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The days of a man living up to his word and honoring a promise aren't in the past for one resident of Van Horn, Texas. In the movie Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, Tommy Lee Jones plays the part of rancher Pete Perkins who reluctantly makes a promise to a dear friend. We've all made similar promises with every intention of fulfilling them, mostly because we think at the time we will.

Rancher Perkins' finds himself in a similar position after his best friend Melquiades “Mel” Estrada, played by veteran actor Julio Cedillos (1997's Rough Riders and 1998's Two for Texas), asks to be buried in his beloved Jimenez, Mexico. At the time, the request seems to be unworthy of a discussion considering Mel is quite a bit younger than the aging Tommy Lee Jones character.

Van Horn is the closest town to the property where the two works as ranch-hands, is pictured to be a small, rural, dusty, southwest Texas town filled with U.S. border patrol agents, a small sheriff's department and bored housewives.

The border patrol guys are fighting a losing battle against the infinite stream of illegal immigrants from Mexico, risking death to cross the desert into America seeking employment or better paying jobs.

If the Mexicans stay south of the border, they have zero opportunity to improve their lives. If they risk crossing the border, they'll face certain dehydration, starvation, rattlesnakes and — if detected— the wrath of the highly motivated but under equipped border patrol.

The sheriff's department headed by Sheriff Belmont, played by Dwight Yokum, is not challenged with many felonious acts. However, the presence of the illegals brings another dimension to their law enforcement responsibilities. Therefore, a certain racist attitude is developed over the years, which is detrimental to the rights of the non-Americans who make up a substantial portion of the rural workforce.

Melissa Leo from The L Word and 21 Grams plays the local waitress working with her husband in the town's most frequented cafe. She's smart, witty, aged beyond her years and intimate with some of the cafe's guests including Jones' Perkins and Yokum's Belmont. She understandably becomes a traitor, when she discovers Belmont's intention to cover up the "accidental" murder by a young and untested border patrol agent of an illegal ranch-hand.

Barry Pepper from 61* fame, who played Roger Maris in the baseball movie, is that agent, Mike Norton. During a sleepy slow afternoon of scanning the mountains for families of immigrants, Norton is convinced he's being shot at and returns fire. Unfortunately, he kills Melquiades Estrada, who while in the United States illegally has befriended a man of character.  Young agent Norton is doomed for the rest of the movie to be the object of Perkins' vigilante justice and the target of much pain.

This movie is filled with mystery. It has murder, infidelity, numerous cover-ups and one determined law-abiding citizen willing to break the law and risk death to keep the promise he made to a dear friend. If you want to be totally entertained, take a few minutes and enjoy this effort on the big screen.

(No. 7 reviews movies for 225. He won't say what "No. 7" means.)