OK, but nothing great

Rating: 7/10 (24 September 2007)

Too many historical inaccuracies to ever get my nod as great, as the much too lenient way in which Ben Wade(Crowe) was escorted to justice just never would have happened in the old frontier west. Look at an old west crime history book with photos sometime in your library and see that captured criminals were chain-shackled from head to toe, hardly able to move a finger let alone kill two men en route and still, yes still, be treated with the kid glove leniency and poor security shown in this film. No way this would have ever happened, and the presence of 21st century security and emotional softness toward criminals in a 19th century, hard scrabble, tough-guy western story was laughable to me as a frontier historian.
Eastwood did this too with Japanese soldiers in his Letters From Iwo Jima, putting the same 21st century body language and belligerent attitudes towards authority in Asian soldiers who never in a million years would have ever acted that way 65 years ago. I think both of these filmmakers feel that modern movie goers need to relate to speech patterns and attitudes they are familiar with, as honest 19th century speech, manners and social practices would be too foreign for viewers to relate to? I don't think so. Why don't they try it sometime for accuracy, integrity and honesty, and see if we like it? I, for one, would be a lot more happy with truth and realism than with someone's fictionalized tall tale of what sells better to movie goers.
The obvious, but never overtly expressed, devoted hero worship angle tending toward homosexual adoration expressed toward Wade by his psychotic #2 in charge was probably missed by most viewers, but that subdued part was possible in real life then even among cold blooded killers, as almost all feelings and emotions in the old west were heavily repressed and thus seldom surfaced except in nuance. It was not an age for touchy feelie sentiment or for being overtly "queer" in the manly world of frontier crime.
That being said, with all true-to-life story realism put in your pocket and never given a thought again while you watched this film, it was entertaining as pure shoot-em-up escapist fare but was certainly no Shane or Red River or Once Upon A Time In The West. Not even close.