Appaloosa (2008)

Appaloosa is a classic western and a sophisticated drama.

Appaloosa unfolds at the right pace for a drama. The scale is intimate, close, and minimalist, more like Tender Mercies or Hud than The Magnificent Seven. There is some action and a couple of very impressive gunfights, but it is not an action movie. That's what I like about it. It is willfully and deliberately not an action movie. Why does everyone assume that a western must necessarily be an action movie? How refreshing to finally see a western that's a character-driven drama, and it is through character that it generates tension, suspense, and interest.

Appaloosa is authentic because it's about stoic people living in harsh frontier conditions. These characters are maturely written, and they behave in a credible 19th century way. The acting is deeply felt all around. Even Jeremy Irons, who plays the corrupt rancher with political connections, is accurate casting. The American west was full of English and Irish immigrants who participated in range wars, county feuds, and town-site disputes. I don't think I've ever seen a female lead quite like Mrs. Allie French in a western before. She's a complete original for a western, and reminds me of the real women I read about in historical and biographical texts about the American west. I don't mind that she is played by Renee Zellwegger. Ed Harris and Viggio Mortenson deliver understated performances as town-tamers who are loosely inspired by historical lawmen. These two actors play off of each other's nuances with alertness and self-deprecating humor. The audiences can tell their friendship has been tested and we can believe they are only still alive because of their mutual trust. How their conflict plays out over Mrs. French works against our expectations of the genre. They both love Mrs. French despite her weaknesses. They will not hesitate to sacrifice for her, but nothing can break the respect these two men have for each other. There is a refreshing gentlemanly quality to this bittersweet triangle that I haven't seen since the early westerns of Zane Grey.

Appaloosa is authentic not only because of its characters, but because it's filmed in New Mexico locations that are correct to the time and place in which the story is set. The scenery includes the old adobe pueblo of Rancho de los Golindrinas, which western buffs may recognize from The Man From Laramie (1955), the antique narrow-gauge railway near Chama, and the pristine landscapes of Glen Hughes's Bonanza Creek Ranch below Santa Fe with its frontier-era town set, one of the oldest operating cowboy ranches in New Mexico. It's dusty and appropriately weathered, and the cinematography by Dean Seamler is a pleasure. The filmmakers work hard to get props, firearms, and set dressings correct to the period. The actors work hard to capture the vernacular of western speech, and they wear the right costumes and haircuts. They even stop to carefully reload their weapons, instead of firing a ridiculous and endless number of bullets like in spaghetti westerns.

The "R" rating is so unfair. There is one four-letter word and a four-second shot of two bare behinds in the distance, but that hardly merits an R rating. There's no gore and less violence than in most PG films. This is the kind of mature drama and appreciative Americana that adolescents need to see at the movies.

Ed Harris has made a kind of acoustic folk ballad of a western. There is no cgi, no cartoonish action. Nothing is fak

Fmovies: There are always the men who live breathe violence and the women who hold their breath. Two famous ¨town tamer¨ named Virgil Cole (Ed Harris) and Everett Stitch(Viggo Mortensen)come hired by the citizens (Timothy Spall, James Gammon) to rid a rancher ( Jeremy Irons), and his hoodlums (Lance Henriksen, among others). The villagers are suffering under the rule of the cruel Baronland. Virgil and Everett as lawmen are appointed deputies to bring peace and put some cartels warning that wearing of guns or other weapons in the little town is banned. Virgil meets a youngster widow named Allison (Renee Zellweger) and the problems emerge and complicate. But the town council afraid the raw methods carried out by the duo. Then the kingpin landowner appears and threats them.

This is a tremendously exciting story of a sheriffs-for-hire who had only one more killing to go. It begins as a slow-moving Western but follows to surprise us with interesting characters and solid plot. The tale is almost grim , a pacifiers come to a town just in time to make sure its citizenry but later the events get worse .Good modern Western with exciting battle of wits between obstinate marshals and an astute killer who begins to psych him out. Stylish, fast paced , nice performance, solid, meticulous and violent look with several shootouts .The highlights of the movie are the kidnapping and the climatic showdown at the ending. Phenomenal and great roles for Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen as veteran drifters and embittered gunfighters, they're the whole show. Vivid and lively musical score fitting rightly to action Western by Jeff Beal. Atmospheric and colorful cinematography by Dean Semler. The motion picture is stunningly directed by Ed Harris who is preparing its following, he also directed another good film titled ¨Pollock¨ . Watchable results for this outlandish Western.

There are two tough partners in justice Virgil Cole (Ed Harris) and Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen) that have been riding together for more than one decade and they understand each other just fineÂ… So they're not initially supposed to talk about their easy, warm, intuitive solidarityÂ… We intuitively catch there's something between them, that special bond, that profound respect, and obviously that sense of esteem, of attention and sympathy and most of all each other's needsÂ…

Ed is particularly fineÂ… It may not be a romantic conception, but he gives his role great vitalityÂ… He's melancholy, laconic and assured as the cool, nerveless professional hired gun who becomes the town's peace keeper... His justice is rapid and simpleÂ… Follow his law or get locked up; if you deny, you're going to be shotÂ… He's also very faithful, and you see this in his friendship with Everett HitchÂ…

Virgil trusts Everett completely because Everett is very sincere and truthful with himÂ…

With his formidable shotgun, Everett is a kind of Virgil's straight man, his worshiping right hand and conscienceÂ… Mortensen is a sharpshooterÂ… He's never seen on foot, in any scene, without his huge weaponÂ… His heavy rifle has become almost another character in the filmÂ… It doesn't matter where, either in his hands or right next to himÂ… And that's in the bar, in the restaurant, in the office, and even in the bedroomÂ…

