The Hi-Lo Country - review

Stephen Frears, the British director who alternatively makes low-budget British movies such as "The Van" and Hollywood-budget American movies such as "Dangerous Liaisons", here directs Woody Harrelson and Bill Crudup in a western that often feels like a film noir with horses and without a mystery to solve. It's a story set in the 1940s and it has two subplots: on the one hand, the dangerous but beautiful Mona (Patricia Arquette) makes grown men chew their cowboy hats in agonizin' desire; on the other, we have Jim Ed Love, the big cattle driver who is squeezing the life out of all the little farmers trying to eke out an existence. Even though the movie has all the necessary requirements for a true western (gunfights, bar fights, strong, silent men and lots of cattle being driven), I'd still prefer to call it a 'cowboy movie'. It just doesn't fit the genre well enough. It's too nuanced and subtle. In a western, our hero usually frets a lot before entering the decisive gunfight in the end. With "The Hi-Lo Country", you don't exactly know what you're gonna get. This is both an advantage and a disadvantage. The story doesn't seem to have much direction except a lot of repetition, and good acting and cinematography (the widescreen effect was lost on me as I saw it on video) are required to pick up the movie's slow pace. The music was a bit too old-fashioned for my taste. In general, this is hardly Frears' best work and there's a lot to complain about.