Ryan's Reviews 15: Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1

 Quick Note: Changing the title of these little movie reviews but keeping the numbering system continuous, unlike Marvel comics numbering haha.

Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1 (released 2024) Ryan's Rating: 2.5 out of 4 stars.

Now don't let the 2.5 make you think I did not enjoy this movie because I did but it is only a portion of the movie. Unlike say the Lord of the Rings where each installment feels like its own story, Horizon Chapter 1 feels like only a portion of the story. The set up we see here is engaging but the film ends with a "To Be Continued" as this is planned as a four part film series. It is a sprawling epic it feels like a kindred spirit to the epic How the West Was Won (1962) which Costner has said over the years is one of his favorite films. He emulates that film as this is an ensemble piece with a grand cast of familiar faces. For example even though Kevin Costner is top billed he is only in a portion of the film and doesn't appear until about an hour into the three hour story. 

The film has about four or five storylines (like How the West Was Won) that partially intersect but I have a feeling will fully intersect when all four Chapters come out. The first (Story 1) is the land development named Horizon, which is being advertised to people in the East Coast to start a new life for cheap land prices. The person selling (who we don't see until a brief moment at the end of the film) does not actually own the land and we quickly come to find it is in "Indian Territory". There is an excellent opening sequence with a land surveyor and then a family building a house that all learn this fact very quickly. Eventually a large settlement has developed and we meet Sienna Miller's character who becomes one of the several protagonists. Yet the Apache warriors soon stage a raid on the town in an excellently staged battle. This story continues with the addition of Calvary officers (including Sam Worthington) and a hunting party to find the Apache raiders (story 2). There is also a story from the Apache point of view that is left hanging in this installment but I hope will be given more screen time in the next Chapters (story 3).

The next story (story 4) involves Lucy (Jena Malone). The transition to this story line is a bit abrupt but as it continues the story becomes more organic. She is an abused young mother stuck with the wealthy and ruthless Sykes family. When Lucy shoots the baby's father and flees with her infant son the Sykes brothers set out to find her and bring the baby back to the family. This leads to the meeting of Hayes Ellison (well cast and well played Kevin Costner) an experienced cowboy and gunfighter. He is driving a cattle herd through Wyoming and stops in a a small town to have bath where he gets entangled in Lucy's plight. 

The last new story line (story 5) is a wagon train heading west to the town of Horizon. Focusing on the trials of traveling cross country, there is a wealthy couple from England who do not understand they must pull their own weight on the trail, a poor family who is doing more work to help the others (including Will Patton) and the trail "boss" Weyden (played by Luke Wilson) is stuck dealing with all the issues as well as some trail hands who are clearly going to be trouble at some point.

There is a stirring montage near the end which is like a trailer for the future Chapters of this four part saga. One thing to note, some of the scenes shared in previews of this Chapter 1 are only in this ending montage. If you are really looking forward to the scene where Costner is being chased on a horse while firing his rifle over his shoulder that scene is from the ending montage and we will  unfortunately have to wait until the next installments to see how it plays out.

The cinematography by J. Michael Muro, who previously worked on Costner's excellent western Open Range, is first rate bringing out the vastness of the plains, the mud and cold of the mountains, and the arid landscape of the Santa Fe Trail. The story is old fashioned but held my interest. I am excited to see the next installments Chapter 2 is finished but was held back from distribution due to the low box office of this first Chapter. Hopefully it will be released to theaters in 2025. I am a fan of well made westerns like this, I do recommend it (especially the fans of How the West Was Won) but I have to see how the full story plays out before I can add it to my favorites list. Happy film viewing everyone.

Film Review: My Name is Nobody (released 1973)

My Name is Nobody 
Released 1973

Directed by Tonino Valerii

(Ryan's Rating: ★★1/2 out of four)

This Spaghetti Western (though filmed in New Mexico and Spain) is really a comedy spoof of the genre's manly image.  In particular the films of Sergio Leone (Dollars Trilogy, Once Upon a Time in the West) the man who basically invented the Spaghetti Western.  

Leone is credited with the story and was a Producer (though uncredited in some prints), fans have long debated how much input he had over the film as his hallmarks are all over the screen.  The two loner gunslingers with a mutual respect who work together, the "Mexican Standoffs", and even a revisit of the shooting off each others hats from For a Few Dollars More.  Also Leone's longtime composer Ennio Morricone provides a wonderfully off kilter score for this film.

Henry Fonda stars as Jack Beauregard a legendary gunfighter who wants to retire and sail across the sea.  Terrence Hill has more screen time but less lines as the title character Nobody.  The simple yet convoluted plot is really just an excuse to hang set pieces on, the basic story involves a gang of men trying to kill Beauregard as he is moving across the state to make his steamboat trip.  Nobody is a young fan of Beauregard and follows him along in an effort to convince Beauregard to go down in the history books by taking on the hundred and fifty men single handed.  There is also the business man who has a mineral mine that he is passing off as a gold mine...but that is confusing even when seeing the whole movie (this may have made more sense in the longer Italian version).

Since this is a Western spoof there is a running gag of Nobody never shooting anyone despite his ability with a gun.  He prefers to shoot glasses out of people's hands, or hit them with oversized circus props.  There are also joking references to Western lore, the gang is named "The Wild Bunch" and walking through a graveyard they find a tombstone for Sam Peckinpah.  Nobody's name also alludes to Sergio Leone's "Man with No Name" Trilogy starring Clint Eastwood.

This film is designed for lovers of Sergio Leone and film buffs, it will probably leave casual viewers cold.  It is overlong and can be slow moving, also while Hill gives a great performance sometimes his zany antics drag.  The shootout in the barbershop, and the bar sequence are wonderful Leone stylings.  Yet many of the tension building moments end in a comedic chuckle as opposed to the expected gunfights.  Even the climactic showdown with the Wild Bunch is more exciting for its widescreen beauty and staging than its action quotient.

The retiring gunfighter unable to escape their past became a common theme as the Western Genre dwindled in popularity in the 1960s (a trend that sadly continues into the present day).  Actors associated with playing cowboys were given valedictory swan songs, John Wayne's The Shootist, Randolph Scott's Ride the High Country (also one of the last for Joel McCrea), and Clint Eastwood's final Western Unforgiven to name a few.

Following that retiring theme this film would prove to be Fonda's final feature in the Western genre (discounting his cameo in son Peter's Wanda Nevada), it is a fitting cap to a career that includes such classics as My Darling Clementine (as Wyatt Earp), The Ox Bow Incident, and Once Upon a Time in the West (excellent in a rare villainous role) and that alone makes the film significant.

I have been wanting to see this movie for a number of years as a fan of Sergio Leone it adds to his all too brief film output.  So I was very happy to see it streaming as part of Amazon Prime.  I went in expecting a traditional western so I had to adjust my expectations as the film played on.  If you go in expecting a spoof instead of A Fistful of Dollars you'll be good.  Happy trails readers.