The Long Riders

Tuesday, April 8, 2008


Once again employing my Christ-like, divine, unconditional gift of forgiveness and redemption, I decided to give Walter Hill another shot with his early 80s western, The Long Riders. Diligent readers may recall that I greatly enjoyed The Warriors, but didn't care much for 48 Hrs.

My appreciation for The Warriors grew once I noticed the subtle Sergio Leone vibe it has going through it... namely, really long, complex setups with sudden, unexpected payoffs that don't last very long, but are great and afterwards you realize that the setups are most of the fun any way.


So, I figured this one, being a western, would have a Leone-ness to it. Actually, if anything, it's got a Sam Peckinpah vibe, with lots of slow motion shots of people getting blown to bits. Only it's a little crazier and more over-the-top than any of the Peckinpah I've seen.

It's a highly fictionalized telling of the James-Younger gang story, and Hill makes an interesting choice in casting real life brothers for all the related characters in the movie. So we have the Carradines, the Keaches, the Quaids and the Guests. It makes for some weird casting choices for a western. I mean, I can totally buy David Carradine as the Carradine to call in when you need a badass outlaw, but Robert and Keith? One's a nerd and one's a hippie. And yet, somehow it kinda works.

This isn't a great piece of writing, and considering the great cast the movie doesn't do much with the characters. But damn if this movie wasn't entertaining as hell. I was having a pretty good time throughout, but then the final action scene came along and completely blew my cock right out of my pants and into the toilet. And then flushed the toilet. It's gotta be one of the best action scenes I've ever seen in a western. And it's fucking crazy as hell. I mean, Leone and Peckinpah did some looney-toons shit in their movies, but I don't think they ever had a horse chase where the guys ride their horses right through a big glass window, like in a car chase or something. And it's not every day where you see a guy get shot in the cheek and the bullet goes through his mouth and out the other cheek.

So, OK, good job Walter Hill. Looks like I'll be checking out more of your stuff after all.