I picked this up as a part of a set of dozen DVDs worth of westerns. I like westerns and I figured these would be good enough entertainment and wouldn't force me to use my brain after I get home from work.
This was the first one of the movies I decided to watch, probably because I was intrigued by seeing Cash in a western. I knew he did some acting, but I had never seen any of his acting work before. I did notice that a clip from the movie made its way into Cash's video for "Hurt".
I guess this was sort of typical for a movie from the revisionist era of westerns. It explores the themes of becoming old and the world you knew is dying around you. Granted, its no Wild Bunch or Unforgiven, but in its own way it is good. Not much action, which probably lost the movie a good share of its audience, but this isn't that kind of movie. These are men who are past their need for quick adrenaline fixes.
The film puts much focus on the blood thirst of the townsfolk, which is in its way also a comment on the audience. The cruelty of the whole setup becomes quite poignant at the bull fight. The images of the bull being killed and afterwards slaughtered were a nice reminder of what the people were truly after.
The ending isn't a real double ending. The part in which Tenneray actually won the duel, was just a fantasy by Cross. The idea was to show that even if it had ended differently, things wouldn't have been better for the Tenneray family.
Also, any fan of the genre can appreciate the man in black actually winning the final duel. It goes against all the rules of western. Personally, I love it.
However, mostly the film was fairly boring, straightforward and predictable. It wasn't the mind-numbing stuff I was looking for, but it wasn't the great artistic movie experience I look for when I'm not totally tired by work either. It falls somewhere between. I was hovering somewhere between 7 and 8, but in the end it rounded down to 7. Still worth watching, but not worth going through any trouble to see it.
This was the first one of the movies I decided to watch, probably because I was intrigued by seeing Cash in a western. I knew he did some acting, but I had never seen any of his acting work before. I did notice that a clip from the movie made its way into Cash's video for "Hurt".
I guess this was sort of typical for a movie from the revisionist era of westerns. It explores the themes of becoming old and the world you knew is dying around you. Granted, its no Wild Bunch or Unforgiven, but in its own way it is good. Not much action, which probably lost the movie a good share of its audience, but this isn't that kind of movie. These are men who are past their need for quick adrenaline fixes.
The film puts much focus on the blood thirst of the townsfolk, which is in its way also a comment on the audience. The cruelty of the whole setup becomes quite poignant at the bull fight. The images of the bull being killed and afterwards slaughtered were a nice reminder of what the people were truly after.
The ending isn't a real double ending. The part in which Tenneray actually won the duel, was just a fantasy by Cross. The idea was to show that even if it had ended differently, things wouldn't have been better for the Tenneray family.
Also, any fan of the genre can appreciate the man in black actually winning the final duel. It goes against all the rules of western. Personally, I love it.
However, mostly the film was fairly boring, straightforward and predictable. It wasn't the mind-numbing stuff I was looking for, but it wasn't the great artistic movie experience I look for when I'm not totally tired by work either. It falls somewhere between. I was hovering somewhere between 7 and 8, but in the end it rounded down to 7. Still worth watching, but not worth going through any trouble to see it.