Ed Harris is a good actor possessing a limited yet effective range of characterization. He is what you may call a he -man, associated in most movie-goers' mind with machismo and perhaps suspected of some of its excesses, like male chauvinism. Here in this film Harris proves that suspicion to be unfounded: he's nothing if not sympathetic to the heroine, whose loyalty to her male companion ever so dynamically tracks the ebbing tide of his king-of-herd status, and who will not bat an eyelash to abandon him for the next head dog. Harris's gentleness in handling her character is proof, in my opinion, of a larger, more endearing manhood.
So, you see, I really want to like the movie and its director. But I just cannot bring myself to do it whole-heartedly. The plot is threaded together with platitudes; apart from Harris, most characters are cardboard; and the tempo, oh the tempo, is so listless that one comes to pity the film-maker. You are increasingly disturbed by the thought that somehow during the making of "Appaloosa", Harris simply stopped believing it, and that loss of conviction comes through to some viewers , such as Yours Truly. Really, a pity. Imagine what another "he-man", Eastwood, would have been able to do with it.
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