western Tagged Articles at Cinematical

I was hoping for a chance to see The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford a second time before I wrote my review, but only to confirm my suspicions that it's a surprising near-masterpiece, certainly one of the year's best films, and the best Western to come across the range since Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven (1992) and Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man (1996). I had been looking forward to the film, mainly because 2007 had previously yielded two very good Westerns in Seraphim Falls and 3:10 to Yuma (we'll say nothing more about the wretched September Dawn). I had also admired New Zealand director Andrew Dominik's previous and only other feature, Chopper (2000). But none of this prepared me for the scope, artistry and brilliance of this new film.

The drawback is that the 160-minute The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is going to be one of those "difficult" movies that doesn't get the recognition it deserves, mainly because it can't be quickly explained or understood, or broken down into a 30-second sound byte. It's not a sweeping, spectacular epic, but rather a quiet, wintry epilogue. It will be critiqued with single words: "long," "boring," "confusing." Nevertheless, it's in good company with Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, Jane Campion's In the Cut, Gus Van Sant's Gerry, George A. Romero's Land of the Dead, Terrence Malick's The New World, Brian De Palma's The Black Dahlia, Terry Zwigoff's Art School Confidential, Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette, David Lynch's Inland Empire and William Friedkin's Bug -- all movies that will eventually have their day in the sun despite their current sad critical standing. The real hitch is that Jesse James chooses not to deconstruct the James myth, as would be the expected, rational approach in our post-modern age, but rather embraces it and expands on it.

Variety is reporting that Ed Harris will make his return to the director's chair with Appaloosa, a western he will star in with Viggo Mortensen and Renee Zellweger. The film starts filming in New Mexico on October 1st. This must be a real passion project for Harris, in addition to acting and directing, he's co-producing the film and co-wrote the script with Robert Knott. The story is an adaptation of Robert B. Parker's novel of the same name, and is "centered on a pair of friends hired to protect a lawless town suffering at the hands of a renegade rancher." But...wait for it..."the arrival of an attractive widow disrupts their plans." Harris will play Virgil Cole, the new marshal of the mining and ranching town of Appaloosa. Mortensen plays his deputy, Everett Hitch. Together they take on the corrupt rancher who ordered the previous marshal and deputy killed. No word on who will play the corrupt rancher, but let me suggest Rip Taylor?

This will be Harris' second time directing a feature. His first was the pretty solid Pollock, in which he directed Marcia Gay Harden to a Best Supporting Actress Oscar and himself to a Best Actor nomination. Harris and Mortensen were great together in the excellent A History of Violence, and I do love westerns, but I would be a lot more excited about this project if it weren't for Zellweger. Diane Lane originally had the role of the "attractive widow," and that's a choice I'd be much happier about. It's just a matter of taste, but Zellweger's acting drives me insane. And I particularly can't stand her in period roles -- how she won an Academy Award for her supremely annoying work in Cold Mountain, I'll never know. I still remember that scene, used in the trailer, with her bellowing that ridiculous line, something like -- "They say this war is cloudy, but then they tell us to go and stand in the rain, and then we go and stand in the rain, and then they tell us it's raining!" Her hamtastic performance still haunts my dreams. But hey, maybe this'll be different.

It might be hard for you young'uns to remember, but Kevin Costner used to be one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. He's become something of a punchline now, but when he finds the right role, there are few actors more charming. He hasn't had a real blockbuster hit in over a decade, but I wouldn't rule out a comeback just yet. He certainly didn't find it with his latest film, Mr. Brooks. Like most people, I missed that one in theaters, but I do like Costner in darker roles. He gave arguably his finest performance in Clint Eastwood's excellent and strangely neglected A Perfect World. Next, Mr. Costner will self-finance Swing Vote, a political comedy with a cool premise that has the presidential election coming down to one man's vote. Costner calls the film "Capra-esque," which is a good thing indeed, but easier said than done. And after that, it sounds like Costner is looking to get back to the genre that brought him the most acclaim -- the western.

"I'm looking to direct a western," says Costner. "They don't like financing them, but I'll figure it out. It's a genre that's really worthy, really entertaining. I think they're hard to pull off, and I like that." I couldn't agree more with him there. I love westerns and they seem to become more and more scarce with each passing year. The ones that do get released -- last year's terrific The Proposition comes to mind -- tend to be smaller films, although the upcoming 3:10 to Yuma and The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford might help bring some heat to the genre. Costner has directed three movies. Two of them -- Dances With Wolves and Open Range were westerns. The other was The Postman. Wolves was a smash success and won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Open Range was really entertaining and made decent money. The Postman was...The Postman. Can you blame Costner for wanting to return to the sweet bosom of the western? Hey, anything that keeps him from making another movie about a mailman attempting to restore civilization in a post-Apocalyptic world sounds like a winner to me!

