The Western is an overlooked and underappreciated genre.
I know a lot of people who say, “I don’t like Westerns.” You can probably blame John Wayne and his cowboy hero image for that even though he played his fair share of characters who were far from heroic. But when it’s done correctly, the Western can transcend whatever baggage it carries with it and serve as a thoughtful examination and critique of the mythos of the Old West. Oh, and they can also be very good movies.
Edward Johnson (Peter Fonda) is a former lawman turned U.S. Senator from Montana who can’t quite give up the frontier lifestyle to which he is accustomed. (The opening minutes of the film involved Johnson stringing up a man who murdered someone over a hand of cards — without trial, needless to say.) Bill Pullman plays the titular Lefty, Johnson’s longtime, somewhat bumbling yet well-meaning partner. As he is about to head off to Washington, Johnson hands over the responsibilities of his ranch to Lefty, despite the objections of his wife, Kathy (Laura Johnson), who thinks Lefty will run the place into the ground.
As you might imagine, things don’t go well for Edward Johnson. You know this because: A) his name isn’t in the title of the movie, and B) his life is too perfect at present. After some rustlers steal three horses from the ranch, Edward decides the best course of action is to go all cowboy instead of calling in the authorities. The opening scenes between Peter Fonda and Laura Johnson paint a picture so idyllic that they come off as stiff and untrue. Anyway, while they’re out investigating, one of the rustlers fires on the duo, killing Edward.
Lefty, against the wishes of practically everyone, swears vengeance and strikes out on his own to find the man who killed his friend, even though his friend (and eventual posse mate), U.S. Marshal Tom Harrah, assures him the Army is taking care of the problem. Along the way, he meets a young gunslinger, Jeremiah (Diego Josef), who tags along hoping to emulate his Old West heroes (who happen to be Edward and Tom, lawmen made into Davy Crockett-like folk heroes).
The Ballad of Lefty Brown is a very good movie that, frustratingly, falls just short of being a great one.
Lefty Brown‘s biggest flaw is the inconsistency of its dialogue. At its best, it reveals things about the characters in subtle and surprising ways. At its worst, it’s clunky, stilted, and flows unnaturally. This is particularly the case in the film’s opening fifteen minutes or so, where the dialogue between Edward and Kathy is a grating approximation of how a happily married couple might speak to each other. But mostly, the dialogue is serviceable. Maybe not high praise, but it’s serviceable in service of a good story (mostly) well told.
But whatever problems I had with the script are overshadowed by what is otherwise great filmmaking. Writer/director Jared Moshe along with cinematographer David McFarland capture the mythical strangeness of the wilderness, a sly celebration and commentary on the romanticism of the past that makes the thought of the future so unbearable. They frequently present us with shots that evoke the best of John Ford’s Westerns.
Thematically, The Ballad of Lefty Brown tries to tackle a lot, and it succeeds. The film tells two stories: the coming of age of a middle-aged man, and the coming age of a nation greatly expanding its ideals of civilization. The film takes place in a time of transition — it’s the late 1880s, and the Old West is fading away. A whole way of life, personified by Senator Johnson, is disappearing, and there’s no room for it in this new world of law and order, and there’s especially no room for it in the U.S. legislature. While the symbolism is not mapped one-to-one with the story, the ways in which the moment-to-moment action and the thematic undercurrents build and play off of each other are rich and satisfying. This is helped along nicely by a great cast who are very nearly pitch-perfect in their performances. A special mention should go to Bill Pullman, who gives one of his best screen performances.
Despite the bad first impression, I wound up really enjoying The Ballad of Lefty Brown. Sure, it’s got its flaws, but Jared Moshe clearly has great talent as a filmmaker. I look forward to seeing whatever’s next.
In Theaters December 15th.
