Shoot the Sun Down (1978)
Starring: Margot Kidder, Christopher Walken, Geoffrey Lewis
Writers: David Leeds, Richard Rothstein
Director: David Leeds
Synopsis (Kino):
Shoot the Sun Down observes the
intersection of a former Confederate soldier-turned-bounty hunter, a
vicious mercenary in search of Native American scalps and gold, a
former ship Captain (also looking for gold), and his British
maidservant desperate to escape her indentured servitude.
Review:
I must admit that not until around ten
years ago did I begin to respect Western films. I remember my
childhood days of seeing my Father in the living room watching them
all day long. They were taxing at the time, especially on a Saturday
after umpteen hours of awesome cartoons. But around 2003 I was mature
enough to sit down and try to absorb one with my Pops. It was
actually one that I bought purely out of the desire to understand why
he enjoyed them so much. The film was The Great Silence, and said
film made me a lover of Westerns. After that, we watched them all the
time. It became kind of a bonding thing. I can't imagine what
he would think if he were to see some of these films on Blu-ray.
Anyway... this particular film, Shoot the Sun Down, I had not seen
before. The new Kino Classics release is the first time it's ever
been on DVD or Blu-ray. Thankfully, I might add, because this movie
is a real treat.
Shoot the Sun Down is very much in the
same vein as films like the aforementioned The Great Silence and The Man With No Name
Trilogy, in style, especially. It's not a film you should go into
expecting a whole lot of action from start to finish. If you do, then the
end result might be disappointment. It's extremely character driven
and heavy on dialogue, but this is really a huge part of the film's
greatness. The people are written well, and the actors chew
their scenery to pieces. It keeps the pacing strong, and when
action kicks in it's definitely exciting.
About the action sequences- there's
some editing in Shoot the Sun Down that could be downright hilarious
if you don't appreciate this kind of thing. Like grindhouse film
style edits, especially during shootouts or when someone takes an
arrow to the chest. If I'm being honest, it adds a special charm. This was well before the time came where computer generated
effects could seamlessly sling an arrow into someone, and seriously,
that usually looks just as unrealistic, if not more so. In addition to these
clip edits, Shoot the Sun Down carries a ton of fade outs after
character interaction. More than normal. This is also another
strange charm. It feels as if you recorded a television broadcast of
a movie and were damn good at pausing for commercials.
As mentioned on the back of the
Blu-ray, Shoot the Sun Down was released the same year that
Christopher Walken won an Oscar for The Deer Hunter and Margot Kidder
was being swept off of her feet by Superman... literally. Walken's
character, Mr. Rainbow, is a tall, skinny, suave, and handsome man of
few words but many actions. He's definitely not someone I'd ever
entertain double crossing, but I'd damn sure love to have him on my
side in a battle. Walken is perfection in this role. At first, he
comes off with the vibe of a character that may not speak at all, but
when he does he's utterly enchanting. Bang out performance from
Margot Kidder, as well. Her character is simply known as “The Woman
From England”. She's lived a raw life, and wants/needs to be saved
in a bad way. Walken and Kidder have some great moments together,
fueled by romance and witty dialogue. Geoffrey Lewis plays one
helluva great antagonist, known as Scalphunter. Lewis' performance
comes chock full of colorful one-liners; he's almost hard to hate.
Super funny, and it's apparent he was having a blast in the role.
If you're a fan of Ennio Morricone's
Western film scores, then you should get along quite nicely with what
Ed Bogas and Judy Munsen bring to Shoot the Sun Down. There's a very
similar type vibe, in terms of guitar work and high pitched chorus
here and there. There's so many of those key signature Westerns
scenes in this movie, of our protagonist traveling lonesome on his
horse with badass music accompanying him. The kind of tune that says
“Don't mess with this guy or you'll regret it.” Spectacular music for the action scenes, as well. The score has plenty of twang for fans
of Western film music.
Final Thoughts:
Wrapping it up- I'm certainly glad that
Kino Classics have given people the opportunity to check out Shoot the
Sun Down. I'm not really aware of the film's reputation, whether it
has a cult status about it, or if it's too slow to keep one
interested. All I can say is that I highly enjoyed it, and it's nice
to see it in a well preserved format.
Blu-ray:
Kino Classics presentation of Shoot the
Sun Down comes in a 2.35:1 Aspect Ratio, 1920 x 1080p. I feel that
this may have been a doozy of a film to clean up. It looks great, and
what's better is that it certainly keeps its age about it. You don't
want a 35 year old movie too cleaned up, otherwise it kind of takes
away from it. This has all kinds of white dust caught in the frames,
especially during the black credits and fade outs. The film itself is done great justice, in terms of clarity.
It's a really nice presentation. 2 Channel Audio. You won't be
dazzled by the glorious pleasantness of surround sound, but it's
definitely nice and full, and the mix between dialogue, action, and
score is great.
DVD Available HERE
Blu-ray Available HERE
- Eric (Brobocop)