Looks like the mad genius known as Takashi Miike (Audition, Ichi the Killer) is just now finishing up on his very first western. Yes, I said western. And if that's not enticingly strange enough, get this: Quentin Tarantino is the only American face amidst an entirely Japanese cast ... and the movie was made in English! What the...

According to Screen Daily, production has now wrapped on Miike's Sukiyaki Western: Django, which (according to the IMDb) takes place in the 1100s -- yet is still a western. The plot sounds a lot like the Yojimbo / A Fistful of Dollars tale, but hell. If Takashi Miike says he wants to make a western, then I'll be more than happy to sit down and watch it. In addition to Quentin Tarantino as "Ringo," the movie will also star Hideaki Ito, Koichi Sato and Kaori Momoi. The film's title is a reference to a movie character played by Franco Nero in a 1966 flick called ... Django!

Looks like Django will be hitting Japan in September. No word on a North American release date or distributor, but we'll be sure to let you know when something comes up. I mean ... Miike and Tarantino collaborating on a western? Sounds like fun to me.

Thanks to people like Sergio Leone, Clint Eastwood and Lawrence Kasdan, I'm a huge fan of the Western genre. (Yes, Lawrence Kasdan. What of it? Silverado rocks!) So when I read that Warner Bros. was bankrolling a Western with Brad Pitt as Jesse James and Casey Affleck as the man who (finally) put Jesse in a pine box, I was more than a little intrigued. Then I learned that Andrew Dominik (Chopper) would be directing, that Ridley Scott (one of my favorites) was producing, and that the supporting cast would include Sam Rockwell, Zooey Deschanel and Ted Levine. I was officially psyched for this movie.

Unfortunately that was about two years ago. So where the heck is the movie already? Its release date has been pushed around more violently than a Big Mac at a vegan rally, but what gives? It's got BRAD PITT in it, right? How tough is it to release a Brad Pitt movie these days? Well, according to The L.A. Times, the flick's been met with some pretty unfriendly test screening audiences. Reports also indicate that director Dominik has his preferred cut, but Pitt and Scott also have a version that they like. One of the cuts apparently runs over three hours long; WB wants something more Clint Eastwood-y, whereas Mr. Dominik seems to be shooting for something a bit more Terrence Malick-ish. Good thing they have three-time Oscar winner Michael Kahn helping out in the editing room.

Seems to be a prickly issue all around, but the thing only cost about $30 million, which is probably about as low-budget a studio Western as you'll ever find these days. Based on the book by Ron Hansen, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is presently scheduled for release on September 21. And I bet they shorten the title too.

According to a report in Screen Daily, the unpredictable, prolific Japanese director Takashi Miike has two new surprises in store: he is directing his first film in English, and he is directing what is considered to be Japan's first Western. Miike had previously expressed his interest in making a Western, and now his dream has come true with a remake of Sergio Corbucci's classic Django (1966). Rather than the old West, however, the new film will be set during the Genpei clan wars of the 12th century.

The cast members, including Hideaki Ito (Onmyoji), Koichi Sato (Gonin), Kaori Momoi (Memoirs of a Geisha), Yusuke Iseya (After Life) and Masanobu Ando (Battle Royale), took an intensive two-month English classes to prepare for their roles. Last year, Miike directed the one-hour, made-for-TV movie Imprint in English, but Django will be his first English-language theatrical release. Miike began his directing career in the early 1990s, pumping out dozens of straight-to-video films, sometimes up to five or six in a given year. In 1996, he broke through to another level with his film Fudoh, and followed that up with the international cult classics Audition (1999), Dead or Alive (1999), Ichi the Killer (2001) and Visitor Q (2001). Miike is also known for his ability to jump genres, making horror, action, sci-fi, family movies and musicals on the turn of a dime.

"I want to make a film that will make audiences think 'Japanese are cool!'," Miike told the press on Sunday, an ironic statement coming from one of the coolest filmmakers in the world. It's likely that Quentin Tarantino had something to do with inspiring this unique new project; Tarantino has long championed Miike's films, and Miike made a cameo appearance in Hostel, which was executive produced by Tarantino. Now Tarantino will return the favor by playing a part in Django.

The movie is will shoot in Yamagata Prefecture and is scheduled to wrap by the end of November.

As I came across the announcement of Ed Harris' new project Appaloosa, I realized just how solid his career has been. With over 55 movies to his name -- and they vary too, try and tell me Swing Shift to Glengarry Glen Ross isn't a leap -- Harris is one of the best working actors today.

