What is love?
Added 10/15/2009
In a tribute, a Rolling Stone reviewer suggested this was the quintessential River Phoenix movie. I disagree, he gives a much better performance in 'My Own Private Idaho' but this story is better written. It's not really a western, though it is set in that time and place we nostalgically yearn for, with stark wide open spaces in hues of tan and brown. There's lots of dust and horses and broken people trying to mend their fragile lives. There's even a snake oil salesman and his son, complete with sideshow and assorted freaks. Richard Harris plays a father who loves his son (Phoenix) so much that he will purchase a wife for his sad and lonely child, but when she dies in childbirth, why not purchase her twin sister from the shifty, snake oil hawker who fathered them? Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Phoenix broods over the body of his lost love wrapping her in hides and suspending her body in a dead tree. He will not let her go and her spirit doesn't want to stay. Her soul visits him in visions that become so real to him that he almost shoots himself. He can't or won't do it, to join her would be love, to hold on to her is pure selfishness. Her twin sister knows that the dead are powerful and she agrees to help Harris break the hold his son has on her sister, but then she's outta there. Conceived in rape, she knows that she is a double second class citizen. One, she's a woman, and two she's half white and half native. She has nothing but her wits and a dark opportunity to free herself from her father and his mad schemes. She'll take four horses for her trouble and the hope for a new life. (Even the female actresses, who deliver wonderful performances, are overshadowed by their male co-stars in the marketing of this film.)
Although told like a ghost story, this is really a love story about a father's love for his son. Harris will do anything for his child, even fight the apparition of his former daughter-in-law that appears in the form of a wolf. Steeped in native mythology and mysticism this story speaks of ties we create between those we love and those we use. In contrast, the snake oil vendor sees his daughters as commodities. The only love that exited for these lost, little girls was their mother, Silent Tongue, who couldn't even cry out when she was raped by their father. Another victim of his entrepreneurial father, is the twin's half brother, who insists on setting out after his half sister is abducted by Harris, and dragging his father along to do the 'right thing' and rescue her. The entire cast give strong and beautiful performances. It's a crime this is not available in wide screen because the melancholy landscape, is itself, a character in this tale. The film is rife with metaphor and if you want to think and be entertained this is the journey you'll want to take between real love and what poses for the love between us. Even though it is offered in a full screen format it is a good value for the prices that it is offered at. For those who prefer to have nonviolent fare, there are a few scenes including the rape that are inappropriate or upsetting. Overall I didn't know what to expect, but I was surprised and pleased by this complex study of relationships that transcend time and place.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Do not buy - 2.35:1 image is cropped to 1.33:1
Added 6/27/2005
Regional encoding is a sly device. People in the U.S., for instance, who want to see Sam Shepard's 1994 film 'Silent Tongue' will have to watch this bottom-of-the-barrel, pan-and-scan frisbee thrown out by Lions Gate. Meanwhile, folks in Germany have a decent 2.35:1 transfer with Region 2 encoding, which excludes most interested U.S. consumers.
Lions Gate. These folks are getting worse, more brazen in their lack of integrity. I mean, consider their cynical chop-and-dub job on the new release 'High Tension,' or their heavy promotion and wide distribution of garbage like 'House of 1000 Corpses' and 'Confidence' and simultaneous neglect of acclaimed films like 'Stevie' and 'May.'
The expense associated with giving consumers a 2.35:1 transfer is only marginally above that of a 1.33:1 transfer. The Lions Gate people are clearly bottom-line bean-counters who we must all hope will go bankrupt and disappear into a pile of ashes, if there's any justice in the world. Lot 47, Cowboy Pictures... it's the good guys who usually die, while rotters like Lions Gate live on with an undeserved longevity.
25 out of 36 people found this helpful.
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The most boring western I have ever seen.
Added 11/3/2004
Shut it off after a while. It was so slow getting started that I just could not get into the dull plot. I guess I'm not artsy-fartsy enough to understand it. Watching grass grow would be more entertaining. Give me, THE WILD BUNCH, SILVERADO,RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE, OR LAST STAND AT SABRE RIVER.
3 out of 21 people found this helpful.
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5 star gem
Added 9/29/2004
this is great work,the story line alone is 5 stars all the actors male/female are extremely good.veiw this asap
7 out of 11 people found this helpful.
