Caminho Selvagem

I thought I was in for a good movie.

I'd just watched Robert Duvall and Kevin Costner in Open Range, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and was looking forward to another "gritty and violent" movie.

About the only thing gritty was my gritted teeth when it finally finished.

The two main actors I'd best describe as wooden. The rest of the cast, with the exception of Barry Corbin, couldn't decide whether they were in a dark western or a comedy.

Not a movie I can recommend.

A very bloody, violent and ruthless Western. Two brothers are orphaned and separated when young, and one takes the wrong path in life, becoming a morphine-addicted Desperado.

Various outlaws, drifters and people with financial interests seek to kill each other, across the Badlands (set in Texas), and they do a pretty good job of it. No one shrinks from pulling a trigger, that's for sure. The violence, especially against women and children, becomes appalling and Gratuitous, really. Not a movie to watch with the Little Lady nor the children.

One man was equipped with a "Broomhandle Mauser" pistol, which was not invented until 1896, and certainly not a common sight in the Old West. This appears, alongside many cap-and-ball variant weapons, which are all much older. So, the story could not have taken place until after the turn of the Century (1900). Just one little Oddity.

If you like to see a LOT of Pathos and Summary Executions, this movie is for you. I had to knock off a few points, though I like gritty, realistic Westerns, the Realism of this one fades, when I reflect that very FEW people would have survived an Old West like this one.

Rate this Western film as terrible! It is a "B" movie at best. The storyline is just moronic. The flashback which comes too late in the film attempts to bring this confusing tale together. What was James Crowley, (writer and director) thinking about? What's the point of having one of the characters being a transvestite? The story jumps thirteen years with no explanation of how the characters developed into what they are. James Crowley never gives an explanation as to why the main character (Morphinist) became a cold-blooded killer. What is the purpose of the character role that Dash Mihok plays as the double-crossed bank robber, and why is it important in this film? You can drive a Mack truck through the gaps of continuity in this film. Crowley had better try his hand at something else. Westerns are definitely not his genre. Boring would be the best way to describe this mess. The feeling you get after watching this movie is: …why did I sit through this? Trust me, just skip this one.

Some good ideas and a pretty impressive score made this a movie I didn't mind sitting through late one night when it came on the Westerns channel.

Problems include an entirely passive "hero" who does absolutely nothing (in fact only the villain does anything, really), and some characters who are introduced only to be forgotten. But Barry Corbin is a beloved character actor, and I found Dash Mihok relatively charismatic in his role as a double-crossed, repentant bank robber. Daniel Lapaine, as the protagonist (I guess), is pretty much a cold fish, and sticking out like he does is no easy task with some of the other awkward actors put to work in this movie. Any energy the movie has comes from Brad Hunt as the pseudo-antagonist and, to a lesser extent, the aforementioned Dash Mihok and Barry Corbin. Willie Nelson's presence on the bill made me wary initially, but he has a very small, brief role, for which I'm grateful (I love Willie as much as the next Texan, but his presence only ever serves to take me out of a movie).

The score had a cool 1970s horror feel to it, and the idea of a morphine addicted outlaw is pretty fresh. Unfortunately the movie forgets to have a second and third act, the entire movie being a fairly linear chase with plenty of sub-plots (and potential sub-plots) not paying off one bit. However, with the drought of modern westerns stretching on, beggars can't be choosers, wasted potential or not. Now if only I could find that neato score...

This is no gussied up Western. Everyone and everything seems to be coated with a fine layer of dust. It portrays a rather bleak, spare environment with its characters manifesting a Darwinian "survival of the fittest" attitude.

What should have been the strong core of the movie proves to be its greatest weakness -- the two brothers and their relationship. Neither is developed beyond a shell. There is no one to root for in this film. Even an anti-hero has at least one redeeming quality to gain our sympathy but the title character has none. The minor characters are more fully realized and "human."

Did I mention the violence? More ammunition is expended here than in the entire Afghan conflict.