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PAGE 12, NOVEMBER 17, 2008, THE ISLANDER
“Goin* to
the Show...
with...
Roland
Willis
APPALOOSA
Starring: Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen, Renee Zellweger,
Jeremy Irons, Lance Henriksen & Ariadna Gil
Directed by Ed Harris
Written by Robert Knott & Ed Harris
Based on a novel by Robert Parker
Running Time: 2 hours, 6 minutes
Rated R - Violence
The Appaloosa horse has a leopard-
spotted coat and was bred by the Nez
Perce Indians of the Pacific North
west. The breed almost disappeared
after the demise of this tribe but has
now become very popular, and is the
state horse of Idaho.
Naturally, I was expecting this new
movie, Appaloosa, to feature this horse
as in the 1966 movie, The Appaloosa,
in which Marlon Brando tracks down
his favorite horse after it has been
stolen by a Mexican ranchero.
Imagine my surprise to find that
this new movie revolves around a
town called Appaloosa in the New
Mexico territory in 1882.
The town marshal and his two dep
uties have gone out to a ranch owned
by Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons) to
arrest one of his hired hands.
Bragg guns them down as though
he were swatting flies. After all, who
is going to challenge him and his 20
tough cowhands?
Wrong assumption!
Virgil Cole (Ed Harris) and his side-
3sh*d CINEMAS
Sea Island Rd. at Frederica Rd.
www.hollywood.com
MOVIES INFO.
634-9100
BARGAIN
MATINEES DAILY
CHANGELING (R)
Mon-Thurs 4:00, 7:05, 10:05
HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3:
SENIOR YEAR (G)
Mon-Thurs 4:10, 7:10, 9:40
MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE
2 AFRICA (PG)
Mon-Thurs 4:30, 7:00, 9:15
QUANTUM OF SOLACE-
JAMES BOND HAS
RETURNED! (PG-13)
Mon-Thurs 5:00, 7:30, 10:00
ROLE MODELS (R)
Mon-Thurs 4:50, 7:40, 10:00
SECRET LIFE OF BEES
(PG-13)
Mon-Thurs 4:20, 7:15, 9:45
SOUL MEN (R)
Mon-Thurs 4:40, 7:20, 9:50
kick, Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen)
are gunfighters who now ply their
trade legally by hiring on as town
marshals to clean up just this kind of
mess.
The town council is reluctant to
hire them because, just as Wyatt Earp
did in Tombstone, Cole and Hitch set
up their own laws, but they have no
option.
Although Cole is clearly in charge,
they banter like an old married couple,
a little like Robert Duval and Kevin
Costner in Open Range, or James
Stewart and Millard Mitchell in Win
chester 73, or Paul Newman and Rob
ert Redford in Butch Cassidy and the
Sundance Kid, or John Wayne and
Walter Brennan in Red River.
This is not to suggest that there is a
lot of chattering going on. We like our
western heroes to be the strong, silent
types, but there is the audience to
please and the screenplay to follow.
The chattering comes from Renee
Zellweger who shows up, unexpect
edly, as the widow, Allie French. No,
she is not a member of the oldest pro
fession but does use her beauty and
charm to get what she wants.
Pretty soon she has Cole eating
out of her hand. Being a frontiers
man, he is impressed that she bathes
every day, dresses well, eats daintily
and plays the piano. Pretty soon he is
building a house for her.
Allie likes to keep her options open
and casts her net over Hitch, Bragg
and even Ring Shelton (Lance Hen
riksen) whom Bragg hires to take care
of Cole.
Fortunately, Hitch is more attract
ed to the saloon babe, Katie who
is played by the renowned Spanish
actress Ariadna Gil.
Appaloosa contains bits from Tomb
stone, The Gunfight at the O. K. Cor
ral, Open Range, and 3:10 to Yuma. It
even has an outhouse scene straight
out of Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven.
As an aside, outhouses were very
dangerous places in pioneer days, not
because you could get caught with
your pants down, but because black
widow spiders loved to build their
nests under the seats.
The movie is most like the 1959
Edward Dymytryk movie, Warlock, in
which Henry Fonda and his side-kick
Anthony Quinn are hired to clean
up that mining town in Utah around
1880.
Although this movie relies so heav
ily on previous movies of this genre, it
is still very enjoyable.
Ed Harris is perfect in the role of
the gun-for-hire, perhaps a bit naive
when it comes to women but easily
able to separate his heart from his
duty. Although Enemy at the Gates, in
which Harris played a German sniper
during the siege of Stalingrad, was not
a Western, he projects the same chill
ing presence of a cold-blooded killer.
Harris wrote, produced, directed
and stars in this film. His direction
brings all that we love about westerns
on the screen, namely, beautiful scen
ery as a back-drop to the action.
Harris also directed and starred in
the remarkable Pollock.
The rest of the cast gives a fine per
formance although I find Zellweger’s
twittering voice irritating.
I recommend this film. My rating
is B. □
Movie Night
at the Casino
Sponsored.bv,the)6t?Simons Library League
The Razor’s Edge
Saturday,
November 22
10:30 a.m.
Casino Theater
"The Razor's Edge" USA, 1946.
This seldom-seen film classic,
from the Somerset Maugham
novel, stars Tyrone Power and
Gene Tierney at the top of their
form. Larry searches for inner
peace while his ex-fiancee marries
a wealthy man who loses all in
the 1929 stock market crash.
reJreeMjtcontributions^rea££reciate^l
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