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Unbelievable, NO, BELIEVEABLE
Added 2/16/2004
One of the best. I've read the critics' reviews of Sam Shepard's directorial effort, hogwash. If you don't like what Shepard did in this one, you've missed the point of the movie. You can't roller-skate in a buffalo herd! There are two tragedies to this film: one, it has gone so unnoticed as a whole; two, Sheila Tousey has gone so unnoticed. I believe this is the greatest Native American actress. Couple this with Mr. Bates, Harris, Mulroney, Pheonix, Shepard and Ms. Arredondo, and it was a loser in any way??????
14 out of 17 people found this helpful.
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What is love?
Added 10/15/2009
In a tribute, a Rolling Stone reviewer suggested this was the quintessential River Phoenix movie. I disagree, he gives a much better performance in 'My Own Private Idaho' but this story is better written. It's not really a western, though it is set in that time and place we nostalgically yearn for, with stark wide open spaces in hues of tan and brown. There's lots of dust and horses and broken people trying to mend their fragile lives. There's even a snake oil salesman and his son, complete with sideshow and assorted freaks. Richard Harris plays a father who loves his son (Phoenix) so much that he will purchase a wife for his sad and lonely child, but when she dies in childbirth, why not purchase her twin sister from the shifty, snake oil hawker who fathered them? Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Phoenix broods over the body of his lost love wrapping her in hides and suspending her body in a dead tree. He will not let her go and her spirit doesn't want to stay. Her soul visits him in visions that become so real to him that he almost shoots himself. He can't or won't do it, to join her would be love, to hold on to her is pure selfishness. Her twin sister knows that the dead are powerful and she agrees to help Harris break the hold his son has on her sister, but then she's outta there. Conceived in rape, she knows that she is a double second class citizen. One, she's a woman, and two she's half white and half native. She has nothing but her wits and a dark opportunity to free herself from her father and his mad schemes. She'll take four horses for her trouble and the hope for a new life. (Even the female actresses, who deliver wonderful performances, are overshadowed by their male co-stars in the marketing of this film.)
Although told like a ghost story, this is really a love story about a father's love for his son. Harris will do anything for his child, even fight the apparition of his former daughter-in-law that appears in the form of a wolf. Steeped in native mythology and mysticism this story speaks of ties we create between those we love and those we use. In contrast, the snake oil vendor sees his daughters as commodities. The only love that exited for these lost, little girls was their mother, Silent Tongue, who couldn't even cry out when she was raped by their father. Another victim of his entrepreneurial father, is the twin's half brother, who insists on setting out after his half sister is abducted by Harris, and dragging his father along to do the 'right thing' and rescue her. The entire cast give strong and beautiful performances. It's a crime this is not available in wide screen because the melancholy landscape, is itself, a character in this tale. The film is rife with metaphor and if you want to think and be entertained this is the journey you'll want to take between real love and what poses for the love between us. Even though it is offered in a full screen format it is a good value for the prices that it is offered at. For those who prefer to have nonviolent fare, there are a few scenes including the rape that are inappropriate or upsetting. Overall I didn't know what to expect, but I was surprised and pleased by this complex study of relationships that transcend time and place.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Do not buy - 2.35:1 image is cropped to 1.33:1
Added 6/27/2005
Regional encoding is a sly device. People in the U.S., for instance, who want to see Sam Shepard's 1994 film 'Silent Tongue' will have to watch this bottom-of-the-barrel, pan-and-scan frisbee thrown out by Lions Gate. Meanwhile, folks in Germany have a decent 2.35:1 transfer with Region 2 encoding, which excludes most interested U.S. consumers.
Lions Gate. These folks are getting worse, more brazen in their lack of integrity. I mean, consider their cynical chop-and-dub job on the new release 'High Tension,' or their heavy promotion and wide distribution of garbage like 'House of 1000 Corpses' and 'Confidence' and simultaneous neglect of acclaimed films like 'Stevie' and 'May.'
The expense associated with giving consumers a 2.35:1 transfer is only marginally above that of a 1.33:1 transfer. The Lions Gate people are clearly bottom-line bean-counters who we must all hope will go bankrupt and disappear into a pile of ashes, if there's any justice in the world. Lot 47, Cowboy Pictures... it's the good guys who usually die, while rotters like Lions Gate live on with an undeserved longevity.
25 out of 36 people found this helpful.
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The most boring western I have ever seen.
Added 11/3/2004
Shut it off after a while. It was so slow getting started that I just could not get into the dull plot. I guess I'm not artsy-fartsy enough to understand it. Watching grass grow would be more entertaining. Give me, THE WILD BUNCH, SILVERADO,RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE, OR LAST STAND AT SABRE RIVER.
3 out of 21 people found this helpful.
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