The Hired Hand

(Peter Fonda/1971/USA)

This post hippie western works as an allegory for the end of the 60’s generation of peaceniks and long haired love lubbers and is paced just right, lolloping along like a ranchero after hot knives. On the cusp of a golden era of American cinema it fits in very nicely as a mildly experimental reworking of western tropes with some sweet cinematography and a decent soundtrack too. Fonda directs and stars as Harry, the travel weary hipster cowboy who decides to return to his abandoned family; attempting to literally work his way back into their affections as a hired hand on his wife’s farm. The friendship he has forged over his seven years of wandering the frontier with Archie draws him away once again though when news of Archie being in trouble reaches him.

The story centres on character and emotional transition, not action, unusual for the western genre but done really well. There are two scenes with typical western action that pivot the rest of the narrative but in the main The Hired Hand hones in on how the desire for freedom conflicts directly with the traditional family set up. And that’s where the allegory for the death of the 60’s comes in; it questions if any real contentment or fulfilment is found in the free ranging life of Harry and Archie and suggests that ultimately, happiness is rooted in settling down. It’s a slow burner but the measured pace is a sign of maturity, allowing the emotional resonance of the story to gently expand to the final scenes. A quirky 70’s revisionist western that put me in mind of watching The Missouri Breaks, which treads similar ground; they’d make a great double bill.

(3/5)

The Missouri Breaks

(Arthur Penn/1976/USA)

Part screwball comedy, part counter culture free love romance and part revenge tale, but all western, The Missouri Breaks comes under the heading of mid 70’s cinematic curiosity and is often overlooked. Starring Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson it packs a mighty punch of idiosyncratic acting that adds to its charm as a result. Nicholson exudes his quirked, smiling rogue shtick as Tom Logan but you’d be forgiven for thinking he plays things straight in comparison to the calculated eccentricities of Brando’s Lee Clayton character. Entering the film like a wild west jester with an atrociously put on Irish accent the wild, farcical elements are slowly pared away, even the accent, as Clayton moves closer and closer to being the assassin he’s hired to be. It’s hugely enjoyable and just one element in this hot pot of a film that also boasts a supporting cast of Randy Quaid and Harry Dean Stanton. Kathleen Lloyd is excellent as a foil to Nicholson in the romantic sub plot too, my first time seeing her onscreen. Special mention has to go for John Williams score though, it is a fantastic mesh of American folk and bluegrass with what can only be described as 70’s funk synth and at times veers towards free jazz noodlings but all in a hillbilly twanged vibe. Well worth a watch and contains one of the best lines ever delivered in a film:

Logan: It’s the way it happens, isn’t it, Cal?

Cal: I wouldn’t know, not since that dog of mine put his tongue on the butter.

(3.5/5)

Bone Tomahawk

(S. Craig Zahler/2015/USA)

Fusing Western and Horror with aplomb Bone Tomahawk is reminiscent of From Dusk ‘til Dawn in the way it builds to a point past which you can do little but ask what the actual feck. The story is one of a lawful posse pursuing those who have infringed upon the peace of a small town, in this instance the “troglodytes”, a particularly savage clan of native Indians who have abducted three people. So warped and degraded that they are repugnant even to The Professor – a local, integrated native Indian who warns against any interaction with them with fear in his eyes and words. This bypasses any accusations of misrepresentation I guess but really the troglodytes are no different to the hillbillies in Deliverance or The Texas Chainsaw Massacre – a representation of evil incarnate and this is a horror western so pushing the trope of the savage Red Indian to an extreme is fair game.

