When he had the chance at the beginning?
He knew Vallian was tracking him. After Vallian picks off those first two guys, the half breed watches Vallian sneak off. He had a rifle; he never even attempted a shot.
The aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed and clamorous to be led to safety.
Yeah. There were parts of this movie that really didn't ring true. When you have a slick Indian tracker, you use him to your advantage. The pioneer family was vastly outnumbered and outgunned - I don't care how buffaloed they may have been over Elliot's long range shooting ability.
When Vallian bushwhacks the member of the gang that went up the hill to take a look around, they hear the shot that kills him and never really take the fight to Vallian.
Then you see long scenes where the family is lounging around, eating, bathing, out hunting like they haven't a care in the world.
I think if Larry McMurtry had written this, it would have been more believable.
Democracy is the pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance. H.L. Mencken
Not having read the book yet, I wondered while watching if the two half-breeds were loosely related (same father perhaps, different mothers)...even though he was said to be the man that killed Vallian's mother. Not too clear what brought the half-breed 'Ute' into the plot - and the gang - so easily at the beginning. Book next.
*Everything happens to me! Now Im shot by a child! (T.Chaney)
The "half-breed" was the poorest excuse for an actor in the movie. Since he had slaughtered a whole group of settlers and been on the run, he should have looked more fierce , angry, weatherbeaten and frightening. Instead, he looked like an innocent, naïve handsome fellow who didn't have a care in the world and wouldn't hurt a fly, and he didn't look a bit Indian--neither did Sam Elliot.
shareThe half-breed was a joke. He reminded me of Zoolander. I kept seeing Ben Stiller every time he was on screen.
"Don't tell me your little problems son, all I'm interested in is results."