I grew up watching those silly, sentimental old Westerns like Roy Rogers. The ones where the good guys are good, the bad guys are bad, and the guy always gets the girl in the end.
This movie starts out with the proverbial 'city slicker' coming to a small western town to marry the country girl he met in the city. She's sweet and pretty, but the main character, Jim McKay, learns that there's a lot of classicism and prejudice under the surface in his family-to-be that he just can't support. What really takes the forefront, though, is Mckay's gentle gallantry coming into full opposition against what we would call today, toxic masculinity. He comes into a world where men prove themselves in fistfights and he refuses to prove himself to anyone. He tries to make peace between warring families who want to see each other wiped out. And as it turns out, the good guys aren't all good and the bad guys aren't all bad. Maybe he won't get the happy ending he came for. And maybe he can't fix the war that's brewing.
I would compare this movie to The Sons of Katie Elder or The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance; it subverts, it makes you think, and it leaves a bittersweet taste in your mouth.
This movie starts out with the proverbial 'city slicker' coming to a small western town to marry the country girl he met in the city. She's sweet and pretty, but the main character, Jim McKay, learns that there's a lot of classicism and prejudice under the surface in his family-to-be that he just can't support. What really takes the forefront, though, is Mckay's gentle gallantry coming into full opposition against what we would call today, toxic masculinity. He comes into a world where men prove themselves in fistfights and he refuses to prove himself to anyone. He tries to make peace between warring families who want to see each other wiped out. And as it turns out, the good guys aren't all good and the bad guys aren't all bad. Maybe he won't get the happy ending he came for. And maybe he can't fix the war that's brewing.
I would compare this movie to The Sons of Katie Elder or The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance; it subverts, it makes you think, and it leaves a bittersweet taste in your mouth.
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