Renee Zellweger plays the role of Allison French, a mysterious woman who seduces everyoneÂ…After Cole and Hitch meet her in a restaurant, they knew that she is a refined widow, that she arrives to the brutal New Mexico town with one dollar in her purse, that she plays piano and likes to be called AllieÂ…

Cole takes a liking to her, and makes a very tough decision to stick with herÂ… Zellweger plays the malicious new-gal with a great sense of sweetness and gaietyÂ… She brings liveliness and refinement to her roleÂ…

Another strong character in "Appaloosa" is the miscreant cold-hearted rancher Randall BraggÂ… The film starts with the killing of the town's last Marshall and his deputies at the hands of the nefarious Bragg played by Jeremy IronsÂ… Bragg is a wealthy man whose ranch henchmen run menacingly and aggressively over the townÂ…

"Appaloosa" is a Western of real depth and sophisticationÂ… Every punch seen in the film is like a word of dialog moving the story forward, creating tension and dramaÂ…

Appaloosa fmovies. On the immediate surface "Apaloosa" occurs as an old school Western grounded in the battle of good against evil. For the most part first time director/ writer Ed Harris's "Apaloosa" is the traditional tale of gunslingers hired to protect the town against the malevolent rancher, who terrorizes the town of Apaloosa. This slithery and wily Rancher is Randall Bragg, well played by Academy Award Winner Jeremy Irons. Irons is amazing. In the opening Bragg (Irons) kills the town Marshall and his deputies in cold blood. So there is no question surrounding Bragg's character. Harris and Viggo Mortensen play Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch, who are lawmen for hire. The town of Apaloosa signs a contract with Virgil and Everett paying them to protect the town from Bragg. As part of the deal Apaloosa surrenders legal jurisdiction and autonomy to Cole and Hitch. This is pretty straight forward until femme fatale widow Allison French (Renee Zellwegger) arrives in town. Virgil takes a quick fancy to Allison, but her motives are vague and questionable at best. Will she threaten Virgil's partnership with Everett?

First off, I ultimately liked "Apaloosa", because Viggo Mortensen is awesome as Everett. Despite the movie's quirky idiosyncrasies, Mortensen commands the heroic presence as the sensible man of honor. Mortensen is the Western hero in the tradition of Clint Eastwood. As Everett, we always know where Mortensen stands, and he is both charismatic and cool. In a great scene a rival asks Everett about Virgil's gun prowess. Everett says plainly, "I haven't seen anyone as good as Virgil." Mortensen's Virgil salvages the movie's sense of honor.

As mentioned previously, "Apaloosa" is not really all that traditional just below the surface. And this is not necessarily a good thing. This is not the anti-hero masterpiece of Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven". In one sense, I think Harris would like it to be. For one thing although Harris's Virgil is brave and noble, he is an apparent partial nut job. He goes nonlinear on some hoods in a saloon, among other weird out bursts. Harris's Virgil is not an educated man, and clumsily forces his diction and stumbles through Emerson. Instead of coming off as charmingly eccentric, his Virgil occurs as a little weird. Renee Zellwegger is an amazing actress, but here she struggles to carry off pretty. Her character Allison also has the propensity to have sex with virtually any man with a pulse. Straight and narrow Virgil in love with psycho whore Allison is not the most conventional love story, nor is it the story's most endearing plot line. Again, this may be more artifact of the screenplay by Harris and Robert Knot based on Robert B. Parker's best selling novel.

In spite of its quirkiness and kind of nutty characters, Harris manages to reign in the movie as it concludes-- opting for the more heroic. There is a great scene before one the climatic showdowns where Allison asks Virgil and Everett, "Aren't either of you at all afraid?" Virgil says, "…I guess I don't think about that so much." Also in "Apaloosa" the action is not leveraged for the utmost drama. Director Harris's action sequences lack crispness—the gun fight blocking is mostly single shot, without any interesting angles. Aside from the last gun fight, most of the action is diluted of high drama. The action is well done, just not spectacular.

"Apaloosa" is an amalgama

I suppose this film is as vulnerable to deep analysis as the next one, but, why bother? This is entertainment the way I like it, straight up without a lot of foolish over the top action. The real west must have been fraught with similar dilemmas as that confronting the town of Appaloosa: What to do with a lawless band of men determined to live as they please by preying on timid town dwellers? I doubt there were many men like Virgil Cole or his partner Everett Hitch in the real west having lived among their great, great grandchildren (I've no idea what the real genealogy is) for a time, but men have often tried to live like they do with the result that they lived undeservedly short lives. Still, guys like me can't get enough of their stories and Ed Harris apparently feels the same way. Only Clint Eastwood in my memory has attempted to tap into this same wellspring of folklore as in The Unforgiven. Though we all love Clint, I'd have to say Ed outdoes him here. He's got a wonderful sense of what a real gunfight might have been like. And though he's trimmed off the cries of pain and the gore, it still has the ring of truth.

Appaloosa as a western is okay, as a movie its okay, but as a character study it's great. Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen are two of the most underrated actors (not stars) in Hollywood. Viggo should have had two or three Oscars by now. His rendition of Everett Hitch made the whole movie more than worthwhile. He's a man of little words but great thought. He also an observant man, of things and people. He's loyal but with practicality. He knows what the two of them do and why they do it and he know enough about Virgil not to step on his toes. But he also knows when to say what he as to say and leave it at that. I'm never that impressed by Renee Zellweger but in this movie she sort of fit in. 7/10