I have seen black and white photographs of the devastation wrought upon Richmond at the end of the U.S. Civil War. (While some may think Virginians brought all this upon themselves to a certain extent, most people today want to let by-gones be by-gones). So it is understandable that denizens of this city want to crow from the rooftops when they think they finally have a POST-bellum accomplishment to brag about. Which helps to explain WHY a third-rate western such as BORDER TOWN (shot entirely in Virginia) is so desperately being hawked as the Second Coming (if not of the carpenter's Son, at least Robert E. Lee--virtually the same thing).
However, I seriously recommend anyone obtaining a DVD of BORDER TOWN to view the making-of feature ("Bienvindos a solo") FIRST, since 19 minutes with it might convince many people NOT to invest another hour and a half viewing the feature BIENVINDOS describes. After all, many will find it indefensible (if not racist) that cast and crew spend so much time bragging that 1)they never set foot near Mexico while filming their "Mexican village" of Solo, 2)they used tons of CGI in a ludicrous effort to turn suburban Richmond into decayed 19th Century mexicana, and 3)ALL of the talent necessary to cast the extremely varied roles the script calls for were easily filled within the city limits of Richmond (such as the catatonic one-time Playboy model who keeps ALL of her clothes ON while portraying a white sex-slave that corrupt southwestern U.S. law enforcement officials have allowed to remain enbrotheled 5 miles south of the American border for about 12 years). Compared to Richmond and CGI lab costs, authentic movie locations in the U.S. southwest or Mexican northwest probably are dirt cheap. But that wouldn't be Virginia, would it? At least famed western novelist Zane Grey, a native of Ohio, was smart enough to move to Arizona after writing a couple of "easterns." If director Chris Allen Williams et al decide to make any more "westerns," hopefully they will spring for some real dust next time.
However, I seriously recommend anyone obtaining a DVD of BORDER TOWN to view the making-of feature ("Bienvindos a solo") FIRST, since 19 minutes with it might convince many people NOT to invest another hour and a half viewing the feature BIENVINDOS describes. After all, many will find it indefensible (if not racist) that cast and crew spend so much time bragging that 1)they never set foot near Mexico while filming their "Mexican village" of Solo, 2)they used tons of CGI in a ludicrous effort to turn suburban Richmond into decayed 19th Century mexicana, and 3)ALL of the talent necessary to cast the extremely varied roles the script calls for were easily filled within the city limits of Richmond (such as the catatonic one-time Playboy model who keeps ALL of her clothes ON while portraying a white sex-slave that corrupt southwestern U.S. law enforcement officials have allowed to remain enbrotheled 5 miles south of the American border for about 12 years). Compared to Richmond and CGI lab costs, authentic movie locations in the U.S. southwest or Mexican northwest probably are dirt cheap. But that wouldn't be Virginia, would it? At least famed western novelist Zane Grey, a native of Ohio, was smart enough to move to Arizona after writing a couple of "easterns." If director Chris Allen Williams et al decide to make any more "westerns," hopefully they will spring for some real dust next time.