Writer Lawrence Kasdan ("The Empire Strikes Back", "Raiders of the Lost Ark") turned director ("Body Heat") always dreamed to make a Western film shot in the old style of the old american classics. After the huge success of "The Big Chill" ('83) that opened the doors for big budget productions and creative control over his craft , Kasdan with the help of his older brother, Mark, wrote, produced and directed, "Silverado", a love letter to the Old West and its heroic figures featuring all the Western themes, situations, characters and sub-plots, present in this beloved genre for decades.
A veteran gunslinger, Emmett (Scott Glenn), after being ambushed for (then) unknown outlaws on his way to Turley to meet his younger brother, Jake (Kevin Costner), finds an adventurer, Paden (Kevin Kline), lying in the middle of the desert, having been robbed and left to die. Paden joins Emmett and after a turmoil in Turley, where Jake was falsely accused and sentenced to be hanged, the trio escapes with the help of an african american, Mal Johnson (Danny Glover) and ride together to Silverado. On the way, they help a wagon train of settlers which the money was been stolen by two false guides and meet a young beautiful widow settler, Hannah (Rosanna Arquette), that caught both Emmett and Paden attention. When they arrive at Silverado, they found a town ruled by a corrupt Sheriff, Cobb (Brian Dennehy) and his goons, paid by an unscrupulous cattle owner, McKendrick (Ray Baker). An old friend of Paden from the outlaw days, Cobb hires him as his associate in the Saloon, managed by Stella (Linda Hunt) and tries to buy him to close his eyes in what McKendrick is doing to the townspeople and the settlers, but when his new pals, Emmett, Jake and Mal are caught in the war against the corrupt forces of Silverado, Paden needs to pick a side, before it's too late...
Beautifully shot on location in New Mexico, in the widescreen camera of John Bailey with an inspired direction of Kasdan, it's visible how the director's heart was within this project, "Silverado" was made in a time that the Western was in severe decline, after the genre's revisionism in the cynical and crude 70's decade. Kasdan chose to bring back to life the old westerns from John Ford, Howard Hawks, Raoul Walsh or Henry Hathaway, toned down the violence (almost no blood can be seen) and staged the gunfights and death scenes with a lighter tone, shooting it in the old style of using virtuous stuntmen and stunthorses, suitable for all audiences in the vein of the old matinee's.
The Oscar nominated orchestration by Bruce Broughton is as catchy as epic, even if it's basically just two themes, it's a great example how the music and the events on-screen makes the perfect match and enhances the film to something even better.
The ensemble cast is fantastic, featuring some of the very best actors that performed in the 80's, led by Kevin Kline, joining Kasdan again after "The Big Chill", the very best actor of the main cast, even if Paden have some modernist touch in him, he's impeccable as an ex-gunslinger that wants to erase his past and start a new life; Scott Glenn embodies the Gary Cooper, Joel McCrea or Steve McQueen kind of taciturn on screen persona properly and he surely can draw out his revolver and shoot fast; Kevin Costner, in a breakthrough role, after Kasdan cut off his character from "The Big Chill" (he played Alex in the flashback scenes), he promised a meaty role in his next film and keeped his promise, Costner delivers a 'scene-stealer' performance as the good-hearted, sometimes childish in his manners, the reckless gunfighter, Jake, and his scenes with his horse are way impressive, and last, but not the least, Danny Glover, until here mostly well-known to general audiences for playing villains ("The Color Purple", "Witness"), gives a great performance as Mal, and his screen presence, heroism and sense of duty gained him the iconic role of Roger Murtaugh, 2 years later in "Lethal Weapon" ('87).
The supporting cast presents the fabulous Brian Dennehy ("Cocoon", "F/X"), in Sheriff Teasle (from "First Blood") mode; Linda Hunt, fresh from her Academy Award winning in a supporting role for "The Year of Living Dangerously" ('82); the always baddie, Jeff Fahey (who later joined Costner and Kasdan again in "Wyatt Earp"); the beautiful young starlets, Amanda Wyss and Lynn Whitfield, it's a shame that their careers never really took off; future Academy Award nominee, Richard Jenkins in his film debut; the Kasdan's regular, stock actor James Gammon ("Wyatt Earp", "I Love You to Death"); the late great character actor, Brion James ("Southern Comfort", "Blade Runner", "48 Hrs.", "Flesh+Blood"), strangely uncredited in the opening and final credits, and in a rare case of playing a 'good guy' and Joe Seneca (from "Crossroads"), among lots of others...
John Cleese ("Monty Python", "A Fish Called Wanda") have a funny cameo as the Sheriff John Langston from Turley, and the then rising stars, Rosanna Arquette ("After Hours", "Desperately Seeking Susan", both also from '85) and Jeff Goldblum (joining Kasdan again after "The Big Chill"), appear in more of cameo parts than supporting roles, maybe due to their scenes had been shortened in the editing process, affecting the duality of Goldblum's character, which may be confusing for the viewers and the love triangle between Rosanna, Kevin Kline and Scott Glenn that wasn't fully explored.
The aforementioned flaw is probably the only reason i do not rate "Silverado" a perfect 10/10. Some sub-plots are left behind, and some characters just disappear to appear again at the end (Rosanna Arquette), it looked like the movie needed more half an hour to explain everything correctly, but at 133 minutes already, the Studio's pressure passed over of Kasdans' creative control, keeping it more as an adventure / action western film, and less an epic of big proportions (they were still afraid of another "Heaven's Gate"...)
