The BBC showed a documentary on the career of Kirk Douglas tonight and as it normally does after a retrospective look on a star`s life it showed one of their films . Strangely it wasn`t one of Douglas`s classics like PATHS OF GLORY, LUST FOR LIFE , or SPARTACUS but a western from the 1970s I`d never seen called POSSE . Oh well at least they didn`t show CACTUS JACK
***** SLIGHT SPOILERS *****
For someone who normally dislikes westerns I found POSSE very enjoyable for the first third . Jack Strawhorn escapes town after shooting a couple of men and Howard Nightengale leads a posse after him . This is good Peckinpah inspired stuff as the Nightengale boys catch up with Strawhorn gang and decide they`re not going to take any prisoners . But then the middle third becomes too talkative while the final third feels more and more anachronistic as Strawhorn decides to end Nightengale`s political career . This seems to comment more on modern America than the wild west , though I do suppose that money was the root of all evil back in those days too hence the very unlikely ending .
Not the best western ever made and not the best film Douglas has starred in but solid enough entertainment
***** SLIGHT SPOILERS *****
For someone who normally dislikes westerns I found POSSE very enjoyable for the first third . Jack Strawhorn escapes town after shooting a couple of men and Howard Nightengale leads a posse after him . This is good Peckinpah inspired stuff as the Nightengale boys catch up with Strawhorn gang and decide they`re not going to take any prisoners . But then the middle third becomes too talkative while the final third feels more and more anachronistic as Strawhorn decides to end Nightengale`s political career . This seems to comment more on modern America than the wild west , though I do suppose that money was the root of all evil back in those days too hence the very unlikely ending .
Not the best western ever made and not the best film Douglas has starred in but solid enough entertainment