Harris directed and starred in Pollock (2000) with great success, so he's decided to do it again. He has chosen to not only direct and star in Appaloosa, but he is also writing the screenplay. The film is based on Robert B. Parker's novel about a marshal in a High Noon scenario with a corrupt rancher. Also attached to the project is Diane Lane and Harris' co-star from History of Violence, Viggo Mortensen (you can check out Karina's review here).

There aren't many production details yet as Harris is still busy promoting the upcoming film Copying Beethoven (directed by Agnieszka Holland), where he plays the famed composer in his later years. Like I said, the man has range.

[via Dark Horizons]

While working the Rome Film Festival for his film The Departed, Martin Scorsese has announced a project with festival organizers to re-store and preserve 100 Italian cinema classics. First on the block is Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West starring Henry Fonda and Jason Robards. Leone's classic western has been hanging by a thread for a while now; few prints exist and those that do are in terrible condition.

Scorsese has always been one of the loudest supporters of maintaining and preserving classic films. At a festival event, Scorsese spoke to journalists about the project: "You can find that color (deterioration) can happen as quickly as within six years ... Millions of dollars goes into this industry and nobody thought about preserving the film. It's incredible."

So far, Scorsese and the National Film Preservation Foundation have convinced Sony, Warner Bros., and other major studios to start preserving their collections. The Rome Film Festival is promising to help finance the project and do a few films per year (with no word yet on how much this might actually cost). Film restoration is an incredibly expensive and time consuming endeavor but it's worth it when you think of all the amazing films that could have been lost. Being the classic movie junkie that I am, I'm thrilled that someone is leading the charge, and what better person than Martin Scorsese -- a God to film nerds everywhere.

Which movies would you like to see saved for posterity?

Related Scorsese:

Scorsese is Ready for a Break

Getting Up Close and Personal With Scorsese

This just might turn out to be a remake of The Little Engine that Could. First, Sony Pictures dropped director James Mangold's proposed remake of 3:10 to Yuma for unknown reasons, even with Russell Crowe attached to the project, and Tom Cruise and Eric Bana reportedly interested in separate roles in the film. Then the picture ended up at Lionsgate, who trimmed the budget from $80 million to $50 million, and added Christian Bale in the process.

Lionsgate announced today that Peter Fonda, Gretchen Mol and Dallas Roberts have been added to the cast, and shooting (literally) is expected to start in October. Crowe will never be able to replace Glenn Ford in the lead role, but it will give him a chance to atone for his turn in Sam Raimi's The Quick and the Dead. Okay, that was a cheap shot (no pun intended), because I actually really liked that movie. No word on whether Crowe will be wielding a telephone handset or a shooting iron in his holster, but he's deadly with either one.

I am a little embarrassed to own a VHS tape of Tombstone -- not because it's a videotape but because it's a terrible movie overall. The 1993 Western is too long, the pacing is dreadful, and I feel sorry for many of the actors involved. It's considered far inferior to My Darling Clementine, the John Ford-directed drama about that same legendary gunfight at the OK Corral.  And yet I can't get rid of the videotape, and every so often I pop it into the dusty VCR to enjoy the true guilty pleasure that is Tombstone.

You have to watch Tombstone the right way in order to truly appreciate it: with the remote control in your hand at all times. You'll want to fast-forward past long scenes featuring lugubrious Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp and an appalling performance from Dana Delany. But as soon as you catch a glimpse of Val Kilmer (as Doc Holliday) or Michael Biehn (as Johnny Ringo), play the movie at its natural speed, sit back, and enjoy the fun. When you slow down, you may catch glimpses of a surprisingly well-known supporting cast, generally wasted in this clunker: Sam Elliott as the oldest Earp brother, Billy Bob Thornton as a faro dealer, Thomas Haden Church and John Corbett as members of the Clanton gang, Billy Zane in an atypical role as a traveling actor ... even Charlton Heston turns up briefly.

But the movie truly springs to life around Kilmer, and to a lesser extent, Biehn. It's as though the writer (Kevin Jarre) slept through the script and awoke only long enough to devote the best lines, the only wit in the movie, to Doc Holliday. Or perhaps it's Kilmer's delightfully charming delivery of the lines that makes them so irresistible. Who would have thought that I would swoon over a guy saying, "I'm your huckleberry." (I also have been known to swoon over "Give me some sugar, baby," however.) Looking at the quotes on paper, they appear unmemorable, so it must have a lot to do with Kilmer. Tombstone is available on DVD, and it might be worthwhile to rent it sometime and check out those lovely performances from Kilmer and Biehn. Just make sure your remote is nearby.