I consider myself a Peckinpah fan, but this film doesn't cut it.
It doesn't have any real structure apart from the opening/closing scene of Garrett getting shot, which frames the narrative from decades earlier. Maybe the desultory aimlessness of Garrett and Billy just going here and there without particular motivation was Peckinpah's point about a worn-out Western experience; but it didn't do it for me. I couldn't feel the characters, except superficially. You want to FEEL a Peckinpah character, try Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia.
The opening scene and credits are great, with wonderful freeze frames of the characters' faces that would be museum-worthy photographs in their own right. And I love the rifle shot taken in the later time period that seems to end up in the earlier one. Nice Peckinpah touches.
Coburn, awesome in Peckinpah's Cross of Iron, seems to just be doing what he has to; it's like he isn't trying hard. Kristofferson puts on a certain look for this film - a smile that says `I'm SO good at this risk-my-life outlaw stuff that I can do it and be relaxed at the same time.' The problem is that it's a `look' like Zoolander has a `look'; Kristofferson never offers any emotional variety, he's just always sporting his smile. Now Dylan, that's a different story. He's such a mousey anti-presence, it left me wondering if, god forbid, I (and all the other non-actors out there) would look that pathetic up on the big screen.
The Dylan soundtrack was good for the most part, conveyed a flavor I liked, but sometimes it just seemed mistaken, particularly in the last half of the film.
It doesn't have any real structure apart from the opening/closing scene of Garrett getting shot, which frames the narrative from decades earlier. Maybe the desultory aimlessness of Garrett and Billy just going here and there without particular motivation was Peckinpah's point about a worn-out Western experience; but it didn't do it for me. I couldn't feel the characters, except superficially. You want to FEEL a Peckinpah character, try Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia.
The opening scene and credits are great, with wonderful freeze frames of the characters' faces that would be museum-worthy photographs in their own right. And I love the rifle shot taken in the later time period that seems to end up in the earlier one. Nice Peckinpah touches.
Coburn, awesome in Peckinpah's Cross of Iron, seems to just be doing what he has to; it's like he isn't trying hard. Kristofferson puts on a certain look for this film - a smile that says `I'm SO good at this risk-my-life outlaw stuff that I can do it and be relaxed at the same time.' The problem is that it's a `look' like Zoolander has a `look'; Kristofferson never offers any emotional variety, he's just always sporting his smile. Now Dylan, that's a different story. He's such a mousey anti-presence, it left me wondering if, god forbid, I (and all the other non-actors out there) would look that pathetic up on the big screen.
The Dylan soundtrack was good for the most part, conveyed a flavor I liked, but sometimes it just seemed mistaken, particularly in the last half of the film.