Have appreciated Westerns for a long time now, even if the Western genre is not one of my favourite film genres and more a "appreciate rather than love" one. Not just the famous ones of John Wayne, Randolph Scott, Anthony Mann and John Ford, but there are also some worthwhile lesser known modestly budgeted ones. Audie Murphy is not a favourite of mine, but he was amiable enough and it is sad that he died so tragically at the young age he was.
'Arizona Raiders' was one of those films where time spent watching it was not regretted and it is worth a one-time watch. Murphy himself comes over well. There are though far better and more inspired Westerns about, from before and since 'Arizona Raiders', and it on the whole didn't have me jumping out of my chair or have me exclaiming "must see". It looks good and the casting is better than average, but the script and story never quite have the wow factor.
Murphy is an amiable presence and is a long way from charisma-deprived in his role, he may not fit the part of a Western hero physically if we are to stereotype a bit but he is just right dramatically. Have nothing to complain about with the performances overall, with menacing George Keymas giving the other standout turn. 'Arizona Raiders' looks good, a lot of time and care went into the scenery clearly and the photography is both atmospheric and attractive.
The music is not the most memorable there is but it at least fits with the tone of the story, is not at odds with the atmosphere and sounds appealing. Did appreciate that the characters weren't too stereotyped, if not meaty, including portraying characters that can be portrayed stereotypically and negatively with tact. What there is of the action has some excitement and tension.
Which generally in 'Arizona Raiders' come too far and between, for me the story was fairly by the numbers, sometimes dull and could have done with a lot more tension and surprises. The first half an hour agreed is not always easy to sit through, with the film getting off to a weak start. Particularly with agreed an overlong and quite corny opening scene, further ruined by an overused and over-explanatory voice over that for some may not have been needed. The direction is competent but undistinguished.
Furthermore, the character writing generally could have been much meatier. Motivations are either under-explored or don't make sense and in the case of some of the conflict both. Especially between Clint and Brady, which is introduced out of the blue and not really that well developed. Michael Dante does his best as Brady but was not menacing enough, which did dull the conflict. A lot of the writing is silly and indifferent, it could have done with a lot more edge and had a more natural flow. Also felt that this aspect was rather sketchy with not enough fleshed out enough.
Bottom line, alright film but nothing special. 5/10
