Sweetwater (2013)

In the late 1800s, a fanatical religious leader, a renegade Sheriff, and a former prostitute collide in a blood triangle on the rugged plains of the New Mexico Territory.

Directors:

Logan Miller, Noah Miller (uncredited)

Writers:

Logan Miller (screenplay by), Noah Miller (screenplay by)

Stars:

Ed Harris, January Jones, Jason Isaacs

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ed Harris	...	Sheriff Jackson
January Jones	...	Sarah Ramírez
Jason Isaacs	...	Prophet Josiah
Eduardo Noriega	...	Miguel
Stephen Root	...	Hugh
Jason Aldean	...	Daniel
Vic Browder	...	Martin
Luce Rains	...	Kingfisher
Dylan Kenin	...	Jim
Keith Meriweather	...	Jonathan
Noah Miller	...	Levi
J.B. Tuttle	...	Curly
Chad Brummett	...	Sid
Logan Miller	...	Jacob
Kevin Wiggins	...	Barley

Storyline

In the late 1800's, a beautiful former prostitute is trying to build an honest life with her husband in the rugged plains of New Mexico. When she catches the eye of a sadistic and powerful religious leader, her life is violently turned upside down. She embarks on a bloody course of vengeance with the assistance of a renegade sheriff who has pretty violent tendencies of his own.

---

Plot Keywords:

rape | female nudity | revenge killing | revenge | murder of a priest | 

---

Taglines:

Revenge is Sweet.

---

Genres:

Thriller | Western

---

Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the scene where Sheriff Jackson (played by Ed Harris) shoots Kingfisher (played by Luce Rains) in the hand after roughing him up at the sheriffs office, Ed Harris accidentally fired a shot very near to Luce Rains face during one of the takes. Rains was not injured since the guns were props and were only loaded with blanks.

---

Goofs

Tucumcari was founded as a railroad town in 1901 as "Ragtown" and was re-named "Tucumcari" in 1908. The story is obviously not set in 1908.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Sheriff Jackson: Hoo-whee!
[echo]
Sheriff Jackson: Hoo-whee!
[echo]
Sheriff Jackson: Hoo-whee!
[echo]
Sheriff Jackson: Sir, you awaken our good man! Though the night is made for lovin', and the day, she comes too soon, yet we'll go no more a-rovin', boys,
[echoing]
Sheriff Jackson: by the light of the moon. Whoo-leee! Whoo-leee! Whoo-da-leee!

User Reviews

Western that's a pointless series of killings

This dull yet extremely violent mythological western takes us to a middle-of-nowhere version of 1880s New Mexico: space and locale aren't very clearly established. Out in the desert, a pompous cleric-- who more than that is power-hungry and totally mad and evil -- whose local followers call him "Prophet Josiah" (busy and versatile English actor Jason Isaacs) comes upon two young men camping on what he says is his (and therefore God's) land. They are roasting a sheep, which he also says is his. Though they say they're connected to the governor of the state, he stabs one to death and shoots the other as he attempts to flee. This is how things go in this movie, interlaced with scenes of forced sex and verbal provocation. Like all the killings that are to follow, these are shocking, but leave us unmoved. This film is stylish, but pointless.

Later a similar fate befalls a Mexican-born farmer, Miguel Ramírez (Eduardo Noriega) whom Josiah, a thoroughgoing racist, also does not like, and therefore kills. Miguel's reformed prostitute wife Sarah (January Jones) comes looking for her husband, and eventually will realize Josiah's guilt but will kill not only eventually him, but a venial voyeur shopkeeper and various minions of Josiah. All this has been complicated early on by the arrival of the provocative, canny, also rather mad Sheriff Jackson (Ed Harris with long white locks and a long pale blue coat with plaid clown paints). In the end, there is a series of killings by Sarah mostly, with a traditional shootout, but not much suspense. Might it be that New Zealander Andrew McKenzie, whose story is the starting point, was under the sway of Cormac McCarthy's novels? The adapted screenplay is by the Marin County, California twins, Logan and Noah Miller, who worked with Ed Harris before on their debut film Touching Home, but Logan is listed as the sole director this time around.

Ed Harris has fun with his role, enjoying Prophet Josiah's good food and then stabbing his nice mahogany dining room table with his own big murderous knife to illustrate his suspicion that Josiah has killed the two young men; and every so often doing a sprightly dance that is quite nutty and belies the age suggested by his grizzled beard and silvery locks. January Jones, Don Draper's prim, then adulterous, wife in the Sixties advertising TV series Mad Men, brings a certain cool dignity to her role, but she seems too pure to have been a whore, and her wrath hath not enough fury in it.

In France where this was presented under the title Shériff Jackson, the theatrical release was "Forbidden to under 12 years." Figaroscope, whose critic liked it a lot (it got an overall Allociné press rating of 3.0), said it "refers as much to Tarantino as to Peckinpah." Actually despite some mildly ornate dialogue this lacks any of the verbal excitement or wit of Tarantino, the terror and suspense of Peckinpah, or the apocalyptic grandeur of Cormac McCarthy. Furthermore the individual scenes don't seem to link together very well and hence not much narrative drive develops. The abrupt ending makes little sense, and leaves one unsatisfied. Some moments are exploitative or vulgar. Prophet Josiah uses women sexually right and left; some scenes suggest the filmmakers are thinking of There Will Be Blood. In fact there are many influences, none integrated fully.

Sweetwater, 95 mins., debuted at Sundance Jan. 2013 and in the summer was released on DVD in the UK and Japan. Theatrical release in the US and France 9 Oct. and the US 11 Oct. It has done less well with US than French critics: Metacritic rating: 38. Todd McCarthy's assessment (no relation to Cormac) for Hollywood Reporter: "The Old West is portrayed as a venal loony bin in Sweetwater, a handsomely designed, occasionally funny but ultimately empty female vengeance yarn." Bill Graham's lead on twitch also rings true: "Sweetwater isn't easy to enjoy. For such a spare and tight film, there seems to be a lot of dead air. " He attributes that to a failure to integrate separate narrative lines. Screened for this review at UGC Odéon, Paris.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 October 2013 (USA)

Also Known As:

Sweetwater

Filming Locations:

Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$7,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$6,147

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$6,147

Company Credits

Production Co:

Kickstart Productions, Mythic International Entertainment, Raindance Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1