REVIEWED
“At a distance you'd almost pass as a man.” - Callie Travers (Marianna Hill)
..:: Machismovision: Wow The West Was Fun - Film #1 ::..
Its the age old western setup of a lone gunslinger riding into a town threatened by thugs... only so much cooler thanks to being filmed in glorious machismovision. Within 5 minutes our antiheroes killed 3 men, raped a local woman, smoked a cigar and still managed to bag himself an haircut. The small town of Lago is set to be hit by a notorious gang. Who are seeking revenge on the towns corrupt officials. Not one to take sides, our lone hero plays both gang and townsfolk against each other.
Since replaying the excellent 'Red Dead Redemption' video game recently, I'd started to crave westerns. So I'm planning on watching at least one per week after chowing down my Sunday lunch, I decided to kick off with a double bill featuring this Clint Eastwood classic. He was well and truly a western veteran by the time he came to direct and star in this acclaimed brutal 70's feature, thats clearly influenced by Don Siegel & Sergio Leone. Clint knew exactly what worked and what didn't with genre. And was fortunate enough to have Ernest Tidyman's dark, wickedly hilarious script to work from. I love this movie, its easily one of my favorite westerns after the classic 'Once Upon A time in the West'. I seriously doubt I'll have this much fun when I revisit Eastwood's 'The Outlaw Josey Wales' or 'Unforgiven', even though they usually figure higher in most peoples best Eastwood or Westerns lists.
[Personal Reasons For Remembering]
The entire pictures filled with kick-ass moments and priceless dialog. Highlights include the amazing intro, Clint & Co painting the town red and that haunting climax when we learn who Clint was and he fades away into the distant plains. Best of all is the height (but not talent) restricted Billy Curtis as Mordecai, being made the sheriff of shit town.
Originally taken from Letterboxd
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