I am not a winter person, no, not in the least, but there is wonderful imagery in this movie, in large thanks to Cinematographer Alwin H. Kuchler. One in particular has a runaway horse in flames with these "Shane like" majestic mountains in the background. I think that image will stay with me for some time.
This is a though story about mistakes that people make along the road of life and the answer is painfully clear even before it comes, that we can't change the past no matter how hard we try.
The premise is that a man swaps his wife and daughter for the claim to a gold mine. The story takes place years later in a moment of transition not only for the characters but also for the town which the holder of the claim has built, for changing times are at hand with the arrival of the railroad.
It's obvious that it's because of ticket sales that Westerns have become a rarity in films, and that's a shame, because there's a stark realism to the look of this western, the town and saloon give the impression that perhaps it was really like that once upon a time in the west.
If I can find fault with anything, it would have to be the pacing, which is slow to say the least, done deliberately to signify how we can't recapture the past it works against the length, by being too slow, I found myself wishing that it would speed up at some points, like when it lets us into side characters that I really had no interest in.
What works well is the knowledge of what happened in the past and the futility (and these characters know it's futile) to make everything all right. Most times everything can't be made all right. This is a wonderful example of that truth.
This is a though story about mistakes that people make along the road of life and the answer is painfully clear even before it comes, that we can't change the past no matter how hard we try.
The premise is that a man swaps his wife and daughter for the claim to a gold mine. The story takes place years later in a moment of transition not only for the characters but also for the town which the holder of the claim has built, for changing times are at hand with the arrival of the railroad.
It's obvious that it's because of ticket sales that Westerns have become a rarity in films, and that's a shame, because there's a stark realism to the look of this western, the town and saloon give the impression that perhaps it was really like that once upon a time in the west.
If I can find fault with anything, it would have to be the pacing, which is slow to say the least, done deliberately to signify how we can't recapture the past it works against the length, by being too slow, I found myself wishing that it would speed up at some points, like when it lets us into side characters that I really had no interest in.
What works well is the knowledge of what happened in the past and the futility (and these characters know it's futile) to make everything all right. Most times everything can't be made all right. This is a wonderful example of that truth.