Robert (Sandy McPeak) and Sara Davis (Eileen Brennan) arrive in the town of Crestridge, Wyoming, just in time to not only witness a group of mobsters attacking the local massage parlor but also to see the local sheriff (Walt Field) refuse to do anything about it.  While Robert works at the local hospital, Sara runs for sheriff and is elected despite only having recently arrived in town.  The mayor (Pernell Roberts) is convinced Sara will be easy to manipulate but Sara is determined to expose not only his corruption but also the gangsters who secretly control the town.  What Sara doesn’t realize is that the Mayor only allowed Sara to win the election because he felt that the old sheriff was getting too sloppy in his malfeasance.  The same corrupt system that allowed Sara to become sheriff is also designed to take the position away.

Despite being made-for-TV, this isn’t a bad movie.  Eileen Brennan is believably tough as the sheriff but she never becomes a one-dimensional crusader.  Pernell Roberts is even more believable as a venal politician who has been in power for so long that he thinks he can get away with anything.  The movie’s plot has a few surprises and the ending is downbeat but believable.  I did have a hard time believing that someone could be elected sheriff within weeks of first arriving in a town but it made sense once I started to think of Incident at Crestridge as being a modern-day western.  Just as how Johnny Mack Brown, Charles Starrett, and Allan Lane used to ride into towns that needed someone honest to protect the citizens, Eileen Brennan drives into Crestridge.

No offense to the legacy of Suzanne Somers but this film is much better than She’s The Sherriff.