Silverado (film)
Silverado is a 1985 American Western film produced and directed by Lawrence Kasdan, and written by Kasdan and his brother Mark. It stars Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn, Danny Glover and Kevin Costner. The supporting cast features Brian Dennehy, Rosanna Arquette, John Cleese, Jeff Goldblum, Lynne Whitfield, and Linda Hunt. The film was produced by Columbia Pictures and Delphi III Productions, and distributed to theatres by Columbia, and by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment for home media. The original soundtrack, with a score composed by Bruce Broughton, was released by Geffen Records. On November 12, 2005, an expanded two-disc  version of the score was released by the Intrada Records label. "Silverado" premiered in the United States on July 10, 1985. Through an 11-week run, the film was shown at 1,190 theaters at its widest release, and grossed $32,192,570 at the box office. Generally met with positive critical reviews, it was nominated for Best Sound and Best Original Score at the 58th Academy Awards. Plot. A man named Emmett is ambushed by three assailants while he sleeps in an isolated shack, but kills them all in a brief gunfight. On a journey toward Silverado, he detours to Turley  to meet his brother, Jake. Along the way, Emmett finds a man, Paden, lying in the desert, having been robbed and left to die. Paden chooses to travel with Emmett. Arriving in Turley, Paden notices the man who stole his horse and saddle and buys a gun from a nearby store and uses to shoot and kill the man. The US cavalry intends to arrest Paden until he shows that his name was in the saddle. The story is backed up by Cobb, an old friend of Paden's. Cobb wants to give Paden a job in Silverado, however he  declines. The men soon encounter a man named Hobart, who mistakes them for two men named Baxter and Holly. The real Baxter and Holly show up and Hobart reveals he is carrying a large amount of money. Later at a nearby saloon, Emmett and Paden see another cowboy named Mal being harassed by several men and the racist saloon owner. Mal beats the men until Sheriff John Langston shows up and orders him to leave town. Paden and Emmett are questioned Sheriff Langston and learn that the hanging set for the next morning is that of Emmett's kid brother  Jake, despite him having shot the man in self defense. Paden learns Emmett intends to break his brother out of jail and decides to leave. Later at another saloon, Paden sees one of the men who robbed him, wearing his hat and guns. Paden kills the man and Sheriff Langston throws him in jail along with Jake. The next morning, its discovered the hanging scaffold has been set ablaze by Emmett. Jake and Paden break out of jail and escape with Emmett, while Sheriff Langston and a posse pursue them. Mal ends up helping the 3 men after shooting at  the posse from the rocks. Sheriff Langston and his men end up retreating, allowing the four to escape. Mal reveals he is also headed to Silverado to visit his elderly parents. The four soon encounter the wagon train of settlers led by Hobart. He reveals that Baxter and Holly betrayed them and killed one of the settlers and stole all the money. The men agree to help them, however a younger settler named Conrad is mistrustful and asks to go with them while Jake leads the settlers. The men end up using a diversion to retrieve the money and get  away. Conrad angrily tries to accuse them of stealing the money but is shot dead by one of the bandits, who is promptly also killed by Paden, Emmett, and Mal. With the money returned, Mal parts ways and leaves them while Emmett and Jake reach town and are reunited with their sister and her family. It's revealed that Emmett spent 5 years in prison for killing local rancher McKendrick. At the same time, Mal discovers his father, Ezra, living destitute in the hills and his ranch burned down. The land given to Mal's father has been seized by  the McKendrick family and Mal's mother has died. Two men ride up and accuse them of trespassing and Mal and Ezra ward the men off. In town, Paden visits a saloon and meets the manager, Stella. Paden wants to help her after learning her partner is incompetent. Stella then reveals the actual owner is Cobb, who shows a surprised Paden that he is also the local sheriff of Silverado. It's revealed that the men who tried to kill Emmett work for Ethan McKendrick, who wants to avenge his father’s death at Emmett’s hands. Mal also learns  his sister Rae is in league with a local gambler who is friends with Cobb. Cobb works for the McKendrick family and arranges for Paden to work in the saloon along with Stella, who despises Cobb. McKendrick's men murder Ezra, burn the land office, and kidnap Emmett's young nephew Augie. Stella knows about the threat on her life, telling Paden that she won't be the cause of suffering and asks him to assist Mal, Emmett, and Jake in setting things right. They stampede McKendrick's cattle to provide cover for a raid on his ranch in which  most of the bandits are killed and Augie is