in the Montana wilderness discovers the great forces of nature while learning the importance of honor, trust and integrity. Legendary veteran ranger Bill Bell educates the young man and guides him toward manhood. The year is 1919-a time when being a ranger meant more than operating expensive equipment. Forest fires were fought with guts and courage, not chemicals and airplanes. Bill Bell was the toughest ranger in an elite crew of very rugged men. A figure of heroic proportions, he was generally feared and respected by all. It was even rumored that he had at one time killed a sheep farmer, which only fueled his already enormous reputation. The young ranger does everything to remain in the good graces of Bill Bell, the senior ranger he idolizes. Their tentative rapport grows into a friendship through a hilarious and heroic rite of passage in which the younger ranger meets the test-and the woman of his dreams.

Above the Line
John Kent Harrison·DirectorNorman Maclean·StoryRobert Wayne·TeleplayHenry M. Lebo·Director of PhotographyLawrence Shragge·Original Music ComposerMichael D. Ornstein·Editor
Cast
Sam Elliott·Bill BellJerry O'Connell·MacRicky Jay·HawkesMolly Parker·SueDon S. Davis·Mr. SmithRobert Wisden·CanadaMichael Tayles·RedTom Butler·Mr. McBrideJay Brazeau·Doc RileyCallum Keith Rennie·Big Hat
Full Crew
(12 credits)
Directing· 1
John Kent Harrison·Director
Writing· 2
Norman Maclean·StoryRobert Wayne·Teleplay
Camera· 1
Henry M. Lebo·Director of Photography
Editing· 1
Michael D. Ornstein·Editor
Sound & Music· 1
Lawrence Shragge·Original Music Composer
Production· 6
Brent Shields·ProducerRichard Welsh·Executive ProducerLynn Kressel·CastingJohn M. McLean·Associate ProducerAndrew Gottlieb·Supervising ProducerJean Maclean Snyder·Associate Producer
By the Numbers
62.3
OF 100
Master Score
6.4
OF 10
IMDb
—
CRITICS
Rotten Tomatoes
—
Worldwide Gross
0
Oscar Wins
Where to Watch

THE AVAILABILITY MAP

The canonical record of where this film lives across the streaming map.

Provider Index In Progress

Streaming, rental, and purchase availability for this title is being ingested from the TMDB watch-providers feed and will appear here once the next catalog refresh runs. Until then, the canonical source links below remain the fastest route.

Find on TMDB
Poster DNA

THE VISUAL DECONSTRUCTION

The Ranger, the Cook and a Hole in the Sky's poster has not been indexed by the visual agent yet. The grid below shows the schema the analysis fills in.

Dominant Palette
Pending
Mood
Unanalyzed
Composition
Unanalyzed
Era
Unanalyzed
Visual Style
Unanalyzed

The visual agent has indexed 54,210 posters from the catalog against this schema. The remaining slate is queued for the next enrichment pass.

More Like This

THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Neighboring films in the catalog's similarity graph.

Keep Going

THREE WAYS DEEPER

Auteur
AUT
MORE BY JOHN KENT HARRISON

Every catalog entry where John Kent Harrison is credited as director.

Open
Family
GEN
MORE DRAMA

Top-ranked films inside drama, sorted by master score.

Open
Era
DEC
MORE FROM THE 1990S

The best films of the 1990s, ranked across every available metric.

Open
View on IMDbView on TMDBCatalog
HOLLYWOOD METRICS

The definitive mathematical oracle for cinematic success and creative script intelligence.

74,000+ Films100 Years1.1M+ Reviews
PRODUCT
  • Dashboard
  • Pricing
  • Script Analysis
  • Watch the Demo
  • The Red List
  • News
  • Analytics
  • API
  • MCP Connector
COMPANY
  • About
  • Track Record
  • Trust & Script Privacy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
CONNECT
  • ▶YouTube
  • ◉Instagram
  • ♪TikTok
  • @Threads
  • fFacebook
Get Started Free →
© 2026 Hollywood Metrics. All rights reserved.Powered by bespoke agents and autonomous agentic workflows