Western DVD Round-up 2 - By Ray

Conagher (1991)

110 mins

Directed by Raynaldo Villalobos

Based on the novel by Louis L'amour

Starring:
Sam Elliot as Conn Conagher
Katharine Ross as Evie Teale

Plot Summary from Amazon:

"Conagher is both a hard-riding actioner and a character-driven look at Western life. Katharine Ross plays Evie Teale, widowed after coming West and forced to prove her mettle in many ways. Sam Elliott plays Conagher, a cowhand who, when not tracking rustlers, drifts in and out of Evie's life. Something about that frontier woman keeps drawing him back. But can Evie ever keep him from drifting out again?"

Ray's Opinion:

Finally, a great Sam Elliot Western! I've always loved this dude but struggled to find a definitive Western that he starred in, I guess I avoided his TV Westerns thinking they would be low budget crap, but after looking at the positive reviews of Conagher I bought a copy and I'm glad I did.

Conagher is a man of few words and of high moral fibre. He is a man who always does the right thing and much of the conflict stems from this. When asked by a co-worker to turn a blindeye to some foul play, Conagher says "Take a man's money and do the job he payed me for. I don't know no other way." His good morals get him in a lot of trouble and cause much frustration for his conniving 'friend'. I think a lot of what the film is about is: What makes a man turn against their morals? After an attack on their range - when Conagher has been forced to kill a man - his old friend asks "What do you reckon it is that makes a man go to hell like that?", the young man replies bluntly "It's the money, Mr Tay." Conagher ponders this for a while and then says to himself "The money... God help us if that's all it is."

I have always been attracted to Westerns because of the whole 'loner' aspect. I love the whole concept of a man, his gun, his horse and the freedom to just drift from town to town, drinking whisky and playing cards. So I was surprised to find myself - for the first time ever - more interested in the romance aspect, which is a testament to how damn good the romance is in Conagher. Like any great screenplay that has the ability to touch you deeply there has to be a truth to it. Louis L'amour clearly understood the heart and soul of both men and woman, and it's this that struck me the most while watching. I'll admit it, I cried like a big baby at the end (it has to be the first Western to have that effect on me), the connection between Conagher and Evie was just so touching (enhanced hugely by the fact that Sam Elliot and Katharine Ross are in reality husband and wife). If the romance doesn't do it for you, don't worry, there is plenty of solid action to satisfy you (there is literally every Cowboy cliche covered - bar room brawls, long distance sharp shooting, horse chases, etcetera).

Overall I loved Conagher and can imagine myself re-watching it every few years. Sam Elliot and Katharine Ross are simply fantastic actors and are completely convincing in their parts. The children are good actors too, especially the daughter; the scene where she mourns the loss of her Father is very moving. The baddies are not painted as entirely evil - they are more conflicted and lost then anything - as a result the film manages to balance it's more romanticised aspects with a sense of reality. My only major complaint is the image quality - the picture is quite soft and the dark scenes are difficult to make out - I would love to see this film digitally remastered, but it's unlikely as it's a TV Film.

8/10

Tom Horn (1980)

Directed by William Wiard

98 mins

Starring:
Steve McQueen as Tom Horn
Linda Evans as Glendolene Kimmel
Richard Farnsworth as John C. Coble
Slim Pickens as Sheriff Sam Creedmore

Plot Summary from DVD:

"The saga of Tom Horn - a real-life "enforcer" of Old West days - held a particular fascination for another legend. Hollywood icon Steve McQueen starred in and executive-produced what would be his next-to-last movie, a gritty, exciting recreation of Horn's latter-day career in a turn-of-the-century West where gentler ways supplanted the law of the gun - and Horn would be an unwitting victim of that change. Linda Evans, Richard Farnsworth, Billy Green Bush and Slim Pickens head a strong cast in a film capturing the essence of a time when a man's word was only as good as his guns or fists. Shot on serenely beautiful Arizona locations, Tom Horn indelibly brings to life one of the West's truly unsung heroes."

Ray's Opinion:

Having just watched Conagher it was with some difficulty that I adjusted to Tom Horn - its tone couldn't be more different. It has a strange empty atmosphere - an almost dream like quality. This was Steve McQueen's second to last film before he died (in the same year it was released) from lung cancer. He was not looking too good, so they shot him almost entirely from wide and mid-shots - you will see no close-ups of McQueen's drawn and haggard face. I think this contributes to the strange mood in the film, you feel distanced from the protagonist which makes it difficult to empathise with him. Having said that, Steve McQueen was a charismatic man and is still very watchable even in his sick state.

The first thing that struck me when Tom Horn begun is "How come I haven't heard of this guy before!". This is a Cowboy who negotiated the terms of surrender with the aging Apache Chief Geronimo, won the world Championship in steer wrestling in Arizona, worked as a roving gun for the Pinkerton Detective Agency (apparently killing 17 men) and rode under Teddy Roosevelt's rough riders! His background alone makes him fascinating and this contributed greatly to holding my interest though out the film.

There are some pretty funny lines and a lot of cool moments for McQueen to shine in, yet I found the general atmosphere quite dark and depressing - but not in a good way like Unforgiven - however this is a film about a man who's going to be hung, so that's hardly a cherry subject matter. In fact it is this dark tone that makes the love interest all the stranger. The film cuts back to memories Tom Horn is having of an old lost love and I didn't feel these scenes melded very well with the buildup to his hanging. My other main peeve lay in the films structure, the first two acts are full of action - basically Horn roams around killing a hell of a lot of men - and then the third act totally shifts gear as we go through his trial for murder; a more graceful transition may have been possible.

Lastly, this film takes Tom Horn's side and suggests he was basically set-up and did not accidently shoot the boy in question. A small search in google and I found this: "Horn had been hired to kill the father, but mistook the son for him and killed him with two shots from long range. Horn was arrested after bragging about the killing to the deputy U.S. Marshall during a state of intoxication." So clearly opinions differ on Tom Horn's "hero" status.

Despite the negative aspects, Tom Horn has actually left quite an impression on me. It's just one of those films that I will need to see again some time to really decide how I feel about it. I'd still recommend it to fans of Westerns.

6/10

Read my last Western Round-up where I look at The Bravados, High Noon and The Desperate Trail.

NOTE: I have just placed an order at Amazon for Tom Selleck's recent TNT Westerns Crossfire Trail and Monte Walsh, and Sam Elliot's The Quick and the Dead (no, not the film by Sam Raimi). So expect those reviews within the next few weeks.