Beg your pardon Ma'am?
Usually I post about concerns and scriptural revelation and sometimes political insights (if you can call them that). Today I am taking a different tack. Westerns. I watched the movie Appaloosa again today. It is a relatively modern made western movie starring Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen. So why am I writing about westerns? Well, I consider myself something of an aficionado on the genre. ('Cause only aficionados can use words like aficionado and genre.) Since I was very young (maybe as far back as 3), I spent Sunday afternoons watching western movies with my father. One of the very few things we did agree upon, was John Wayne, western and war movies, as well as a multitude of other western movies. I grew up watching Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, Clint Eastwood, Tom Mix, Gary Cooper, Robert Taylor, Robert Redford, Yul Brynner, Charlie Bronson, to mention only a few. There were many others. Those were the good guys. The bad guys were greats like Eli Wallach, Lee Van Cleef, Jack Elam etc. Again, I don't have enough space to name all of those guys. If you know westerns then you know what I mean.
So back to Appaloosa. Why is this one so special or good or blog worthy? Well, most of the best westerns kind of stopped in the late 60's (yes, I am that old); however, there have been a few over the years. Silverado, Tombstone, and now Appaloosa. Appaloosa is very different from the other 2.(Unfortunately, they included some brief nudity and a couple of F bombs, which are my only criticisms.) How are they different? Did they have gunfights? Yes. Did they have an Indian confrontation (feathers not dots)? Yes. Did it unfold in typical, Zane Gray, Leigh Brackett, or Louis L'Amore style? Absolutely. Did the star ride off into the sunset? No! The sidekick, the partner, the best friend rode off into the sunset. In the end, the co-star became the star, The co-star faced down the bad guy, not because the star was incapable (as with Val Kilmer and Kurt Russell in Tombstone) but because it would preserve his honor as a lawman. The story was well written but predictable, Not the boring predictable but the predictable that makes westerns and all action movies fun. Let's face it, westerns are not Oscar material but they don't have to be. The acting was fantastic! There were no great one-liners as in Tombstone, but there were some amusing moments. The relationship between Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen was purely guy. There was no pretense between them and they trusted each other as brothers. They knew what each other were thinking without lots of words. They understood each other just by looking into their faces. This movie was a man's man movie. Not dripping testosterone as some action movies can be. This was a true guy flick..
I guess you can say I really enjoyed it. There have been a lot of poor attempts at westerns over the years so it was refreshing to see this movie. If you don't like westerns, don't see it. You won't understand it and you will waste your time. If you do like them, then see it. I promise you, you won't be disappointed.
So back to Appaloosa. Why is this one so special or good or blog worthy? Well, most of the best westerns kind of stopped in the late 60's (yes, I am that old); however, there have been a few over the years. Silverado, Tombstone, and now Appaloosa. Appaloosa is very different from the other 2.(Unfortunately, they included some brief nudity and a couple of F bombs, which are my only criticisms.) How are they different? Did they have gunfights? Yes. Did they have an Indian confrontation (feathers not dots)? Yes. Did it unfold in typical, Zane Gray, Leigh Brackett, or Louis L'Amore style? Absolutely. Did the star ride off into the sunset? No! The sidekick, the partner, the best friend rode off into the sunset. In the end, the co-star became the star, The co-star faced down the bad guy, not because the star was incapable (as with Val Kilmer and Kurt Russell in Tombstone) but because it would preserve his honor as a lawman. The story was well written but predictable, Not the boring predictable but the predictable that makes westerns and all action movies fun. Let's face it, westerns are not Oscar material but they don't have to be. The acting was fantastic! There were no great one-liners as in Tombstone, but there were some amusing moments. The relationship between Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen was purely guy. There was no pretense between them and they trusted each other as brothers. They knew what each other were thinking without lots of words. They understood each other just by looking into their faces. This movie was a man's man movie. Not dripping testosterone as some action movies can be. This was a true guy flick..
I guess you can say I really enjoyed it. There have been a lot of poor attempts at westerns over the years so it was refreshing to see this movie. If you don't like westerns, don't see it. You won't understand it and you will waste your time. If you do like them, then see it. I promise you, you won't be disappointed.
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