rescued. McKendrick escapes to Silverado. The four men return to town to end the corruption. Jake is hunted by Tyree, Cobb's right hand, and another deputy, but outsmarts and shoots them dead. Mal rescues Rae from Slick and stabs him fatally with his own knife. Emmett and McKendrick battle on horseback; Emmett drops his gun but successfully guides his horse to kick McKendrick in the head, killing him, by jumping off a ramp. Paden faces off with Cobb in a showdown in the street, and is quicker to the draw . After saying their goodbyes, Emmett and Jake are accompanied to the edge of town to say goodbye to their sister and her family before departing for California, their long-stated goal. Mal and his sister reunite and decide to rebuild their family's homestead. Meanwhile, Paden has found a calling as the new sheriff of Silverado. Production. The film was shot primarily on location at the Cook Ranch in New Mexico. In 1984, Lawrence and Mark Kasdan and crew were out scouting a remote area of New Mexico by helicopter, hoping to find the most suitable place to build the  town of Silverado. The location manager appeared at the property of local natives Bill and Marian Cook. At that time they wanted to build only two to three structures, offering Cook a "casual number" as a location fee. "There wasn't any great motivation for me one way or another, but I said okay. It just grew from that into a big budget movie and the "Silverado" set was built," Cook recalled. In an interview with Trailer Addict, actor Scott Glenn related how casting profoundly influences directing. In reference to different actors working together, he mentioned how he "really liked  Kevin Costner, and how he thought Kevin was easy and comfortable" to be around. He said, "there is real magic going on with that performance." Glenn spent his time kidding around with Costner addressing him by saying, "hey movie star!" during that earlier stage in his career. Reception. Critical response. Among mainstream critics in the U.S., the film received mostly positive reviews. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 76% based on reviews from 33 critics, with an average score of 6.73/10. The consensus reads, "Boasting rich detail and well-told story, "Silverado" is a rare example of an  '80s Hollywood Western done right." At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average out of 100 to critics' reviews, the film received a score of 64% based on 14 reviews. Critic Janet Maslin, writing in "The New York Times", said of director Kasdan, "he creates the film's most satisfying moments by communicating his own sheer enjoyment in revitalizing scenes and images that are so well-loved." Impressed, she exclaimed, ""Silverado" is a sweeping, glorious-looking western that's at least a full generation removed from the classic films it brings to mind." Roger Ebert in the "Chicago Sun-Times" called  it "sophisticated" while remarking, "This is a story, you will agree, that has been told before. What distinguishes Kasdan's telling of it is the style and energy he brings to the project." In the "San Francisco Chronicle", Peter Stack wrote that the film "delivers elaborate gun-fighting scenes, legions of galloping horses, stampeding cattle, a box canyon, covered wagons, tons of creaking leather and even a High Noonish duel." He openly mused, "How it manages to run the gamut of cowboy movie elements without getting smart-alecky is intriguing." In a mixed review, Gene Siskel of the "Chicago Tribune , said the film was a completely successful physical attempt at reviving the western, but its script would need a complete rewrite for it to become more than just a small step in a full-scale western revival." Another ambivalent review came from Jay Carr of "The Boston Globe". He noted that "Silverado" "plays like a big-budget regurgitation of old Westerns. What keeps it going is the generosity that flows between Kasdan and his actors. It's got benevolent energies, but not the more primal kind needed to renew the standard Western images and archetypes." In an entirely negative critique , film critic Jay Scott of "The Globe and Mail" said the all too familiar "manipulative "Star Wars"-style score is the only novelty on tap in "Silverado", which has a plot too drearily complicated and arid to summarize". Left equally unimpressed was Dave Kehr of the "Chicago Reader". Commenting on director Kasdan's style, he said his "considerable skills as a plot carpenter seem to desert him as soon as the story moves to the town of the title." As far as the supporting cast was concerned, he dryly noted, "none of them assumes enough authority to carry the moral and  dramatic center of the film." Giving "Silverado" 4 out of 5 stars, author Ian Freer of "Empire", thought the film was the "kind of picture that makes you want to play cowboys the moment it is over." He exclaimed, "Whereas many of the westerns from the ‘70s try a revisionist take on the genre, "Silverado" offers a wholehearted embracing of western traditions." The staff at "Variety" reserved praise for the