It's old fashioned because there's never any real doubt about who's good and who's bad in this nicely filmed and subtly comedic Western. Local big shot Jeremy Irons is bad. He shot a deputy sheriff in Apaloosa. The honest sheriff, Ed Harris, and his remaining deputy, Vigo Mortenson, capture Irons, see him convicted and sentenced to hang, but then are forced to part with their prisoner in exchange for the life of Harris's girl friend, Renee Zellweger. A climactic shoot out resolves most of the issues.
Zellweger, it must be admitted, is not exactly good or evil but, despite her youth, rather a sort of laundered-out gray. Harris's girl friend? Yes, in a way, but she's inconstant. When she's kidnapped by Irons' henchmen, Harris and Mortenson track the party down and through a telescope see her dallying naked in the river with one of the miscreants. Earlier, on what seems like impulse, she throws herself into Mortenson's arms, glues her mouth to his, and otherwise appears to be -- well, in a state that, in mares, horse breeders call "clipping." I threw that last datum in there for your benefit but, as we all know, there is no such thing as a free lunch, so that will be ten cents.
What impresses most about the movie is the wardrobe and make up. I can believe that people actually looked like this in the Old West, whereas I couldn't believe that they looked like John Wayne in one of those 1930s blockbusters from Republic, the ones in which he wears a 50-gallon white Stetson.
I can believe, too, that shoot outs looked more like the ones we see here than most of the others that have shown up on screen. There's no nonsense about the fastest draw. No one's gun hand has the celerity and splendor of Catatumbo lightning. Men approach each other with guns drawn and begin shooting without count downs. The reason I believe this to be more accurate is that the shoot out was an historical descendant of the code duelo that prevailed in Europe for centuries. The South was settled largely by cavaliers, men of fierce honor, and westward expansion brought them and their values to the Southwest. The duels at sunrise that had been fought with swords in the 18th century decayed and became less formalized bouts with pistols on the plains of Texas. Did you know that Robert E. Lee had to post his officers with individual care because there were so many challenges pending in the Confederate Army?
Sorry. It's no use. This essay is clumsy and disjointed, I know, but it's because I'm being attacked by this new kitten, a demon from hell. I was going to give her some suitably Mexican name like Marisel but I think Entropy may be more apt. Can't wait for her to acquire a bit more bulk. I'm told they can be turned into a savory General Tso's chicken.
Zellweger, it must be admitted, is not exactly good or evil but, despite her youth, rather a sort of laundered-out gray. Harris's girl friend? Yes, in a way, but she's inconstant. When she's kidnapped by Irons' henchmen, Harris and Mortenson track the party down and through a telescope see her dallying naked in the river with one of the miscreants. Earlier, on what seems like impulse, she throws herself into Mortenson's arms, glues her mouth to his, and otherwise appears to be -- well, in a state that, in mares, horse breeders call "clipping." I threw that last datum in there for your benefit but, as we all know, there is no such thing as a free lunch, so that will be ten cents.
What impresses most about the movie is the wardrobe and make up. I can believe that people actually looked like this in the Old West, whereas I couldn't believe that they looked like John Wayne in one of those 1930s blockbusters from Republic, the ones in which he wears a 50-gallon white Stetson.
I can believe, too, that shoot outs looked more like the ones we see here than most of the others that have shown up on screen. There's no nonsense about the fastest draw. No one's gun hand has the celerity and splendor of Catatumbo lightning. Men approach each other with guns drawn and begin shooting without count downs. The reason I believe this to be more accurate is that the shoot out was an historical descendant of the code duelo that prevailed in Europe for centuries. The South was settled largely by cavaliers, men of fierce honor, and westward expansion brought them and their values to the Southwest. The duels at sunrise that had been fought with swords in the 18th century decayed and became less formalized bouts with pistols on the plains of Texas. Did you know that Robert E. Lee had to post his officers with individual care because there were so many challenges pending in the Confederate Army?
Sorry. It's no use. This essay is clumsy and disjointed, I know, but it's because I'm being attacked by this new kitten, a demon from hell. I was going to give her some suitably Mexican name like Marisel but I think Entropy may be more apt. Can't wait for her to acquire a bit more bulk. I'm told they can be turned into a savory General Tso's chicken.