For a more recent film, I’ve watched this one a few times now since first viewing, and still dig it. I had it on “the List” for DMRing but still watched it in the more casual Sleazy P Martini go-round not that far back, dug it again. Was wary to watch it so soon after but, yeah, this one holds up. Solid characters. Solid dialogue. Solid Western with some old faces and some new and a bit of a different angle to the genre.
Set probably in the late 1800s, frontier kinda town out west. Nice fucked up pre-title scene with Sid Haig and David Arquette(!) as some assho bandits to set the serious tone. Still hostile territory out there, but some Indians seem to be a little more wicked than others. This leads to the town of Bright Hope. Maybe a little more wishful thinking than reality when naming it, but there it is. The Sheriff (Kurt Russell) and some of the locals get hit by what looks like an Indian abduction of some of the townspeople. Despite the nasty reputation of the suspected tribe, A quick posse of 4 is assembled, some maybe more capable than others. It...is not a forgiving journey.
I don’t think Kurt Russell gets enough credit for his roles over the years, quite honestly. From MacReady to Snake Plissken to Jack Burton to Wyatt Earp to.. uh..Ego? The guy has a prolificasy to his resume few can match. Fine form here, as always. He obviously is the tent-pole actor here for a newer no-name director who also wrote it. But damn, if Richard Jenkins as Chicory, the old-man “Assistant Deputy,” doesn’t steal the show. It’s a serious business, what happens here. But Chicory’s odd outlooks and observances help lift this to a next level. The Brooder character by Matthew Fox as the Uptight Dandy is a bit suspect at first but I get it now as the autistic egomaniac Indiankiller that he is. Good character arcs for all involved, Patrick Wilson’s Arthur O’Dwyer not withstanding. There’s some serious business they get pulled into, not just normal Indian scalpings and whatnot. Plus has some decent emotional punches through it all, well done. And, wether you are comfortable with it or not, a bit of telescope envy.
