I don't know how the hell Anthony Harvey got two million quid out of Rank to make this - an arty Western shot in Mexico with a bunch of respected, non box office names (Martin Sheen, Sam Waterston in brownface as an Indian, Harvey Keitel, Stephanie Audran). Sheen and Keitel are trappers, Waterston is after a white horse but then Sheen gets the horse and Waterston holds up a coach with Audran and takes a woman hostage - not Audran but Caroline Langrishe (Audran's hardly in it). Oh and there's these Mexican cowboys trying to rescue Langrishe - I think.
The synopsis gives some idea of what's the problem. This should be simple and I guess it is as it's a series of chases, but it's also diffuse because people are chasing different things.
Everyone can act but Waterston looks silly as a Kiowa in a 1979 film and Sheen isn't the most compelling cowboy (he's not helped by being knocked out and having Waterston walk away a few times, giving Waterston all the power). Langrishe is beautiful but the relationship between her and Waterston is yuck because it's that rapey-kind-of-fall-in-love-abduction creepiness.
By the end of this I was "what's the point". Interesting music, beautifully shot. Just... why?
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