This Weekend’s Film Festival Celebrates Western Buddies

With Ed Harris's APPALOOSA now on DVD, This Weekend's Film Festival takes a look at classic buddies in Westerns. The once popular genre might have faded from the spotlight, but not from the minds of filmmakers looking to make classic archetypical tales. The genre represents freedom and camaraderie. This week's lineup shows off those qualities well in the friendships of the main characters. We have outlaws. We have two Wyatt Earps and two Doc Hollidays. We have a classic comedy duo. And we have laconic friends.

When it comes to Western buddies, the first duo that might come to mind is Paul Newman and Robert Redford in BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID. Newman is Butch, the leader of the Hole in the Wall gang, which he runs by the seat of his pants. Redford is his longtime right-hand man Sundance, the fastest draw in the West with a temper to match. Along for the adventure comes Sundance's girl, the schoolteacher Etta Place, played by THE GRADUATE's Katharine Ross. Life is all fun and games for these thieves, who keep running from their past and never look back. Never look back until the train and bank owners are tired of being robbed and hire a skilled posse to follow the duos every move. Is death nipping at their heals? These two don't really want to think about it. As I said in my original review, "Like children trying to bargain their way out of punishments, they’ll try anything…" They're going to outsmart the authorities and live life to the fullest. And if they have to they'll go out with a sarcastic comment and guns blazing.

Saturday's doubleheader offers an O.K. Corral two-for. TOMBSTONE comes first with Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer, in career bests, as famed lawman Wyatt Earp and infamous gunman/gambler Doc Holliday. This epic Western features an all-star cast, but at its core, it's a story of the friendship between Wyatt and Doc. Earp is struggling with settling down in a new town, giving up law work. The cowboys rule the streets with their guns. Earp resists the desire to get back into the adventure. As I said in my original review, "Russell’s Earp and Kilmer’s Holliday work as friends, making each other a better version of themselves. Holliday makes Earp question his beliefs and desires, while Earp makes Holliday have something to believe in." Earp is loyal and straight with people, which Doc respects. Doc's quick wit entertains Earp. You won't forget, "I'm your huckleberry." Even to a fault, Earp sticks with his decisions. Certain lines need to be crossed for him to change. Like Gary Cooper's Will Kane in HIGH NOON, he is a man of honor, trying to balance settling down and doing what he believes is right. But unlike Kane, Earp has dedicated men to stand by him — Holliday being his most devoted. A good friendship is worth dying for.

In MY DARLING CLEMENTINE, Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday aren't friends before the lawman comes to Tombstone. Earp, played by Henry Fonda, is a rough-around-the-edges ex-marshal brought in to stamp out crime in Tombstone. The leaders want their town to become civilized so they fight fire with fire, a man of the West to fight the men of the West, including cattle rustler Old Man Clanton, whom Wyatt believes was responsible for the murder of his younger brother. Holliday, in a standout performance from Victor Mature, has an East coast sophistication, which has been harden by his time in the West. While they reside on opposite sides of the law, Wyatt and Doc quickly gain a mutual respect for their straightforward attitudes. But like so many screen buddies, it takes a woman to get between them. Clementine Carter, played by Cathy Downs, arrives in town as the new schoolteacher. Can she tame these wild men? As I said in my original review, "The contrast of Wyatt’s coldness when dealing with crime and his tenderness with Clementine is the most interesting part of Fonda’s character. Mature makes Doc’s mixed feelings fascinating…" In classic mythic fashion, revenge, love and friendship come to a head in an epic gunfight, and a hero rides off into the sunset.

One wouldn't think of Laurel and Hardy as Western heroes, but in their best feature, WAY OUT WEST, they take on those roles. As one of cinema's classic screen comedic buddies, Stanley and Ollie are set on a mission to deliver a gold mine deed to the pretty Mary Roberts, played by Rosina Lawrence. But her guardian Mickey Finn (James Finlayson) and his dance hall floozy Lola Marcel (Sharon Lynn) plot to steal the deed before she can get it. The repartee between the smug Ollie and dimwitted Stanley is a classic example of comic timing, never better than the scene when Ollie and Stanley fight Mickey and Lola over the deed. The rapid-fire dialogue and action are delivered with great precision. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy knew how to tell a joke, playing off their characters' combative relationship, they crafted gags that are rarely telegraphed and often deliver a bigger laugh on a secondary beat that follows the initial punchline. So how does this make them a classic Western buddy duo? WAY OUT WEST has great fun with conventions of the genre that still last today. It's one of the reasons the film has lasted the test of time. Another reason is like I said in my original review, "This is a slapstick classic for good reason — Laurel and Hardy are masters."

APPALOOSA has tough acts to follow, but in many ways it shares qualities with all the films in the lineup. Virgil Cole, played by director Harris, and his quiet partner Everett Hitch, played in another remarkable performance by Viggo Mortensen, are hired as lawmen by the town of Appaloosa. Their task is to arrest murderous cattle baron Randall Bragg, played by Jeremy Irons. Like Butch and Sundance, Virgil and Everett don't really discuss their feelings, but know each other well. Like Earp and Holliday in MY DARLING CLEMENTINE (which this film shares the same tone with), a woman, here named Allie French (Renee Zellweger), comes between the two friends. Does Virgil really want to be tamed, or is he like Earp in TOMBSTONE and believes it is what he is supposed to do? It is certain that Everett would die for Virgil like Kilmer's Holliday would for Russell's Earp. The quick sarcastic jabs Virgil and Everett gives are as funny as anything said by Butch, Sundance, Ollie or Stanley… okay maybe not the last two, but you get the point. As I said in my original review, "The story develops along what seems like a typical Western trajectory, but takes a turn about two-thirds of the way through where it begins to focus more on the characters… It looks closely at the lives these men have led, why they do the things they do and why they might want to take big risks they’ve never taken before."

To saddle up for this Western adventure either head to the video store, update the Netflix queue, visit Zap2It.com for TV listings, or help out the site and buy the films on DVD at the links below.