In short, "Silverado" and Clint Eastwood's "Pale Rider", both released in '85, revitalized the Western genre and opened the doors to future productions such as "Young Guns" and its sequel ('88, '90); "Quigley Down Under" ('90) and the acclaimed and Oscar winner films, "Dances with Wolves" ('90) and "Unforgiven" ('92).
I rate it a 9.5 / 10
Highly recommended !!
A veteran gunslinger, Emmett (Scott Glenn), after being ambushed for (then) unknown outlaws on his way to Turley to meet his younger brother, Jake (Kevin Costner), finds an adventurer, Paden (Kevin Kline), lying in the middle of the desert, having been robbed and left to die. Paden joins Emmett and after a turmoil in Turley, where Jake was falsely accused and sentenced to be hanged, the trio escapes with the help of an african american, Mal Johnson (Danny Glover) and ride together to Silverado. On the way, they help a wagon train of settlers which the money was been stolen by two false guides and meet a young beautiful widow settler, Hannah (Rosanna Arquette), that caught both Emmett and Paden attention. When they arrive at Silverado, they found a town ruled by a corrupt Sheriff, Cobb (Brian Dennehy) and his goons, paid by an unscrupulous cattle owner, McKendrick (Ray Baker). An old friend of Paden from the outlaw days, Cobb hires him as his associate in the Saloon, managed by Stella (Linda Hunt) and tries to buy him to close his eyes in what McKendrick is doing to the townspeople and the settlers, but when his new pals, Emmett, Jake and Mal are caught in the war against the corrupt forces of Silverado, Paden needs to pick a side, before it's too late...
Beautifully shot on location in New Mexico, in the widescreen camera of John Bailey with an inspired direction of Kasdan, it's visible how the director's heart was within this project, "Silverado" was made in a time that the Western was in severe decline, after the genre's revisionism in the cynical and crude 70's decade. Kasdan chose to bring back to life the old westerns from John Ford, Howard Hawks, Raoul Walsh or Henry Hathaway, toned down the violence (almost no blood can be seen) and staged the gunfights and death scenes with a lighter tone, shooting it in the old style of using virtuous stuntmen and stunthorses, suitable for all audiences in the vein of the old matinee's.
The Oscar nominated orchestration by Bruce Broughton is as catchy as epic, even if it's basically just two themes, it's a great example how the music and the events on-screen makes the perfect match and enhances the film to something even better.
The ensemble cast is fantastic, featuring some of the very best actors that performed in the 80's, led by Kevin Kline, joining Kasdan again after "The Big Chill", the very best actor of the main cast, even if Paden have some modernist touch in him, he's impeccable as an ex-gunslinger that wants to erase his past and start a new life; Scott Glenn embodies the Gary Cooper, Joel McCrea or Steve McQueen kind of taciturn on screen persona properly and he surely can draw out his revolver and shoot fast; Kevin Costner, in a breakthrough role, after Kasdan cut off his character from "The Big Chill" (he played Alex in the flashback scenes), he promised a meaty role in his next film and keeped his promise, Costner delivers a 'scene-stealer' performance as the good-hearted, sometimes childish in his manners, the reckless gunfighter, Jake, and his scenes with his horse are way impressive, and last, but not the least, Danny Glover, until here mostly well-known to general audiences for playing villains ("The Color Purple", "Witness"), gives a great performance as Mal, and his screen presence, heroism and sense of duty gained him the iconic role of Roger Murtaugh, 2 years later in "Lethal Weapon" ('87).
The supporting cast presents the fabulous Brian Dennehy ("Cocoon", "F/X"), in Sheriff Teasle (from "First Blood") mode; Linda Hunt, fresh from her Academy Award winning in a supporting role for "The Year of Living Dangerously" ('82); the always baddie, Jeff Fahey (who later joined Costner and Kasdan again in "Wyatt Earp"); the beautiful young starlets, Amanda Wyss and Lynn Whitfield, it's a shame that their careers never really took off; future Academy Award nominee, Richard Jenkins in his film debut; the Kasdan's regular, stock actor James Gammon ("Wyatt Earp", "I Love You to Death"); the late great character actor, Brion James ("Southern Comfort", "Blade Runner", "48 Hrs.", "Flesh+Blood"), strangely uncredited in the opening and final credits, and in a rare case of playing a 'good guy' and Joe Seneca (from "Crossroads"), among lots of others...
John Cleese ("Monty Python", "A Fish Called Wanda") have a funny cameo as the Sheriff John Langston from Turley, and the then rising stars, Rosanna Arquette ("After Hours", "Desperately Seeking Susan", both also from '85) and Jeff Goldblum (joining Kasdan again after "The Big Chill"), appear in more of cameo parts than supporting roles, maybe due to their scenes had been shortened in the editing process, affecting the duality of Goldblum's character, which may be confusing for the viewers and the love triangle between Rosanna, Kevin Kline and Scott Glenn that wasn't fully explored.
The aforementioned flaw is probably the only reason i do not rate "Silverado" a perfect 10/10. Some sub-plots are left behind, and some characters just disappear to appear again at the end (Rosanna Arquette), it looked like the movie needed more half an hour to explain everything correctly, but at 133 minutes already, the Studio's pressure passed over of Kasdans' creative control, keeping it more as an adventure / action western film, and less an epic of big proportions (they were still afraid of another "Heaven's Gate"...)
In short, "Silverado" and Clint Eastwood's "Pale Rider", both released in '85, revitalized the Western genre and opened the doors to future productions such as "Young Guns" and its sequel ('88, '90); "Quigley Down Under" ('90) and the acclaimed and Oscar winner films, "Dances with Wolves" ('90) and "Unforgiven" ('92).
I rate it a 9.5 / 10
Highly recommended !!