Silverado
My reaction to 1985's SILVERADO is favorable, but might've been warmer if I hadn't recently watched so many revisionist takes. I grew up seeing and loving John Wayne et al. embracing the cliches, but in middle age I find the gritty points of view to be more honest and dramatically interesting. Co-writer/director Lawrence Kasdan set out to revisit the sagebrush tropes and splash them onto the big screen in an era when Westerns had long since fallen out of favor. A revival was hoped for, but didn't really happen. By the mid '80s, audiences were more interested in sci-fi spectacles and sagas of horny teenagers. Kasdan had a successful homage to old noirs with BODY HEAT a few years earlier. He did most everything right there. SILVERADO is carefully scripted to include the elements so familiar and beloved to those Western aficianadoes in the "Greatest Generation" and maybe some of their Boomer offspring. It might've been a tougher sell to...
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