Silverado

Co-writer, producer and director Lawrence Kasdan did his part in keeping the Western genre alive with "Silverado". It may not be innovative, but that may well have been the point, as Kasdan aims to pay tribute to a beloved movie genre that dated all the way back to the silent era. Admittedly, this one came along when the Western was going through a bit of a dry spell, which made it all the more welcome.

Four very engaging stars - Kevin Kline as Paden, Scott Glenn as Emmett, Danny Glover as Mal, Kevin Costner as Jake - are an interesting combo, as these characters, united by circumstance, eventually band together to fight against the injustices occurring in the town of Silverado. More than once, they prove their worth, in a story (written by Kasdan and his brother Mark) that is fairly episodic.

"Silverado" is extremely well shot, by John Bailey, in widescreen. It gets the look of a classic Western just right. It hooks you right away with an opening moment of quiet suddenly interrupted by a gunfight, and promises a substantial amount of entertainment to come when we're introduced to the tough and resilient Emmett and get a load of the majestic New Mexico locations. Admittedly, this doesn't work quite as well when you start to think about it too much, so it's better to just go with the flow and appreciate all that Kasdan and his cast & crew have packed into this presentation. Certainly, it would be hard not to get roused by that stirring and wonderful music score composed by Bruce Broughton.

There's a lot of acting talent to go around here, but giving things a curious quality is some unexpected casting. Linda Hunt? Jeff Goldblum? JOHN CLEESE? Rosanna Arquette is fairly appealing if somewhat aloof as the gal who catches both Klines' and Glenns' eyes. Jeff Fahey makes his film debut as scruffy psycho Tyree. Lovely ladies Amanda Wyss and Lynn Whitfield play local girl Phoebe and Mals' sister respectively. Recognizable character players in the cast include Marvin J. McIntyre, Sheb Wooley, James Gammon, Ray Baker, Joe Seneca, Earl Hindman, Jim Haynie, Richard Jenkins (also making his film debut), Pepe Serna, Ted White, and an uncredited Brion James as Hobart, the wagon master. The real standout for this viewer is Brian Dennehy, who never overplays his role as villainous sheriff Cobb, instead suffusing the character with a good deal of charm.

The pacing rarely slows down, and the action scenes are first rate. Especially good is a scene involving a stampede.

While lacking the overall impact for this viewer to consider it great, it's still pretty fun while it lasts.

Seven out of 10.

Silverado is Lawrence Kasdan's western, westerns were scarce in the 80's, but went on to be a big hit at the box office. Kasdan, at this point was best known for screenwriting on blockbusters like The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi. On this film, Kasdan pays his homage to the western genre, by resurrecting it from the dead(besides the occasional Clint Eastwood western) in a more modern and refreshing way with a great ensemble cast of Scott Glenn, Kevin Kline, Brian Dennehy, Danny Glover and a young Kevin Costner in an early role. The story and direction is tight, the film looks great and is driven by a lot of action and solid performances. Although this is a movie that would be appropriate viewing for the whole family, Silverado is far from stupid and holds its own pretty easily against other classics of the genre. Overall, I think Silverado is a great movie and was done well.

If you are looking for a very entertaining western, it's hard to top this one. It's fairly long at 134 minutes, but the deep cast and always-interesting story make the time fly by.

The first half of the film is about as good as it gets but two climactic scenes at the end get a little too carried away with the "Rambo" mentality of good guys not getting shot when they should have, etc. But, overall, it's so good it is still very highly-recommended. Among the "lists" you see on this website's message boards and elsewhere, you rarely see this movie mentioned among top westerns and that is a huge oversight.

There are four main "good guys" that are played by well-known actors: Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn, Kevin Costner and Danny Glover. I especially liked Kline as "Paden" with his gentlemanly manner about him and Glenn's voice always makes him interesting. Costner is so young looking he almost looks like a teenager.

Brian Dennehy, as the villainous "Sheriff Cobb," is verbally restrained in here, which was nice to hear, for a change but he's still intense and fascinating. (This movie marked the 10,000th time Hollywood made a lawman the villain since the 1960s).

The story is fun, a straight cowboy movie with no romances or gratuitous sex scenes thrown in and has the usual beautiful western scenery and photography. The only problem was the sound. The soundtrack is so loud so have to crank up your center speaker to hear the dialog over the music.

Epic and breathtaking major Hollywood Western dealing with a strong feuding among some good guys and some very bad guys headed by two-fisted rivals . It deals with a misfit bunch of friends come together to right the injustices which exist in a small town . In 1880 , two brothers (Scott Glenn and Kevin Costner) along with an unlikely comrade (Kevin Kline) and an African-American (Danny Glover) arrive in the Old West town named Silverado ruled by a nasty marshal (Brian Dennehy) , there they become embroiled in a violent feuding over a valuable patch of land and flock . The peacemakers travel together , join forces and come across with many risks before they finally get their objective . Furthermore , this magnificent Western pits stubborn gunslinger and a corrupt sheriff , as ongoing adversaries , both of whom carry out an exciting final duel and bringing peace to fateful town.

Impressive , sprawling and big-budgeted Western with action , adventure , cattle stampede , thrills , energetic drama , spectacular scenarios and interesting message about peace and friendship . All of them abound in this interesting action Western . Spectacular images as when the four friends ride side by side to clean up the town of Silverado . Outstanding acting from Kevin Kline as ex-gunfighter forced to take sides in battle , Kevin Costner also stands out as quick-tempered cowboy and Jeff Goldblum as a slick gambler. Special mention to Linda Hunt as the saloon-bar queen and Danny Glover as a upright black-cowboy who seeks vengeance . Brief appearances from John Cleese as Sheriff , James Gammon as bandit and Jeff Fahey as gunslinger . Wonderful camera work in Super Techniscope by John Bailey who photographs marvelously the colorful outdoors and interior . Classic and rousing musical score by Bruce Broughton , one of the best from Western's history and deservedly nominated Academy Award , though wrongly didn't won . This marvelous Western , as long as epic , has become a classic , being stunningly and finely crafted directed by Lawrence Kasdan who also directed another awesome Western as ¨Wyatt Earp¨ . Furthermore , he made other good movies as ¨Body heat¨, ¨The big chill¨ , ¨Grand Canyon¨ and ¨Dream catcher¨ . Rating Silverado : Excellent but overlong as the runtime is approx two hours and some . This famous Western will appeal to Kevin Costner and Kevin Kline fans . Even those who don't usually like westerns are sure to enjoy it . If you never bother with Westerns , this has several reasons why you should . Worthwhile watching and above average .

Westerns are hard to come by these days so make the most of this; it's a good one. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a spoof but it certainly doesn't take itself too seriously,best not to worry about trying to follow the plot just go along with the roller coaster ride. There's lots of hard riding, fancy shooting and athleticism by our worthy heroes as they face off with the usually overweight and constantly smiling villains who don't quite twirl their moustaches but come close. The heroine is rather insipid but this is an action picture and the romance doesn't get in the way too much. It all goes on a little too long but there's lots of fun to be had along the way.