"Two Mules for Sister Sara" is actually a pretty cool sounding name for the story, cooler I suppose than 'Disabled Mule and Replacement Burro for Sister Sara' would have been. Western movie titles as late as the 1950's often had nothing to do with the story, but this one at least came fairly close. Close also in identifying the character of Sister Sara (Shirley MacLaine), I don't think Hooker Sara would have cut it.
All in all though, this one's a fairly entertaining Western, made so by the banter between the good sister and Clint Eastwood's character Hogan. I lost some interest toward the end of the film when attention turned to the hostilities between the Mexican Army and the French Cavalry, probably because of unfamiliarity with that piece of history. By that time, and with the revelation of Sara's real identity, I started questioning why she went to all the trouble of those intricate masquerades in honoring religious custom, like praying at the shrine, when Hogan would have been none the wiser. It made for good filler, but the question for a pretender like Sara would have been - why bother?
For his part, Eastwood tones down the Man With No Name menace effectively to pull off the relationship with MacLaine. I thought the dialog between them relating to sexual awareness by religious was handled rather maturely, with neither character having to resort to cliché or embarrassment. Still, I can't quite picture MacLaine as a prostitute for the story's twist, she just doesn't have the face for it. Let's picture Jane Fonda in the role, shall we.
If you're on the fence about watching the flick, the opening Ennio Morricone score might just be the grabber, with the electronic donkey bray calling to mind that ersatz holiday jingle, Dominic The Christmas Donkey. It resurfaces from time to time again in just the right spots. That, along with Sister Sara's colorful riding technique, gives me a pretty good idea why Don Siegel's name appears on a headstone in "High Plains Drifter".
Hey now, can you REALLY do that with a dead rattlesnake's tail?
All in all though, this one's a fairly entertaining Western, made so by the banter between the good sister and Clint Eastwood's character Hogan. I lost some interest toward the end of the film when attention turned to the hostilities between the Mexican Army and the French Cavalry, probably because of unfamiliarity with that piece of history. By that time, and with the revelation of Sara's real identity, I started questioning why she went to all the trouble of those intricate masquerades in honoring religious custom, like praying at the shrine, when Hogan would have been none the wiser. It made for good filler, but the question for a pretender like Sara would have been - why bother?
For his part, Eastwood tones down the Man With No Name menace effectively to pull off the relationship with MacLaine. I thought the dialog between them relating to sexual awareness by religious was handled rather maturely, with neither character having to resort to cliché or embarrassment. Still, I can't quite picture MacLaine as a prostitute for the story's twist, she just doesn't have the face for it. Let's picture Jane Fonda in the role, shall we.
If you're on the fence about watching the flick, the opening Ennio Morricone score might just be the grabber, with the electronic donkey bray calling to mind that ersatz holiday jingle, Dominic The Christmas Donkey. It resurfaces from time to time again in just the right spots. That, along with Sister Sara's colorful riding technique, gives me a pretty good idea why Don Siegel's name appears on a headstone in "High Plains Drifter".
Hey now, can you REALLY do that with a dead rattlesnake's tail?