What is it about Westerns that makes them totally unbelievable? Not unbelievable like “wow, that was UNBELIEVABLE! Amazing!” This is the “is anyone actually buying this?” Unbelievable.
Now, let me give Gary Cooper some credit. He does a much better job than Shane (other western featuring a single man fighting an army of men) in terms of strategy and realistic victory (spoiler alert). However, the amount of pride these men have is seriously astonishing! I mean I get the whole “men have egos” thing, but COME ON! You are THAT confident in yourself that when your entire town flees. Like every single person. They’re gone. You are in a town by yourself. You have the audacity to think “yea, I totally got this”. GET OUTTA HERE. Also, you’re with Grace Kelly. What was your thought process, sir?
“Hmm let’s see. The town has left me alone. Experienced killers are coming for me. It’s 12pm and super hot. I have one gun. My betrothed is perfect but I told her to leave. Yea, I’m definitely going to win this fight.”
One positive thing I will say is that this movie did have me stressing. Which is a good thing. If a movie can actually create such an anxious situation that I’m legit stress-eating to calm down, it at least did something right in terms of script and/or plot. So, overall, this movie is probably as good as a western can get (especially keeping in mind the others I’ve seen on this list). If you are, for some inexplicable reason, in a “western mood”, this movie is not completely terrible.
Popcorn rating: 3 popped corns, 1 kernel
Truthfully Yours,
PFP