Tim McGraw

Tim McGraw plays James Dutton in 1883, opposite Faith Hill as Margaret. His country-music career is much longer than his acting filmography, but he had already taken substantial screen roles in Friday Night Lights and The Blind Side before joining Taylor Sheridan's Western.

James needs to look like someone who can assess a dangerous situation and do something useful about it. McGraw gives him that practical confidence. He doesn't make every decision a display of heroism; much of the performance is in watching, listening and deciding what the family needs next.

The scenes with Hill and Isabel May are just as important. Authority does not make James immune to worry, or prevent a conversation with his daughter becoming an argument. Those exchanges make the family worth following before the journey has asked very much of them.

McGraw also appears as James in Yellowstone. The larger role in 1883 gives that earlier generation a life of its own. My review of the complete series looks at why the prequel works so well.