Movies: Appaloosa

There's a long list of movies that were ruined because the director decided that he or she should be the lead performer, or vice versa. From Woody Allen to Quentin Tarantino to Mel Gibson, there is no shortage of people who want to make sure they control what's happening on both sides of the camera.

I find this phenomenon surprising. It's hard enough to be a convincing actor or a skilled director. It must take an oversized ego to believe one can handle both jobs at the same time. Does "Appaloosa," a western starring Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen, manage to rise above the rest?



Two lawmen, Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch, ride into the town of Appaloosa to deal with a renegade rancher (Jeremy Irons, in yet another villainous turn). When a woman comes into town (a woefully miscast Renée Zellweger), Cole and Hitch find themselves both drawn to her. But a gunman's life is never simple, as they are about to find out.

Ed Harris doesn't get the directing bug often (his last was "Pollock" in 2000), and "Appaloosa" has some pacing problems as a result. Unlike other new school westerns like "3:10 to Yuma," the film is more of a drama/(b)romance than an action movie; the middle third seems to go on forever, and characters can get into drawn-out conversations about their feelings. Harris and Mortensen are veterans, though, and they make the relationship between Cole and Hitch something more than friendship but less than love.

Even though the plot was disjointed overall, the movie's unconventional narrative structure (for a western) works to its advantage. Like the novel on which it is based, "Appaloosa" is more of a crime film, although there's plenty of Old West genre touches (including the archetypical ride into the sunset). That means that there is some intrigue to the story because you don't really know what'll happen next.

For the action-inclined, it's worth noting that all the gunfights are brief and bloodless. I did get a kick out of seeing Everett's enormous eight gauge shotgun. It's almost like another character in the way that it has to be carried around, set down, and picked up again like a newborn baby.

Rating: 6/10