Appaloosa

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By L. KENT WOLGAMOTT / GZO

Two lawmen-for-hire ride into a dusty New Mexico town, called there by panicked businessmen after a ruthless rancher killed the town marshal and turned his gang of outlaws loose to terrorize the citizenry.

The only rule to hire Virgil Cole as sheriff and Everett Hitch as deputy: Cole’s word is law, and it will be enforced at the point of a gun.

That’s the starting point of a movie that could have been made any time since celluloid started running through projectors. And part of why “Appaloosa” reclaims the western for the 21st century.

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Viggo Mortensen (left) stars as Everett Hitch and Ed Harris (right) stars as Virgil Cole in Appaloosa. (New Line Cinema)

Viggo Mortensen (left) stars as Everett Hitch and Ed Harris (right) stars as Virgil Cole in Appaloosa. (New Line Cinema)

There’s not a trace of irony in director/star Ed Harris’ adaptation of Robert B. Parker’s novel. Rather, the film takes itself and the genre seriously, with full faith in the ethos it projects. In doing so, it brings the western back from its death, courtesy of Clint Eastwood’s masterpiece “Unforgiven,” and recalls without aping classics like “High Noon.”

Harris gets the tone and look of the picture right, just as he did in “Pollock,” his superb, multi-Oscar-nominated biopic of ’50s abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock.

The look — capturing the dusty mining town, the desert surrounding it, guys on horses and drinking in saloons — is pure western and makes the film feel like it really is 1882. But the tone is even more important.

Unlike most contemporary action films, and westerns from the beginning of movies, “Appaloosa” is not overstuffed with gunfights and chases, nor are the characters played to the hilt. Rather, “Appaloosa” is characterized by restraint, a pulling-back from “Acting” and “Action” for measured, more effective telling of what is really a familiar story.

The restraint works on multiple levels, making Harris’ Cole and Viggo Mortensen’s Hitch classic strong, silent types who are, without speaking too much, the most loyal of friends. But it also keeps Renee Zellweger, who is the piano-playing Allison French, from overwhelming the movie, as she is wont to do more often than not.

Jeremy Irons has the juiciest role, playing law-flaunting rancher Randall Bragg. Irons is at his most dastardly here, but he never goes over the top, creating a character that escapes cliche because of that restraint.

The restraint also heightens the intensity of the shootouts, arrests, double-crosses and Indian attacks. All happen quickly, as they would in reality, rather than being drawn out into an unnecessary extended dance of violence.

As a western, “Appaloosa” is, by definition, a period piece. But it also functions on a contemporary level, playing like a serious cop film about loyalty and friendship — something Harris and Mortensen establish early on and then confirm with the powerful punch of the film’s ending.

“Appaloosa,” which opened on a limited basis a couple weeks ago, has received some criticism for a “lack of story,” and some have found the film too old-fashioned. Nor is it — or any other western — likely to be a box office topper in the teen-dominated movie market.

The latter likely explains why the picture is playing in just one Lincoln theater. The former is likely to limit any nominations the film might receive at the end of the year. That’s unfortunate. When the late-August screening of “Appaloosa” ended, I thought it was one of the best — if not the best — pictures I’d seen in 2008. Six weeks later, my opinion about it hasn’t changed.

For those of us who love westerns, “Appaloosa” is the movie of the year.

Reach L. Kent Wolgamott at 473-7244 or kwolgamott@journalstar.com.