The highly improbable logistics of the opening scene with the exploding stove top sets the viewer up for a fun ride, one in which you don't know what to expect as the opening credits roll. Kevin Kline and John Cleese - is it a Monty Python Western? Scott Glenn looking like a misplaced Carradine brother. Kevin Costner way back in 1985 - with not a thought of "Dances With Wolves" or "Open Range" in sight. Brian Dennehy, Danny Glover, Rosanna Arquette, you have to pinch yourself over the names that back then weren't household words, but combined here make up one of the more eclectic casts in the genre.
It's too bad actually that Cleese didn't have more to do here. His first appearance on screen as Sheriff Langston is so out of place that it adds another layer of ambiguity to the film. I couldn't restrain myself from cracking up over his line after Mal (Glover) breaks up the barroom - "I don't tolerate this kind of thing, it's hard on the peace and hard on the furniture".
The on again, off again relationship of the four companion protagonists is nicely balanced with focus on the characters as individuals as well. Kline's character Paden is probably the most rounded, particularly in his relationship with Stella the Midnight Star (Linda Hunt). His final showdown with Cobb (Dennehy) relives the classic falling out of partners seeking vengeance and justice in a gunfight with only one outcome possible.
Still, the film winds up confusing at times, like in the treatment of Rosanna Arquette's character. She starts out married, feigns a flirtation with Paden, is eyed by Emmett (Glenn), and then winds up without a partner by the time it's all over. There's also the separate rivalries between the good guys and Cobb's men, as well as the good guys and the McKendrick bunch. I kept wondering how all the elements would eventually tie together, but they don't. It seems to me the story's flow would have been better served by a buildup to a single confrontation in the tradition of your standard Western. However I don't think director Lawrene Kasdan was going for standard in his homage to the genre. If you go with the flow of the story, you're better served by the action scenes, gorgeous cinematography, and exciting music score when each take their turn.
It's too bad actually that Cleese didn't have more to do here. His first appearance on screen as Sheriff Langston is so out of place that it adds another layer of ambiguity to the film. I couldn't restrain myself from cracking up over his line after Mal (Glover) breaks up the barroom - "I don't tolerate this kind of thing, it's hard on the peace and hard on the furniture".
The on again, off again relationship of the four companion protagonists is nicely balanced with focus on the characters as individuals as well. Kline's character Paden is probably the most rounded, particularly in his relationship with Stella the Midnight Star (Linda Hunt). His final showdown with Cobb (Dennehy) relives the classic falling out of partners seeking vengeance and justice in a gunfight with only one outcome possible.
Still, the film winds up confusing at times, like in the treatment of Rosanna Arquette's character. She starts out married, feigns a flirtation with Paden, is eyed by Emmett (Glenn), and then winds up without a partner by the time it's all over. There's also the separate rivalries between the good guys and Cobb's men, as well as the good guys and the McKendrick bunch. I kept wondering how all the elements would eventually tie together, but they don't. It seems to me the story's flow would have been better served by a buildup to a single confrontation in the tradition of your standard Western. However I don't think director Lawrene Kasdan was going for standard in his homage to the genre. If you go with the flow of the story, you're better served by the action scenes, gorgeous cinematography, and exciting music score when each take their turn.