Even if you aren't a fan of Sergio Leone's run of Western's shot in Spain on the cheap, you will still enjoy this movie. From the loving throwback title sequence to the obtuse Western camera angles to the heartfelt story of a boy connecting to his long lost grandfather, there is a lot to love in this picture. The standard Western archetypes are there but each one with a twist. Some aren't even known by names, simply by what they do in the Western re-enactment town. There is Hanged Man, Dragged Man (who is constantly being dragged by a rope behind a horse...it is his only trick, by golly, and he uses it for everything!) and the Sheriff and the Indians. Shootouts, pratfalls, drinkin', whorin', and by golly old fashioned quick draw shootouts. As an homage it is wonderful, from the claustrophobic close-ups, bird's eye angle on a dusty western street, Morricone-sounding music and Western bravado. As an homage to the love of film, it works as well. I will be surprised if it makes it to American shores uncut, though. There is a funny scene in it involving a prostitute and a young boy that is at once innocent and funny and oddly creepy. It is a funny scene, reminiscent of similar scenes in "Almost Famous" but in the US where the flash of a breast on TV causes seizures, it just won't pass the mustard. Which is too bad, because this is top film-making but what I am reading more and more as "the next Peter Jackson" or "next Robert Rodriquez." There are too few directors of that ilk, so give this one a try when it comes out on DVD or, if you are lucky, to the nearest art house cinema.
Review of Eight Hundred Bullets
Eight Hundred Bullets
(2002)
A touching and funny homage to Spaghetti Westerns and film-making in general.
21 February 2005