Some of us watch Westerns because they remind us of a time when the world was a bigger place. When it took weeks not hours to cross America. Big vistas, and big country, when men were men and didn't use their wife's beauty products.
Firecreek isn't this kind of Western, although it has the traditional gunfight and no doubt the producers said "we need that stuntman that falls from his horse and gets dragged the length of Main Street that they have in all westerns". Instead the story seems more a parable for the decadence and isolation that Western culture was falling into towards the 60s. When gangs ride into town, be it on horses or motorbikes, and everyone turns a blind eye.
I can't fault the Stewart character; he sees trouble coming and knows that if the town just keeps their heads down it will keep on moving only he's backed up by the town's people from hell. From the young slut who'll do almost anything for a few dollars more to the liveryman who thinks that Jimmy should lock 'em all up to a simpleton who somehow got elected deputy sheriff (presumably no-one else in the town wanted to put their ass on the line) who just can't help sticking his nose in.
Of course the whole thing degenerates and Stewart ends up having to play the Gary Cooper character. The movie is not unenjoyable and reminds us today that if we want to live in a pleasant society we have responsibilities and can't just lock ourselves away behind gates. Still hard to believe that there is only 5 years between Firecreek and High Plains Drifter.
Firecreek isn't this kind of Western, although it has the traditional gunfight and no doubt the producers said "we need that stuntman that falls from his horse and gets dragged the length of Main Street that they have in all westerns". Instead the story seems more a parable for the decadence and isolation that Western culture was falling into towards the 60s. When gangs ride into town, be it on horses or motorbikes, and everyone turns a blind eye.
I can't fault the Stewart character; he sees trouble coming and knows that if the town just keeps their heads down it will keep on moving only he's backed up by the town's people from hell. From the young slut who'll do almost anything for a few dollars more to the liveryman who thinks that Jimmy should lock 'em all up to a simpleton who somehow got elected deputy sheriff (presumably no-one else in the town wanted to put their ass on the line) who just can't help sticking his nose in.
Of course the whole thing degenerates and Stewart ends up having to play the Gary Cooper character. The movie is not unenjoyable and reminds us today that if we want to live in a pleasant society we have responsibilities and can't just lock ourselves away behind gates. Still hard to believe that there is only 5 years between Firecreek and High Plains Drifter.