A few years before, the television movie "The Daughters of Joshua Cabe" aired. Oddly enough, the network apparently saw promise in the plot (probably intending to make it a weekly TV series) and so they commissioned this follow-up film. The problem is that none of the folks from the original film (apart from Jack Elam, in a supporting role) were in the sequel...and I suppose that's why they tacked 'New' onto the title.
In the first film, Joshua Cabe wanted to keep land he was homesteading on and to do so he needed a family to live there with him. But without a family readily available, he hires some women of very ill repute to pose as his daughters and they live happily ever after.
In this follow-up, a baddie discovers Joshua's scheme and threatens to have the land grant invalidated since the women were NOT his actual daughters. Joshua is furious and goes to confront the guy...only to find he'd been stabbed and he is accused of doing this foul deed. Soon, he's convicted of murder and his 'daughters' scheme to free him from prison before his scheduled execution.
I scored the first film an 8, as it had a fresh plot, good acting and held my interest. While there are some very good actors in this one (such as John McIntire and John Dehner), I missed Buddy Ebsen and his original 'daughters'. Just expecting the audience to forget these originals seems silly...but not unprecidented, as the TV movie "Skin Game" was likewise remade only a few years later with a different leading man (Larry Hagman instead of the original, James Garner) because they were considering making the concept into a TV series. This doesn't excuse the recasting but it does help you to understand it. Overall, a decent enough film but not great one....and I could see the network not deciding to green light the series.
