The Last Western You Watched? ver.2.0

Horizon Chapter 1.
While it didn’t feel too long, it could’ve easily been trimmed. It is great storytelling, but no great film. And for the subject matter I would have preferred cinemascope format. The score is generic, awful. Looking forward to part two but I do understand why some folks felt it was more like a blown up TV show. Speaking of which, the comparison with the excellent 1883 is understandable, but Horizon is not that good.

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I much prefer the shorter 145-minute theatrical edit.

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I like the theatrical version as well. I watched the director’s cut the first time around and the added hour made it drag on.

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Yeah, the director’s cut feels more like a workprint to me. There’s definitely a few extended scenes I would have kept in the shorter version but overall, the pacing is so much better. I still find it strange that hardly anyone appreciates the shorter cut.

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Maybe because of what it did to United Artists, haha

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I thought the shorter version had a much better pace as well. Much more coherent as far as a story. By the end I actually wanted it to keep going. A little longer at least.

I don’t think it helped Heaven’s Gate in the long run that the film shares the same name as the UFO :flying_saucer: cult that committed suicide en masse in the late-'90s.

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I watched this again lash night, an excellent film indeed!

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rewatched “For a Few DOllars More”

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Last night, and courtesy of the 'Powerhouse Indicator; Bluray, I watched Walter Hill’s amazing 1993 homage to the ‘Geronimo Campaign’…

Featuring jaw-dropping cinematography, a beautiful and fitting score by Ry Cooder, and wonderful acting performances from Jason Patrick, Matt Damon, Gene Hackman, Robert Duvall, and real-life Cherokee, Wes Studi (Last of the Mohicans), who was perfectly cast as the proud, stoic title character.

A truly though-provoking, epic of the Old West, that encapsulates the danger, the unpredictability, and the courage needed to survive in such a quickly-changing, menacing environment, where time is literally running out for an ancient way of life - all due to the swiftly-advancing approach of bureaucratic ‘progress’, and decisions decreed by officials with no understanding of the Indian plight, and the natural instinct to defend their land.

The Indicator Bluray is packed to the gills with special features, including an informative audio commentary, behind the scenes stills, a Kim Newman featurette, interviews with Walter Hill, Wes Studi, and Ry Cooder, and a 1912 short silent film called ‘Geronimo’s Last Raid’.

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Sounds like an upgrade from my old DVD is worthwhile

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An exciting Western double-bill last night…

1969


image

1985


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I once read a review of Silverado which was titled The Mild Bunch …

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