A Tale of the Old West

For someone who's said he's indifferent to Westerns, I certainly have seen my share of them lately. The latest on my list was Appaloosa, last year's film directed (and adapted to screenplay in part) by actor Ed Harris.

It's a pretty quintessential tale for a Western -- or at least, it fits my concept of what that is. A small town is suffering under the thumb of a black-hearted villain; the town leaders enlist a gunfighter and his trusted friend to come in and act as sheriff and deputy to deal with the problem. But what begins as a temporary job becomes more interesting when the new sheriff falls for a woman in the town and starts to think about settling down.

This movie is a fine showcase for acting. Besides starring Harris himself, it has Viggo Mortensen, Renée Zellweger, and Jeremy Irons. You're also likely to recognize Timothy Spall and Lance Henriksen. And every single one of them is great.

Jeremy Irons is a wonderfully effective villain. You enjoy watching him, and rooting against him. Renée Zellweger manages to walk a fine line between being true to the time, and being a sort of "modern woman" that doesn't offend an audience's sensibilities.

But the movie is really made by the interactions between Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen. The characters have a fantastic relationship, and the chemistry between the actors as they bring it to life is really compelling. These two have something somewhat like a marriage between them, a complete understanding and ease with one another, that's too typically reserved for romance in film and not friendship.

As great as it is to watch everyone though, the story doesn't quite manage to go the distance. Things start out interesting, often times tense and usually engaging. And it's not as though the movie has an unusually long run time -- it clocks in under two hours. But in the last thirty minutes, the plot runs out of steam. There's an inevitable conclusion the film must have to get to, but an apparent unwillingness to just get there without first serving up a few extra scenes.

Still, I think there's a lot to like here in this movie. I give Appaloosa a B. It's clearly the work of an "actor's director" (though it's not surprising that such a skilled actor would be one). It has me now more interested to see Ed Harris' one other directorial effort, Pollock, and also has me hoping that it's sooner than another eight years before he steps behind the camera again.