Much of the enjoyment of Bone Tomahawk is in the journey across the desert of the sheriff Franklyn Hunt (Kurt Russell), his deputy Chicory (Richard Jenkins), the boastful Brooder (Matthew Fox) and cowboy Arthur O’Dwyer (Patrick Wilson). The conversation and interplay of characters is great and solidifies the sympathy of the audience before the onslaught of the last half hour or so. The final act is where the slow build is rewarded with a payoff of such visceral bloodletting that I was still squirming while the credits rolled. It is not for the squeamish. I often question depictions of violence elsewhere and criticise their necessity or value but here, considering the effort and quality of the storytelling to get to the confrontation with the savages, Zahler has earned the right to shock and horrify us. The reality of meeting such brute depravity is matched in the grim determination of the protagonists to survive. Bone Tomahawk is a smart film that takes well worn threads of disparate genres and weaves a new coat.

(3/5)

The Keeping Room

(Daniel Barber/2014/USA)

During the US Civil War a General Sherman employed a campaign of terror and “total war” against civilian infrastructure that could be considered beneficial to the confederate army – railroads, mills, factories etc. The March to the Sea by the Union army employed “bummers” to scout ahead of the advancing army foraging and looting supplies. Daniel Barber uses this historical event to frame his film which is essentially a home invasion flick. He does the truth an injustice though as it is widely documented that the campaign, which psychologically succeeded in breaking the confederacy and their supporters and resulted in the end of the war, was conducted generally in a disciplined and controlled way. The two bummers on display here then could be taken to be an extreme exception rather than a rule for what happened but that’s just my bug bear with historical misrepresentations. Perish the thought that historical accuracy could get in the way of a good yarn. The film itself is wonderfully shot in darkened, stark tones and the sense of calm of the countryside being encroached upon and destroyed by the advancing terror of Sam Worthington and Kyle Soller’s bummers is ever present. 

Having rode off from their arrival and subsequent slaughter at a neighbouring farm Augusta (Brit Marling) battens down the hatches on the house she shares with her younger sister, Louise, and their female slave, Mad. The three women are forced to defend themselves from the attack of the two nasty yolks and what plays out is a brutal battle of the sexes. There are fine performances all round and as I said it is a good looking film but the script let’s it down; unevenly paced at times with some unnecessary sub plotting its repeated breaking of the tension gets a little wearing. Having expended the time to build the atmosphere and characters it becomes predictable at the finish as just another home invasion movie with the threat of violence from men towards vulnerable women the crux of the drama. Perfectly watchable, at times gripping but ultimately a bit disappointing.

(2.5/5)

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night

(Ana Lily Amirpour/2014/USA)

I loved every minute of this, a Persian language film shot entirely in California and a great debut from Amirpour. Set in fictional Iranian back water Bad City she mashes up spaghetti western vibes with modern day vampirism. Shot in black and white, because it’s cooler, we follow Ashram as he works for a wealthy family by day and takes care of his heroin addicted father by night. We also see the titular girl as she wanders the streets at night. The two meet and some kind of crazy love blossoms in this hip, genre bending, Tarantino does Persepolis flick. The skate scene is one of the coolest things I’ve seen on screen in a long time.

(4/5)

Blackthorn

(Mateo Gil/2011/Spain)

Sam Shepard plays a fictional Butch Cassidy who has survived into the late 1920’s and lives in Bolivia, raising horses. On learning of the death of Etta Place, the woman who accompanied The Sundance Kid and himself to South America years ago, he resolves to sell up and return to America to visit her son, who is his son. His plans are interrupted by a Spaniard on the run from a posse chasing him for stealing money from a wealthy mine owner. Cassidy gets embroiled with helping him out before discovering he has been lied to. The film finishes out with Cassidy exacting vengeance for the lie and heading across the mountains to freedom leaving the gate wide open for a Blackthorn 2. Some of this movie works really well, Shepard is great as the wizened, hard as nails ex-outlaw and the fantasy of him surviving is told convincingly. The scenery of Bolivia is beautiful and absorbing. Mateo Gil has developed a good premise and has a brilliant setting but he fails to generate any real tension within the arc of the story. The film consistently feels like it is playing out well rehearsed steps and there is no space for surprises. It is a pleasant 90 minutes of western whimsy but no more than that.

(2.5/5)