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hooray for westerns!
Sep. 7th, 2007 08:13 amFrom A.O. Scott's review of the remake of 3:10 to Yuma:
If it is a lesser movie — more likely to be recalled as a moderately satisfying entertainment than remembered as a classic — that may be a sign of the times. The best of the old westerns were dense with psychosexual implication and political subtext. Often dismissed, then and now, as naïve celebrations of dubious ideals, they were in many ways more sophisticated than their self-consciously critical (or “revisionist”) heirs. And the new “3:10 to Yuma,” even in its efforts to stick to the old ways (apart from some obligatory post-“Deadwood” cussing), is neither spare nor suggestive enough. It lacks the confidence to distinguish between touchstones and clichés.
I haven't written about any Westerns or Eastwoods lately, but I wanted to let you know it's still on my mind. (I took a break from Eastwood night while being totally enthralled by Friday Night Lights: Season 1. It occurred to me last night while driving home late ON THE FREEWAY listening to the 'butt end' of the Foo Fighters double CD that I finally figured out who the hottie bad boy character in the show reminded me of: he's like a burlier, Canadian, version of River Phoenix.)
I think Scott's comment about the dismissing the psychosexual and political subtext hits the nail on the head when it comes to Westerns and it took Eastwood to get me to see it. Still not a professed fan of Johns Wayne or Ford, but I'm moving in an enthusiast direction and I'm very excited about all the Westerns coming out this winter. I'm also really wanting to see The Proposition (which looked interesting when it came out even to someone who didn't like Westerns) and Seraphim Falls.
This fall not only has 3:10, but The Assassination of Jesse James (which is pretty much also a remake) and I could swear there's one other, but it's escaping my mind at the moment.
For those of you not particularly partial to Westerns I highly recommend Michael Winterbottom's The Claim, which is a Gold Rush retread of Hawthorne's 'Mayor of Castorbridge.' It also has this fabulous image of a town pulling a house up a snowy slope. Fantastic film. And it features too rarities in the Western genre: winter and women.
If it is a lesser movie — more likely to be recalled as a moderately satisfying entertainment than remembered as a classic — that may be a sign of the times. The best of the old westerns were dense with psychosexual implication and political subtext. Often dismissed, then and now, as naïve celebrations of dubious ideals, they were in many ways more sophisticated than their self-consciously critical (or “revisionist”) heirs. And the new “3:10 to Yuma,” even in its efforts to stick to the old ways (apart from some obligatory post-“Deadwood” cussing), is neither spare nor suggestive enough. It lacks the confidence to distinguish between touchstones and clichés.
I haven't written about any Westerns or Eastwoods lately, but I wanted to let you know it's still on my mind. (I took a break from Eastwood night while being totally enthralled by Friday Night Lights: Season 1. It occurred to me last night while driving home late ON THE FREEWAY listening to the 'butt end' of the Foo Fighters double CD that I finally figured out who the hottie bad boy character in the show reminded me of: he's like a burlier, Canadian, version of River Phoenix.)
I think Scott's comment about the dismissing the psychosexual and political subtext hits the nail on the head when it comes to Westerns and it took Eastwood to get me to see it. Still not a professed fan of Johns Wayne or Ford, but I'm moving in an enthusiast direction and I'm very excited about all the Westerns coming out this winter. I'm also really wanting to see The Proposition (which looked interesting when it came out even to someone who didn't like Westerns) and Seraphim Falls.
This fall not only has 3:10, but The Assassination of Jesse James (which is pretty much also a remake) and I could swear there's one other, but it's escaping my mind at the moment.
For those of you not particularly partial to Westerns I highly recommend Michael Winterbottom's The Claim, which is a Gold Rush retread of Hawthorne's 'Mayor of Castorbridge.' It also has this fabulous image of a town pulling a house up a snowy slope. Fantastic film. And it features too rarities in the Western genre: winter and women.
