Category Archives: Western

2003, FilmReview, Western

Open Range (2003)

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From NetFlix:

    Kevin Costner directs and stars in this Western drama about
    four free-grazing ranchers — Boss Spearman (Robert Duvall),
    Charley Waite (Kevin Costner), Mose Harrison (Abraham Benrubi)
    and Button (Diego Luna) — whose cattle meander close to a
    small town ruled by a greedy sheriff and his cronies. Forced
    to defend their way of life, the cowboys take on the corrupt
    leaders, while Charley, a loner, is surprised by a newfound
    love (Annette Bening).

As a young boy I saw a western just about every Saturday. My weekly allowance was 30 cents:
20 cents for the movie, then go  next door to  the 5-and-dime and read every  comic book except
one (Captain Marvel Junior) and then  spend the remaining 10 cents for that comic book.

 The wonderful thing about westerns is that they are usually so black and white. It’s easy to spot
the villains (always wore black in the past movies). And Hopalong Cassidy (and possibly the Lone
Ranger)  wore white as I recall. By the way, Lone Ranger’s Indian sidekick was named “Tonto” which
is Spanish for “fool”. Could this have been racism ?

At any case “Open Range” is fairly black and white although Kevin Costner wrestles with his
violent  past. The very end of the film might be considered a tad maudlin. Costner and Duval
speak tersely throughout the film. But at the end Costner and Bening get to talk smoochy (that’s
where the maudlin starts).

Cheers and hisses to Michael Gambon (born in  Dublin and uses brogue in the film) for being such
a great villain.

And what fun seeing all the bad guys getting shot in a wonderful gun battle.

It took me awhile to recognize Annette Bening. Somehow her role  here was different than
any of  her past efforts.

“Open Range” is somewhat old-fashion (meant as praise) [except that the young sidekick is
a Latino. Could this be an attempt at being current ?]  There are no wonderful psychopaths
as in “3:10 to  Yuma”. There is no treachery as in “The Assassination of Jesse James”. Just
plan old shoot-em-up fun. And don’t forget to see Clive Owen in “Shoot  ‘Em  Up”.

If you like westerns, you will love this film,

2007, Western

The Assassination of Jesse James (2007)

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From NetFlix:

After Robert Ford (Casey Affleck, in an Oscar-nominated role)
joins the most notorious gang in the West, he grows tired
of the charismatic Jesse James (Brad Pitt) and begins to
resent his fame. But by hatching a scheme to gun down James,
Ford risks forever being branded a coward. Sam Shepard, Sam
Rockwell, Mary-Louise Parker and Michael Parks also star in
director Andrew Dominik’s riveting Wild West drama adapted
from Ron Hansen’s acclaimed novel

Why do Americans glorify crimnals ? The acting in this film is superb, especially Casey Affleck. Brad Pitt made it clear that Jesse James was a psychopathic killer. In fact, from the movie I gathered that Jesse James had such mental problems that in the end he was glad to be shot. This movie is no more violent than any western. The pace is very S L O W . But I was on the edge of my seat because I expected something horrible from Jesse James at any minute. It lasts 159 minutes.

1974, Feel Good Not For Children, Western

Blazing Saddles (1974)

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Politically incorrect and relentlessly funny, Mel Brooks’s take on Hollywood Westerns follows the tortured trail of freed slave Bart, who’s elected sheriff of the racist town of Rock Ridge. He must foil a land-grabbing governor (Brooks) with help from a washed-up, pot-smoking gunslinger (Gene Wilder).

This might just be the best Mel Brooks satire. It features
a black cowboy teamed up with Gene Wilder. There are Jewish
indians (Mel Brooks himself), and Madeline Kahn as a tired protitute.
Probably not for children.

2007, DO NOT MISS, Violent, Western

3:10 to Yuma (2007)

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From NetFlix:

Rancher Dan Evans (Christian Bale) agrees to transport the captured outlaw Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) to the nearest town with a rail station, where they’ll wait for a train to court in Yuma. Holed up in the hotel near the station, Wade wreaks psychological havoc on Evans, while Wade’s henchmen plan their next move. Director James Mangold’s suspense-filled Western is a remake of the 1957 classic starring Glenn Ford and Van Heflin.

This western is quite possibly the best western, and perhaps one of the best films, I have ever seen.

Caution: This movie is violent, of course, because it is a WESTERN!

Russell Crowe and Christian Bale do wonderful jobs. But the real treat is Ben Foster playing a homicidal psychopath. The plot twists are clever. I had to suspend disbelief in the last section (in the final town) and would be interested if you felt the same. However, I laughed out loud at the last 5 seconds of the film, which consisted of one of the most surprising and perfect endings I have ever seen.

DON’T MISS THIS ONE!!!!!

1001BeforeDie, 2005, Could Be Sad, Gay theme, Not Feel Good, Western

Brokeback Mountain (2005)

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From NetFlix:

Two sheepherders — Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar (Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger) — meet and fall in love while working together near Wyoming’s Brokeback Mountain in 1963. Over the next 20 years, their lives take different courses: Jack becomes a rodeo cowboy while Ennis remains a ranch hand. Anne Hathaway, Randy Quaid and Michelle Williams co-star. Ang Lee directs screenwriter Larry McMurtry’s adaptation of a short story by E. Annie Proulx.

Whether you have or have not yet seen this film (recommended in “1001 Films to See Before You Die”), I urge you to read the short story by Annie Proulx of the same title. It was a “Best American Short Story” for its year of publication. When I started reading the short story in the “Best” book , I did not know what it was about. By the time I was finished I was stunned. I had never read anything like it. I prefer the short story to the film which really adds nothing. But who would have suspected that 4 years after the film one of its stars, Heath Ledger, would be dead by apparent suicide.