Agree, great movie( at least very good). Moves quickly, fine story, strong performances all around.
A couple of narrative nitpicks! In the opening scene where the Posse tries to kill Strawhorn and his men, why is Strawhorn a little suspicious of one of his gang members? That is not explained. I suppose we are left to think, that there's some history behind it, which would cause Strawhorne to follow him outside. His suspicions were proved correct! Also, later on, when the Posse tracks Strawhorne into the hills, they encounter what is almost an ambush. What if the 8 gunmen had not wildly fired, and hence given their position away? Would Nightingale and his men have suffered a disaster, or would they somehow have extricated themselves from a very tough situation? If they advanced beyond the sluice, then what?
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notmrjohn
9 years ago
"What if the 8 gunmen had not wildly fired..." Well, then I reckon the movie would have been over. Or at least this movie, any other result would lead to another movie.
The botched ambush is important to the plot, Dern is basically on his own, maybe there are some other dumb bad guys but he'd be better off without them. Douglas is smart and ruthless, as is his posse, they'll shoot any one even when they try to surrender. ( They could be merciful, those bad guys are just too dumb to live.)
Strawhorn' may be suspicious and smart, he might just sense something "off" about the guy.
Back to your "What if.." you could ask that about any scene of any movie; what if Nick Charles instead of Sam Spade had taken on the Maltese falcon; what if Rhett Butler had been killed; what if Boo Radley had been a sociopath?
' Pardon me while I have a strange interlude.'-Marx
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varuns-1
9 years ago
"What if the 8 gunmen had not wildly fired..." Well, then I reckon the movie would have been over. Or at least this movie, any other result would lead to another movie.
The botched ambush is important to the plot,"
A brilliant (though ambitious and dubious) character like Nightingale, couldn't possibly think that just because there was no answer from the 'shanties', that there would be no gunmen lying in waiting.
Wouldn't Nightingale have made allowance for that scenario. So would they have been so foolish and reckless to proceed beyond the sluice, if there had been no firing?
Nightingale is surely no less smart than Strawhorne.
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