Past Their Prime (Sadly)

peter-2749

Looking at some of the other reviews on here I am prone to thinking that I must have watched a different film!

Others have criticised the plot but I thought that this was actually one of the best parts of the film! It is no worse than many other Westerns made in the previous 40 years and certainly feasible and not BADLY written(although no "High Noon", or "Destry").

The sad thing for me however was watching the two main stars who appeared to be both well past their prime. Although in the case of Wayne the script eludes to this with the Cogburn character being described as "having let himself" and being "old" in no way am I saying that we should not have "old" actors on screen. Indeed I would welcome it. Morgan Freeman, Anthony Hopkins, Clint Eastwood to name but three have all improved with age but both Wayne and Hepburn did not with this one.

For large parts of the film it looked like they were simply reading the script and both of them were clearly having difficulty in merely getting up and walking. (Yet miraculously could ride their horses at break-neck speed and operate a raft with amazing dexterity).

On top of this there were some really gaping holes in credulity: Hepburn was 68 when this film was made but one of the main elements of the storyline is that her father is killed (played by Jon Lormer who was actually only a year older than she was)! The average life expectancy for white males in the 1880s in America was under 40! (Even less in "The West") and whilst people did live into old-age, they certainly would not have been as "nimble" as Lormer was (in comparison to the leads).

I thought that both of the main stars were wooden and overall film was rather "clunky". Anthony Zerbe played his part well but even here was let down but the fact that every time I looked at him I just thought of Clint Eastwood due to the laziness of the costume department!

Do yourself a favour and give this one a miss. If you do want to see these stars at their best, watch Wayne in "True Grit" and Hepburn in the "African Queen" instead.

score 4/10

peter-2749 24 November 2011

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2523061/