Perhaps I should first mention that this movie wasn't the classic I
expected it to be but I guess it just got a bit over-hyped to me, also
by myself. This is a movie I have always wanted to see, for years now.
I finally did so yesterday and was being left sort of disappointed that
I wasn't as taken and in love with this movie as I expected to be.
Having said that, it's of course far from a bad or disappointing movie
itself!
I guess I was just simply expecting a different kind of movie. I
expected something more dramatic and heartfelt but as it turned out,
the movie is more straight-forward and formulaic for a western, all in
the best sense of the word.
It's indeed a movie about the closure of the wild west era and a bunch
of aging outlaws coming to terms with this. They decide to do one more
big score together, for the last time, which of course however gets
them in a whole lot of trouble.
It's however not a movie that also marks the end of a genre. The
classic western genre was indeed nearing its end at the time but it
continued to exists, pretty much till the early '70's. This is not a
movie that looks back on the genre and pays tribute to the classics and
all of its usual clichés and typical genre ingredients.
No, it's simply being a good old fashioned western, on its own. It
comes down to it that this is a typical men film. Tough guys, doing
what they think is right and sticking together, no matter what. It are
all themes that speak out to men all over the world, which also makes
it easy for them to relate with its characters and all of their
actions, as well as motivations.
This all gets combined with an heavy, raw and violent Peckinpah style,
which means you can expect plenty of shootouts and see plenty of people
getting gunned down, violently. The movie really isn't holding back,
which also results into one of the most memorable, action filled and
violent final shootouts, you will ever see in any film.
It's a movie that pretty much got done in an old fashioned genre style
but still with a bit more kick into it as well. It above all things
remains an action movie, that is fast paced and features lots of quick
editing techniques in it. It also makes this movie perfectly watchable
for those who normally aren't really into the old fashioned sort of
spaghetti westerns, of the '60's.
And it still also really remains a movie about its characters and
actors portraying them. I especially liked William Holden and thought
it also was kind of funny to see Ernest Borgnine playing an old, aging
outlaw, while now, almost 50 years later, he still is alive and playing
in movies, at the age of 95. He probably could still appear in this
movie and play the same role, if it got made tomorrow.
I really liked it! Just wasn't as wild about it and in love with it as
I expected to be.
8/10
Watch trailer
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