Posts
2011, 10-10; writing finished 10-18:
Review of film: “BLACKTHORN” = the "FURTHER" adventures of BUTCH CASSIDY...
Does the name Robert Leroy Parker ring a bell with you?... Does it help if I tell you he partnered with Harry Alonzo Longabaugh in a group called the Wild Bunch Gang...
... Are you thinking modern ROCK bands? -- You shouldn’t be: his was a band of ROBBERS, specializing in BANKS, TRAINS, cattle & horses from the 1880’s on in the Old West of America!...
... You probably know Robert by his nickname— BUTCH CASSIDY...
... He & his partner, Harry – a/k/a The SUNDANCE KID – had elements of their story told in a super-popular 1969 movie starring Paul Newman & Robert Redford...
... As that movie relates, Butch & Sundance went with their lady friend Etta Place to SOUTH AMERICA to try to escape the detectives from the PINKERTON AGENCY who’d been trailing them for years...
... Supposedly, the friends were KILLED in Bolivia on November 6, 1908 [when they were in their 40’s, tho the ’69 movie had them looking considerably younger]...
... This new movie operates on the supposition that the pair were NOT really killed, & they escaped the Bolivian militia & lived ON...
... The time starts out in 1927, 19 years after their supposed deaths. In a rural area in Bolivia, we’re introduced to a man named James Blackthorn (played by SAM SHEPARD) -- who’s actually an aged BUTCH CASSIDY sporting a grayish beard...
... Sam lives in a log cabin, & periodically spends “romantic” time with a local native Indian woman named Yana (MAGALY SOLIER) whom he seems to really care for...
... Sam spends time writing to a SON of his (or Sundance’s) who’s living back in AMERICA, hoping he’ll get enough money to come & visit him in the U.S....
... To try to get that money, Sam gathers together a bunch of his HORSES & rides of into a town to sell them...
... On his way back, he’s shot at by some stranger named Eduardo Apodaca (EDUARDO NORIEGA), which causes the horse carrying Butch’s money to RUN OFF...
... Infuriated by what had happened, Butch works to CAPTURE Eduardo since he’d caused him so much pain and trouble...
... Eduardo pleads for his life, saying he can REPAY Sam if he’ll help him. He claims to be an engineer who’d worked at local MINES owned by a corrupt RICH guy, & he’d supposedly STOLEN some of that crook’s money & hidden it at one of the mines...
... Sam is reluctant to trust him, but needs to try to get his money back, so he agrees to let Eduardo (who’s often tied-up) LEAD him to the mine...
... That means they have to do things like keep searching for some water supplies (such as from a TRAIN tower) in the desert-like area they’re in...
... But, there’s a “hitch” to the overall situation: the RICH guy who was robbed has sent some of his hired guns AFTER Eduardo, to try to recover the money he’d spirited away...
... So, Sam & Eduardo need to keep working hard to stay AHEAD of those 15 or so guys they can see are chasing him...
... Sam & Eduardo get to the mine, & actually FIND the money Eduardo claimed he’d hidden...
... But, the hired guns keep getting CLOSER & CLOSER to them despite the fact they keep going over more & more difficult land areas to try to get AWAY...
... Periodically, we see FLASHBACKS to the early 1900’s:
... We meet the “YOUNG” Butch (NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU) & Sundance (PADRAIC DELANEY) & Etta Place (DOMINIQUE McELLIGOTT), including seeing them on the “run” in the Old West...
... We see them try to execute their plans to find some SAFE place to stay in South America-- initially in Argentina, & then in Bolivia...
... All the while, we see how they’re still being doggedly pursued by a Pinkerton Detective Agency guy named Mackinley (STEPHEN REA)...
... In time, there are various GUN BATTLES between the hired guns and Butch & Eduardo. Butch & Eduardo manage to kill a number of the pursuers, & Butch comments on how unusual it is that the other “hired” guns would KEEP coming AFTER them...
... Finally, Butch leads Eduardo back to his CABIN, & there’s a number of big problems that arise for them there...
... The flashbacks keep being seen during the course of the movie, with little bits & pieces of important facts being gleaned from them...
... Back in the “current” time period, Butch realizes he must LEAVE the area because there are more HIRED GUNS trailing after them... As they’re going, Butch explains it’s best to go west to the Pacific OCEAN & go to another country via there...
... But, to get there, they must traverse some unusually ROUGH country, including a large expanse of horse-killing salt flats...
... To Butch’s surprise, the hired guns don’t give up & keep coming AT them...
... There are MORE gun battles (Butch using a rifle & Eduardo a handgun), more of the pursuers keep being hit-- & yet they STILL keep a-comin’ after them!...
... At one point, there’s a major “TWIST” in the story that causes Butch to learn something very important about EDUARDO, & that tends to “change” the dynamics of their relationship...
... WHAT is the unexpected news that Butch hears, & who does he hear it from?... What does that revelation LEAD to?...
... Will EDUARDO get away from the people who are chasing him?... Will BUTCH get away?...
... Will the story of Butch Cassidy reach a definitive “conclusion” here, or is there “MORE” that we can “expect” to the story?...
... This movie was actually FILMED in Bolivia (as part of a multi-nation effort)...
... At some times, things seem to go along at a “leisurely” (rather than action-filled) pace-- but that seems to be “FITTING” in that the area is out of the “mainstream”, & the period was one of “SIMPLER” times, which Butch was seeking...
... There’s also a good deal of ACTION at times, mainly as the film keeps moving forward... The main lead actors (especially Shepard) are VERY GOOD in their roles, really giving you a fine feeling for the “time & place” covered, with highly “individualized” characterizations...
... It’s a fascinating “old-time” sort of Western of the “good guys vs. the bad guys”-- with an added “PSYCHOLOGICAL” element of some TWISTS as to WHO are the really the “bad” guys...
... I enjoyed the creativity & “atmosphere” of the way the movie tells a “FURTHER adventures of—” kind of story, & thus I’m rating it at 8.25 of 10 stars...
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