Just what I expected

Best movie ever!

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

I know there haven't been many, but this is the best western since Clint's Unforgiven. The photography was excellent, the acting great and the story as simple as it could be. Proof if ever it was needed that character means more to a film than plot. My only slight surprise about the film is whether it realistically portrays the status of black people. Maybe my pre-conception of the time is wrong, but were black people so well integrated in the America of the Wild West? Did they serve as jurors? Still, I suppose it got me thinking about it. Well worth watching. 8/10

****SPOILERS**** I have not read the novel on which this movie is based, but it is not necessary to do so in order to enjoy the film. Although maybe "enjoy" isn't the best word, given that the film deals with assaults on horse- and humankind, assaults that are both physical and figurative. This is not a feel good movie. It is, however, a truly fine film.The framework of the movie is familiar: Rich, greedy and cruel landowner wants to own everything in sight. Comes into conflict with Our Hero, a righteous horse trader, who loses almost everything, but triumphs in the end. Yes, he does, Virginia, but in this film that triumph comes at a terrible price, some of which even he is unaware of (the massacre of the Indians). The film depicts Wyoming, whose harsh beauty is kinder than the brutality, in the days preceeding statehood, of an essentially lawless society. The figure that should provide justice--a corrupt judge in the pocket of the movie's villain--merely makes a mockery of it.The plot has been summarized frequently in viewers' comments so I won't do it again. The filmmakers (writer Dick Cusack, director John Badham, producer John Cusack, among others) have taken a hackneyed plot and turned it into something much better. They give us a protagonist, protrayed by the younger Cusack, who is far from perfect. In fact, one of his greatest virtues, a deep and abiding integrity, may (Note, I say MAY)also be his greatest defect, since a number of relative innocents are sacrificed for its sake. But ultimately only Myrl Redding, Cusack's character, takes responsibility for the pain and loss that have resulted from his quest, and yet he still repeats that he couldn't have done things any differently. He refuses to escape the justice dealt out to him, because, after all, it was only justice that he was after all along.Cusack's characters are often eccentric and on the fringe; here he gives us a subtle portrayal of a man whose only eccentricity is the strength of his principles. Myrl Redding cares more about the dignity of life, whether that life is a horse's, an Indian's, his own, or even his enemy's, than he does about actually continuing to live. Although he has a profound respect for life and has no desire to throw it away, ultimately he believes that living isn't worth much if you have to sacrifice your dignity to do so. This respected member of the community, who sees the dignity of his animals and his ranch hand horrifically abused, first applies for redress through the legal system. He finds that, in his part of the Wyoming territory at least, justice is as abused an animal as his horses. Deprived of legal justice, he articulates his own law (which later in the film he tells an honest judge was the only law available to him and not one that he created) In doing so he commits acts that are arguably unjust themselves. And he understands his choices, which lead to his own death. Nevertheless he triumphs, because he has shown the community and, most importantly, his son, that principle is important, sometimes more important than life, and that sometimes it is necessary to make hard choices that have no obvious rewards at all, that may, in fact, render consequences that are cruel and ugly.Cusack is, as always, wonderful. His performance is understated and eloquent; Myrl Redding is not John Wayne, but he is a manly man who understands the worth--and the cost--of his own integrity. L. Q. Jones, who has surely played more cowboy villains than even he can count, is also very good. And though Henry Ballard seems thoroughly despicable, the script offers a peek into some of what might have made him that way (he tells Myrl that he has a wife and two sons buried on his land). John Goodman projects honor and authority as powerfully as he does menace and lunacy (I'm thinking primarily of his roles for the Cohn Brothers here). And before she was Eowyn, Miranda Otto's Cora gave us a glimpse of how was truly luminous she can be.My only quibbles are with a few details that I don't find convincing: Others have mentioned the unlikelihood of Ballard having a black as one of his trusted goons (and fellow poker players). I also find it highly unlikely that so many cowpokes and Indians could read and write with so little difficulty.

** Spoilers**Oh but I'm angry. Based on a true story or not, there's absolutely no reason for the last twenty minutes of this movie - a melodramatic hanging of its hero (some say `antihero') that does little more than leave audience mouths agape. I, myself, felt both sickened and incredulous by the almost fetishistic manner in which the movie dealt with the hanging. First there is this whiny buildup of tension. Will he be hanged? Won't he be hanged? Then the sad and dismayed son is trotted out like some kind of token ornament to provoke sympathy from the audience. As the scene tiredly plays out, everything and I mean everything seems to point to the inherent justice in sparing the condemned man's life. We demand that someone save him. But in the end, what happens? He is of course hanged -- in an orgy, I might add, of tear-jerking music and slow motion camera work. I don't mind an unconventional ending, but give me a break at least. Don't draw the thing out. The only explanation I can see for this ending is that the writers truly did not care about the audience. Whatever point was trying to be made here about the occasional unfairness of the law, taking responsibility for your own actions, and standing up for what you believe in was lost on me. And don't tell me that every movie doesn't have to have a happy ending. Yeah, no kidding, so then don't manipulate your audience to expect one. That's just bad film making.

The Jack Bull: A great Western The Jack Bull, a western television movie performance, is directed by John Badham and was adapted by Dick Cusack. His son John Cusack stars as a Wyoming horse trader named Myrl Redding just trying to take his horses to the auction to be sold. On his way to the auction he encounters, Henry Ballard who is played by L.Q Jones, a rich landowner with a lot of connections, who demands that Myrl pays a toll and has a permit for passing through his land. The story was based on factual events and was adapted from the novel `Michael Kohlhaas.' The storyline is based on the events that take place during the clash of Myrl Redding and Henry Ballard. Ballard is wealthy and overwhelming and doesn't like to be challenged. After a public argument in the beginning of the movie, Ballard seeks revenge and mistreats two of Myrl's prized horses that were left behind as collateral for the toll charge. Myrl decides to take the law into his own hands after getting no response to his injustice. John Cusack displays a great performance as the hard working horse dealer who tries to do the right thing in his pursuit of justice based on his principles. After a while John Goodman who plays Judge Joe Toliver, has similar principles related to Myrl Redding presides over the case of Redding vs. Ballard. He appears serious, focused, and as a non-corrupt judge in a corrupt law system. He can also be seen as the hero of the story. The movie was truly moving, even the scenery appeared authentic to what a 19th century land would appear. The actors gave a believable performance. The script was smooth and simple all this gave the western a great suspense for the audience to be interested. All western lovers should see this movie and even those who don't like westerns will like it.