APPALOOSA : REAL WEST

For years the movie going public has been fed one of its long term staples, the western, as a story of good versus evil, purity versus villainy, the stalwart angelic hero versus the dirty nasty bad guy. From Roy Rogers and Gene Autrey to James Stewart and Henry Fonda, the good guys remained pure for the most part. But that sort of short changed history.

Good guys were there to uphold the law but at the same times on occasion made the laws to suit their needs. And if they were to break the law, who was there to stop them? And so it goes that while this breed of hero was portrayed as pure in film, the reality was that they weren’t quite as nice a good guy as we were led to believe.

That being said, they were good guys. They did protect people. They did uphold the laws brought about by people in towns across the West. And of course, they did kill people. So where does that leave the movies when it comes to depicting the old west and its heroes?

We’ve either been given the glossed over examples seen most recently in TOMBSTONE (great movie by the way) or we’ve been given the good guys who are really bad in films like THE WILD BUNCH. But now and then we get a gem of a film that portrays these men of the West for who they actually were, a combination of the two. APPALOOSA is such a film.

Produced by, directed by, screenplay by and starring Ed Harris, the film is a more realistic look at the old West than most have offered. The film opens with a Marshall going out to the ranch of Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons) to arrest two of his men for a murder in town. Bragg refuses to release these men and as the Sheriff and his deputies attempt to arrest them, he shoots and kills them all.

With no where to turn, the folks of Appaloosa turn to Virgil Cole (Ed Harris) and his friend Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen) to help them. Gunslingers, ex-soldiers and previous lawmen, Cole and Hitch do what they do better than anyone. They take on the responsibilities of the town by inflicting their own rules, all of which are of benefit to the townsfolk and not greeted warmly by lawbreakers. Cross the line and you take the chance of being taken down by them both.

As the town’s new Marshall and deputy, they decide that the best way to take Bragg in for the killing of the Marshall (and Cole’s old friend) is to take him by surprise, which they do. Of course Bragg’s men attempt to stop him but back down when faced with no choice. Now it’s up to a judge to convict Bragg.

While all of this is going on Allison French (Renee Zellwegger), a young widow, moves into town. Catching the eye of Cole, the pair becomes inseparable. At the same time, Miss French seems to have a roving eye for Hitch as well. But, being the friend he is, Hitch rebukes her advances and holds his tongue for the sake of his friend.

The judge arrives and a guilty sentence is passed. On the train ride to take Bragg to prison for execution, it’s jumped by gunslingers Bragg has hired, both old acquaintances of Cole. With Allison as a hostage, they escape but not for long as Cole and Hitch track them down, only to find a surprise waiting for them (nope, no spoiler here for some of you).

The President of the United States, an old friend of Bragg, commutes his sentence and things in Appaloosa change. Loyalties alter, the desires of the town’s city fathers changes and Cole and Hitch find themselves still enforcing the law but with a bit of a jaundiced eye. It’s only a matter of time before a final showdown, a final confrontation and a fitting end to the twisted tales that revolve around one another come to a conclusion. And it’s not what you might expect.

The movie plays well, offering a realistic glimpse of the old West. It doesn’t sugar coat it but at the same time offers tribute to what it was as well. One need not go for the creased jeans of Roy Rogers but at the same time sink into the whiskey addled minds of the Wild Bunch. Instead we have a combination of the two and a more telling tale of those who dared to enforce the law by any means necessary.

Harris does a fantastic job, especially for wearing so many ten gallon hats while making this film. His character is a violent man who longs for more peaceful times. But this doesn’t mean his anger won’t flare on occasion. Mortensen has become a force to be reckoned with in his own right as an actor over the years. His portrayals of heroes from the Rings trilogy to this film offer more complex heroes than we’ve been offered in the past. And everything increases in value because of this. Irons does bad guys like no one else. You seriously want to be the one to take him down. The weakest of the leads here is Zellweger who for me just doesn’t feel believable to me.

The film feels like a combination of the old and the new, the story of a good guy who might not be so good on the outside but whose heart helps in a lawless land. It tells the tale of a dedicated friendship that plays between the main characters. And it offers that glimpse of the West in action and location that makes you wish you had the chance to explore the hills and towns seen. Its perhaps one of the best westerns I’ve seen in ages and ranks among the best ever. For fans of the genre, this is one not to miss.