Tag: Buck Taylor

In Defense of: ‘Wild Wild West’

Original Release Date: June 30, 1999

Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld
Written by Jim & John Thomas (story), S.S. Wilson & Brent Maddock and Jeffrey Price & Peter S. Seaman (screenplay)
Cast: Will Smith, Kevin Kline, Kenneth Branagh, Salma Hayek, M. Emmet Walsh, Ted Levine, Frederique Van Der Wal, Musetta Vander, Sofia Eng, Bai Ling, Garcelle Beauvais, Buck Taylor, Derek Mears
Soundtrack: Elmer Bernstein

(I mean, Steampunk is technically sci-fi, right?)

I’m not a Boomer, so I have no particular fealty to the Robert Conrad show of the 1960s, of which Wild Wild West is loosely inspired by (not unlike Mission: Impossible), but if the reason you don’t like this movie is because you feel it did the original show dirty, then there’s not much I can say to convince you otherwise (though I can definitely appreciate having passion for cherished properties).

On the contrary, I was a young lad at the time Wild Wild West was released, which I suppose put me at least on the outer edge of the target demographic (boy oh boy do I remember that song), although I did not see it theatrically (my mom’s a Robert Conrad fan, so she certainly had no impetus to take me). I’d catch bits and pieces here and there on cable, but I don’t think I fully sat down and watched it until a couple of years ago. Despite the film’s reputation as a bad movie, I have to say, I found it very entertaining, and seeing it on the big screen last year only affirmed my experience.

First of all, it’s directed by Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black), shot by Michael Ballhaus (Scorsese’s primary cinematographer from After Hours to The Departed), and has music by Elmer Bernstein (he scored a little movie called Ghost Busters), so, right off the bat, things can’t be all bad.

Secondly, I like the steampunk angle of it. Yes, not everything still holds up visually from 1999, and some things perhaps get a bit too silly, but, by and large, there are some really fun concepts that are well-executed, both large and smaller Q-gadget scale.

Third, I enjoy the playing around with history (after all, I was a history major). Admittedly, there are some uncomfortable tonal shifts (some may call them inconsistencies) in this area, but part of that is undoubtedly Sonnenfeld’s twisted sense of humor, which I’m mostly okay with. And, frankly, much of the subject matter is a little more relevant than some people may care to admit (dare I suggest, did Wild Wild West crawl so HBO’s Watchmen could sprint?).

Lastly, I actually like the performances. Obviously, Will Smith is Will Smith, you can take him or leave him, but Kevin Kline turns in a solid comedic performance, and, most importantly, Kenneth Branagh appropriately devours the scenery as the mustache-twirling Dr. Loveless. Overall, I get the impression that everyone knew they weren’t making high art, and allowed themselves to have fun with it, while still taking it seriously enough to not make it a farce.

It may not be a “great” movie. At the end of the day it may simply be big budget schlock (which I’m okay with), but more than anything else, Wild Wild West is fun, and that’s all I need it to be. I definitely recommend giving it another chance if it’s been a while since you’ve last seen it.

Rating: ★★★½ (out of five)

Movie Review – ‘Hell or High Water’ – Lords of the Plains

Directed by David Mackenzie
Written by Taylor Sheridan
Cast: Chris Pine, Ben Foster, Jeff Bridges, Gil Birmingham, Dale Dickey, Buck Taylor, Katy Mixon, Kevin Rankin
Soundtrack: Nick Cave & Warren Ellis

West Texas is poor, banks are bad, and Shiner Bock and Lone Star Beer are good (not to mention Pabst Blue Ribbon).

I don’t think it’s cliché to say we don’t really get major films like ‘Hell or High Water’ much anymore.  You know, a movie with an original script, a few big name actors to carry the load, a budget that’s more than a few dollars but less than a hundred million, and a compelling story rather than a series of scenes leading from one schlock action set piece to the next.

It’ll inevitably be compared to ‘No Country for Old Men‘, which is fair, given that they’re set in the same general vicinity and both center around cash, but I’d call ‘High Water’ less surreal than your typical Coen Brothers affair, and more forthright with its sense of humor (plus, it’s not based on a book).

Much of ‘Hell or High Water’ is straightforward, including the plot.  A pair of brothers, Toby and Tanner (Chris Pine and Ben Foster), start robbing banks in order to raise enough money to wrangle control of their mama’s land back from the bank, and it’s up to Texas Rangers Marcus and Alberto (Jeff Bridges and Gil Birmingham) to put a stop to it.

It might seem small time in comparison to other heist films, but part of what makes ‘Hell or High Water’ so fascinating is that it does feel down-to-earth and quite plausible.  Yes, it’s entertaining and it’ll make you laugh, but it doesn’t rely on a whole lot of flash; just a tightly written story and some top notch performances.  If you really want to be critical, you might say Jeff Bridges is just doing a rehash of his “Rooster Cogburn” from ‘True Grit‘, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and say they are distinct characters, plus the interplay between him and Gil Birmingham is fantastic.

As far as our brothers go, Chris Pine and Ben Foster really dig in as a couple of poor cowpokes with their eyes on a prize.  Outlaws they may be, but they’re still very much the heart of the movie, and the tension of whether they’ll get away with it or not is very much set in the nature of who they are individually.

If I have one legitimate criticism of the film, it’s that some little bits of dialogue are muffled by the thick accents (which I don’t normally struggle with), but I guess it comes with the territory.

Other than that, I don’t want to say much more.  Like ‘The Nice Guys‘ and ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople‘, ‘Hell or High Water’ seems bound to be in the top 5 of 2016.  It’s definitely slower-paced than usual, so be prepared for that, but I’d never call it boring.  There’s too much tension for things to ever fall flat.

This is one you don’t want to miss.

Rating: ★★★★½

P.S.
Shades of ‘Breaking Bad’?  Absolutely.