Appaloosa (2008)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Ed Harris

Writers (WGA):

Robert Knott (screenplay) &
Ed Harris (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

3 October 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Western

Tagline:

Feelings get you killed.

Plot:

Two friends hired to police a small town that is suffering under the rule of a rancher find their job complicated by the arrival of a young widow.

Plot Keywords:

Rancher | Marshal | New Mexico | Gun | Small Town

Cast

Ed Harris	...	Virgil Cole
Viggo Mortensen	...	Everett Hitch
Renée Zellweger	...	Allison French
Jeremy Irons	...	Randall Bragg
Timothy Spall	...	Phil Olson
Tom Bower	...	Abner Raines
James Gammon	...	Earl May
Ariadna Gil	...	Katie
Benjamin Rosenshein	...	Town Boy
Cerris Morgan-Moyer	...	Tilda
Timothy V. Murphy	...	Vince
Luce Rains	...	Dean
Erik J. Bockemeier	...	Fat Wallis
James Tarwater	...	Chalk (as Jim Tarwater)
Freddie Hice	...	Bragg's Third Man (as Fred Hice)

MPAA:

Rated R for some violence and language.

Runtime:

115 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Ireland:15A | Canada:14A (Alberta/Manitoba/Ontario) | UK:15 | Canada:G (Québec) | Canada:PG (British Columbia) | France:U | USA:R (certificate #44389) | Argentina:Atp | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Greece:K | Finland:K-13 | Singapore:NC-16 | South Africa:13V | Netherlands:9 | Australia:M | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:M18 (DVD rating) | Mexico:B

Filming Locations:

Austin, Texas, USA

Company:

New Line Cinema

Trivia:

A sequel was in talks before the film was even released.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Cole and Hitch are bringing Bragg into town to jail him for Sheriff Bell's murder, they pass by a store that makes men's and women's clothing as well as hats. The sign: Ladies and Gents Clothing and Millinary is misspelled. The term for hats or millinery should be spelled with an 'e' not an 'a'. Any tailor, dry good store and hatmaker would know how to spell this correctly.

Quotes:

Phil Olson: We can't have our law officers beatin' people half to death for no reason.

Movie Connections:

Edited into "De wereld draait door: (#4.162)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Camptown Races

Superb!

One reviewer remarked how "Ed Harris understands (the) Western (genre)" I couldn't agree more. This film is a delight. The writing is solid, the dialog sparked with humor, the heroes are more than caricatures and cardboard cut-outs, the villains are worthy anti-heroes and the back-up is wonderful. The performances of Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen and Jeremy Irons as the main protag-/antagonists are sterling. Harris is the lonely paladin, uncompromising in his ethic, drawn in by the warmth and softness of a needful woman, artfully and convincingly played by Renee Zellweger; Mortensen is the slightly jaded sidekick who both respects and doesn't completely understand his hero. A parallel villain is offered by Lance Henrikson, a kind of poor man's Clint Eastwood, giving an interesting twist to the story. Some comic relief is offered by veteran character actor, James Gammon and fine British actor Timothy Spall without reducing the tension in the story line or reverting to a burlesque. The mythic theme of the knight-errant works well in this presentation brought to light by the competent direction of Ed Harris. My only fear is that it being devoid of ballet-type ritual killings, CGI and only a mild spattering of violence, it will likely fly under the radar of much of today's theater goers, which is a shame. It's a fine film.