Excessive but Not With Great Results....Still

Rating: 7/10 (29 June 2016)

When all is said and done, this is really a murder mystery. A stagecoach, in a snowstorm, approaches a wayside inn where it is obvious that people stop and have coffee. It is called Minnie's Haberdashery. Except, Minnie isn't there. Also, the cargo includes a couple bounty hunters and a woman who is being taken to be hanged. There are four other characters who get into the act as well. Soon there is a lot of deep intellectual talk about justice and law and order from people who know violence as a constant companion. Samuel L. Jackson establishes himself as the principal figure (a black man who fought for the North in the Civil War). He says he has a valid letter from President Lincoln, complementing his service. The woman is a piece of work to say the least. She is vulgar and crude and gets her bell rung on more than one occasion by her captor (played by Kurt Russell, who does quite good John Wayne vocal impression). The acting is good and we are led all over the landscape, trying to figure where this is going to go. Before we are through, we can figure on a couple of revelations.