film stating that the real rewards of the picture lie in its "visuals" saying, "rarely has the West appeared so alive, yet unlike what one carries in his mind's  eye. Ida Random's production design is thoroughly convincing in detail." Julie Salamon writing for "The Wall Street Journal", voiced positive sentiment joyfully exclaiming that "Silverado" "looks great and moves fast. Mr. Kasdan has packed his action well against the fearsomely long, dusty stretches of Western plain." Describing some pitfalls, David Sterritt of "The Christian Science Monitor" said, "When pure storytelling takes over after an hour or so, the picture becomes less original and engaging." Sterritt however was quick to admit, "The cinematography by John Bailey is stunning," but he frustratingly noted that "Like the last movie Lawrence Kasdan gave  us, "The Big Chill," it's best when the carefully chosen cast throws itself into developing characters and building their relationships." Injecting some positive opinion, the staff at "Total Film" viewed "Silverado" as a creation of the "Kasdan brothers' ebullient love letter to the horse operas of their youth", while throwing in "every Western cliché imaginable. It's not as rousing as it thinks, despite the efforts of Bruce Broughton's strident score, but looks terrific - all big skies and wide-open spaces." Richard Corliss of "Time" didn't find the picture to be compelling, stating how the film "sprays  the buckshot of its four or five story lines across the screen with the abandon of a drunken galoot aiming at a barn door. Though the film interrupts its chases and shootouts to let some fine actors stare meaningfully or spit out a little sagebrush wisdom, it rarely allows them to build the camaraderie that an old cowhand like Gabby Hayes exuded with no sweat." He ultimately came to the conclusion that "Silverado" "proves it takes more than love of the western to make a good one. Maybe the dudes at K-Tell were a mite too slick for the  job." Similarly, in an equally pessimistic tone, the staff at "TV Guide" described how "Lawrence Kasdan bloats the plot with dozens of side stories that, in painfully predictable detail, show how each of our heroes has a reason for being in "Silverado" and why they decide to stick their necks out. Though much of the running time is devoted to these expository passages, it's all very basic and shallow." At the 58th Academy Awards, "Silverado" was nominated for Best Music (Original Score), and Best Sound (Donald O. Mitchell, Rick Kline, Kevin O'Connell and David M. Ronne). In 1986, the  film received a nomination for the Artios Award in the category of Best Casting for a Feature Film (Drama) by the Casting Society of America. Box office. The film premiered in cinemas on July 9, 1985 in wide release throughout the United States. During its opening weekend, "Silverado" opened in 7th place, grossing $3,522,897 at 1,168 locations. The film "Back to the Future" came in first place during that weekend grossing $10,555,133. The film's revenue increased by 3% in its second week of release, earning $3,631,204. For that particular weekend, it moved up to 5th place  screening in 1,190 theaters. "Back to the Future" remained in first place grossing $10,315,305 in box office revenue. During its final release week in theaters, "Silverado" opened in a distant 11th place with $741,840 in revenue. It went on to top out domestically at $32,192,570 in total ticket sales through an 11-week theatrical run. For 1985 as a whole, "Silverado" would cumulatively rank at a box office performance position of 28. Accolades. The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists: Home media. The film was released on RCA CED videodisc format and VHS  in December 1985 and on Criterion laserdisc in August 1991. It was rereleased on VHS video format on July 8, 1994. A collector's edition VHS featuring a remastered recording was released on June 1, 1999. The Region 1 widescreen edition was released on DVD in the United States on February 3, 2009. Special features include filmographies, the making of "Silverado", and subtitles in Chinese (Mandarin Traditional), English, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, and Thai. Additionally, a two-disc Special Edition DVD was also released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on April 5, 2005. Special features included "A Return to Silverado with  Kevin Costner" featurette, "Along the Silverado Trail: A Western Historian's Commentary", Superbit presentation, "Top Western Shootouts" featurette, talent files, bonus previews, an exclusive 16-page movie scrapbook, and collectible "Silverado" playing cards. Soundtrack. The original motion picture soundtrack for "Silverado" was released by Geffen Records in 1985. In 1992 Intrada Records issued an expanded edition on compact disc; then on November 12, 2005, an expanded two-disc version was released by the Intrada Records music label. The score was composed and conducted by Bruce Broughton and mixed by Donald O. Mitchell. Gene Feldman and Erma Levin edited the music