I'm going to depart from my regularly-scheduled programming for a few minutes to opine on the matter of a damned good film from way back in 2014 and its poor reviews. I always hesitate to switch from actual western life and history to the films, unless I can present them in relation to the actual western / historical backdrop that informs them, partly because it galls me that "authentic west!" magazines are now almost exclusively about Hollywood west, but I'm also going to admit it: You almost can't love the historical west, its landscapes and peoples, without loving a considerable amount of Hollywood west. So here goes!
A couple of nights ago (the Phillies game being rained out), I stumbled across a film that, in my cultural cave, I'd never heard of. What? A western, complete with a female lead and sweeping vistas and Tommy Lee Jones, and I'd never heard of it? Thus intrigued and yet bearing the low expectations of unfamiliarity, I dove headfirst into The Homesman. I was surprised to see it based on a novel by an author that meant so much to me as a young reader - Glendon Swarthout, who gave us such gems as Bless the Beasts and the Children and The Shootist.
As habit dictates, shortly after watching a film that I've thoroughly enjoyed, I hit the internet to read more about it. First I focus on the cast and credits and filming locations, then on reviews, and then I do a deeper dive into the historical premise (if any). Today I reached the "reviews" portion of the process and found this doozy: USA Today Review of The Homesman. The Homesman, the review title announced, is a "bunch of malarkey," because, You SEE, "Malarkey" is so WESTERN and UNSOPHISTICATED. Three paragraphs in, it was clear the review was written by a woman (and so I looked back at the attribution, and yes, it certainly was). Her feminine sensibilities were deeply offended that a story that was "purportedly about pioneer women" actually put Tommy Lee Jones "front and center." Apparently our interepid critic was so busy being affronted, she failed to notice the title was "HomesMAN" (and was directed by Tommy Lee Jones). It features men, and women, in a hostile setting, and the women suffer greatly - as women did, in 1855. As the old saying goes, the American west was "hell on women and horses," and the film aptly depicts that hell. The pioneer men were boorish, rough men, and the women led lonely, physically demanding lives, and they got little respect for rising to the occasion - but rise they did, some of them. Others went mad. Why this injures the feelings of today's "strong feminist" woman, I don't know. I don't know why it ruins the movie for them, either. Hilary Swank turns in an astoundingly solid performance as a pioneer woman, deeply complex and both tough and sensitive in good supply.
Tommy Lee Jones captures the "accidental hero" character perfectly. He's neither likable, nor unlovable, but a pragmatic, situational hero named Briggs. (Or is he? In a land where people swapped names as quickly as today's youth swap genders, it's clear he's making the name up when he's first asked.) He's not a sympathetic hero; he's distinctly unsympathetic; yet still we sympathize. That's what makes a great western film character, really. The anti-hero who, through pain or travail, matures and becomes a hero against his own nature. It's a trope that never gets tiresome, because it's the "hero journey" character arc and it highlights emotional depth in a genre that traditionally falls short in that arena. But today's critics, who thrive on the cult of victimhood and the need for distaff editions of superhero films or all-estrogen remakes of comedies, aren't happy. Until we have an all-woman or all-trans-woman version of The Wild Bunch or The Magnificent Seven, the harpies shall not rest.
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| Here's what Dall-E3 came up with when I requested an image of an "all female" Magnificent Seven. I'm sure we'll see that unfortunate remake before too long. |
Our fair reviewer also took issue with the way the film's tone changed throughout: Sometimes serious! Sometimes humorous! Sometimes dark and tragic! But that's the way life is, and why that troubles People with Pens who Review Films, I do not understand. Dark humor takes over when life is challenging but people are tough: they see the humor and absurdity in situations, and it carries them through. I fear for today's generations of humorless scolds who are ill-equipped, physically or mentally, to survive life's challenges. Life is short, nasty, and brutish, and it is up to us to find what is joyful, amusing, beautiful, and funny between the big and serious parts.
Now for the film itself, and not the jaded critics: The storyline is unique, unpredictable, and gritty. Tommy Lee Jones, Hilary Swank, Christian Spader, and even Meryl Streep bring the A-list names. The landscapes, though! Filmed in the wide-screen off-center horizons John Ford brought to the western, the daunting settings capture the big skies and bigger challenges the pioneers faced. Although the film is set in Nebraska territory, it was filmed on the stark prairie ranches of New Mexico, postage-stamp flat and windblown. Anyone who has braved the plains of New Mexico on horseback on a windy and cold day will sympathize with forlorn Mary Bee Cuddy, lost on horseback without food nor shelter. The cinematography is stunning and harsh and intimidating, and the land itself is almost as much of a character as the humans trying to survive it. Extra points for the portrayal of mules in the film, too - the creatures who truly did conquer the west.
Now I shall have to order the book, and see if my youthful adoration of Glendon Swarthout's work holds up. Swarthout, by the way, ended his own life in my hometown, just as his iconic character (played by none less than John Wayne) ended in The Shootist - facing cancer, and going out on his own terms.
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| I asked Dall-E3 to create an image of The Wild Bunch, but with all-female characters. I had to laugh to see the Sharon Stone depiction at far right - and the creepy beast head on the floor. To be fair, it's not that much stranger than the weird designer purses Hollywood women carry to awards shows, so there's that. |
If you're looking for a gripping, visually stunning, non-formulaic western, similar in mood and ambience to Blackthorne, give The Homesman a shot. If you wish to get it on DVD or Blu-Ray so the wokesters can't edit the snot out of it on streaming platforms someday, please consider buying it through this affiliate link so your purchase can help buy hay for my mules: The Homesman DVD. And then, if you're like me, you'll want to read the novel: The Homesman by Glendon Swarthout (affiliate link).
Here's the trailer, too: The Homesman Trailer. Enjoy!
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