Silverado (1985, Lawrence Kasdan)

SILVERADO


(1985 – Dir: Lawrence Kasdan – Cast: Kevin Kline (Paden), Scott Glenn (Emmett), Kevin Costner (Jake), Danny Glover (Mal), John Cleese, Jeff Goldblume, Rosanna Arquette, Brian Dennehy, Linda Hunt)

Along with Clint Eastwood’s Pale Rider, Lawrence Kasdan’s Silverado was supposed to breathe new life in the western genre in the mid-eighties. It failed to do so. Reviews were positive, the film was even nominated for two (minor) Academy Awards, but moviegoers where underwhelmed. But when it was released on videocassette, it was an unexpected hit, drawing Hollywood’s attention to the new market.

The film’s story is classic western stuff: A cowboy named Emmett saves a man called Paden, who was left behind in the desert by bandits who have stolen all his possessions, including his horse and (worst of all) his hat. Emmett and Paden head for the town of Silverado, were Emmett was born. En route they pick up Emmett’s younger brother Jake, a womanizer and gunslinger, who invariably gets into trouble by courting the ladies and shooting their lovers (in self-defence, of course). They’re joined by a fourth man, Mal, a former slave turned farmer, who’s looking for the murderers of his father. Silverado is dominated by the McKendriks clan, long-time enemies of Emmett’s and Jake’s family. The sheriff is one of Paden’s old ‘pals’, a guy with a very dubious background, and Mal also thinks the men he’s looking for are hiding out in the town of Silverado …

Silverado is a lot of fun to watch. It’s over before you know it in spite of a running time of more than two hours. Costume design and period detail are impressive and it never stops moving. But at the same time there seems to be something wrong, as if an essential element is missing. Silverado pays homage to the classic Hollywood western, so it’s no wonder it tells a story that is unambiguous and straightforward. What it fails to do, is to show the things it pays homage to in a new light. If Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch was the prototypical American western of the sixties, Silverado is the prototypical American western of the eighties. It was not only made in the 80s, it breathes the 80s. No surprise if you know director Lawrence Kasdan contributed to the scripts of Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Empire strikes back. He called his own movie his ‘Western Raiders of the Lost Ark’.

The Sixties were a decade of change and turmoil, and The Wild Bunch is innovative, rough-edged, dirty and violent. The eighties were a decade characterized by a new national (nationalist) awareness, embodied by Ronald Reagan and his Reaganomics. It also was a typical ‘bourgeois’ decade, inimical to true art. Art has no specific political color, it can be either left or right, but it is by definition challenging, thought-provoking. Like Roland Barthes has suggested in his classic study Mythologies, bourgeois society has two ways of coping with art that challenges its true nature: it either denies it, or converts it into a replica of itself. Silverado is very much a conversion, bourgeois style, of what the western had been in the previous decades. Instead of challenging and thought-provoking, Silverado is reassuring; it’s crammed with action, but it’s never dirty or nasty, it’s all clean fun for the entire family. People who usually do not love westerns, tend to love it more that fans of the genre. No wonder the baddies steal the show. The four leads are fine (especially Costner, who still was some kind of ‘coming man’ in those days), but their characters and motivations are purely rhetorical. Jeff Goldblume is well-cast as a perfidious card player and Brian Dennehy is a true delight as the corrupt sheriff of Silverado. There are also a few nice guest appearances, notably by Linda Hunt and John Cleese, as a sheriff who’s definitely not from these parts.

Have seen this film but it was a long time ago. Thanks for the review Scherp.

I've seen this appear on TV from time to time, but I've never wanted to watch it simply because this Western was in the '80's, and yet from what I've heard of it, Kasdan made it as if "The Wild Bunch" had never happened!

What's wrong with 80's Westerns?

Vassili wrote:

What's wrong with 80's Westerns?

Nothing. It's just that this particular film looks like it's all very clean-cut; it looks like Kasdan had never seen "The Wild Bunch".

Ok .

Yes it aint gritty like TWB or most of the SWs but though it might not be the greatest masterpiece of all, I find it to be an enjoyable little film.

Hmm, perhaps I will watch it one day. You never no, I might actually be plesently surprised.

Yep. It is worth watching at least once.

I like this movie and I consider this it somewhat of a minor classic ....

Firstly it's cast is rather outstanding:
Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn, Rosanna Arquette, John Cleese, Kevin Costner, Brian Dennehy, Danny Glover, Jeff Goldblum, Linda Hunt, others ...

Yeah it's standard Western faire - Good Guys vs the Bad Guys - No political statements are made - tho there is a Bar scene with Glover involving racial prejudice.

But it's all pretty well done. If i'm surfing around the tube and this is on I find it hard to pass by - it appeals to me for repeated watching and therefore fits my definition of Classic - worthy of repeated viewing.

Tidbits:
- like most movies these days, they hoped Silverado would prove popular enough for a sequel or two - as is inferred at the ending. But ... guess the money wasn't there.
- On Internet Movie Database IMDB Brian Dennehy (the prominent villain) is given no credit in the cast listing. I've written them about this, but they have failed to correct it.

Welcome to the forum ! This forum needs to expand!

I thought this was a pretty good fick, kind of in the old school western style, good guys vs bad guys. Great cast too.