Wednesday, February 12, 2025

#2,987. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) - The Films of Ronald Neame

 





Several months ago - September 27th 2024 to be exact - we lost the incomparable Maggie Smith. One of the all-time great actresses of stage and screen, Ms. Smith died in London at the age of 89. The very day she passed, as my way of commemorating her long and distinguished career, I watched (for the first time) the movie that netted Dame Maggie her very first Academy Award, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

And she was phenomenal in it!

It’s the early 1930s, and Jean Brodie (Smith) is a teacher at the Marcia Bline School for Girls in Edinburgh, Scotland. Though her assigned subject is history, Jean Brodie often discusses art and poetry with her students, which puts her at odds with stuffy headmistress Miss Mackay (Celia Johnson). A free spirit, Jane also has an active love life, and is avoiding the amorous advances of married art teacher Teddy Lloyd (Robert Stephens), with whom she recently had an affair, to instead forge a relationship with the dull but kindly music teacher, Gordon Lowther (Gordon Jackson).

More than anything, though, Jean Brodie is dedicated to her pupils, four of whom: Sandy (Pamela Franklin), Jenny (Diane Grayson), Monica (Shirley Steedman), and newest student Mary McGregor (Jane Carr), have formed a group known around the school as the “Brodie Girls”. Taking them on weekend field trips and tours of the city, Jean Brodie is especially fond of her Brodie Girls, and believes she is preparing them for very bright futures.

But when Jean, who is no stranger to controversy, crosses a line by extolling the virtues of fascism to her students, it may spell the end of her academic career.

Everything about Ronald Neame’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, from the costumes, sets, and locations to the music (“Jean”, written and performed by Rod McKeun, won that year’s Golden Globe for Best Original Song), impressed the hell out of me.

Across the board, the performances are solid. Robert Stephens, who at the time was married to Maggie Smith, is cocky as the oversexed Teddy Lloyd, yet has genuine feelings for Jean Brodie, to the point that he believes she may be the only woman he has ever loved. Also good are Gordon Jackson as Jean’s other romantic entanglement, a man who is dependable yet not near her league, and Celia Jackson as the uptight headmistress whose attitude towards Jane may be driven as much by envy as a genuine distaste for the outspoken teacher’s methods.

The finest of the supporting turns, however, is delivered by Pamela Franklin as Sandy, the most gifted of the “Brodie Girls”. At the start, Sandy and the others idolize Jean Brodie, and want to spend as much time with her as possible. But as the girls mature, (the film’s events span several years), Sandy takes special notice of the failings of Jean Brodie, some genuinely observed, others brought on by Sandy’s own jealousy (she, too, has an affair with Teddy Lloyd). Playing a character whose age ranges from 12 to 17 over the course of the movie, Miss Franklin perfectly conveys the wide-eyed innocence of youth as well as a budding, independent young woman.

At the center of it all, though, is Maggie Smith as Jean Brodie. Talking at times as if she were a character in an Oscar Wilde play (especially in her opening scenes, addressing her class on the first day back at school), Jean Brodie is a force of nature in this movie. She is outgoing, energetic, dedicated, and flamboyant, and we see almost immediately why both men and her students are drawn to her. Jean is fiercely independent, refusing to adhere to a curriculum so that she can broaden the horizons of her pupils, and a scene in which she stands up to Miss Mackay, who is demanding that Jean resign, is one of the film’s high points.

But as The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie reveals, Jean is far from perfect, and it’s a credit to Maggie Smith that, even in those scenes in which her character is crossing a line, or allowing her own selfish plans to get in the way of what’s best for her girls, she does not hold back. Perhaps most controversial, for both the story and the film’s potential audience, is Jean’s insistence that Fascism is the wave of the future, and should be embraced. On holiday, Jean spends her free time in Italy, and expresses admiration for “Il Duce”, Bentio Mussolini. Even when her support for Franco’s efforts in Spain results in a tragedy that rocks the Brodie girls, Jean does not waver. From start to finish of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, the title character oozes charisma, and has a magnetic personality. Our opinions of her may change over the course of the film, but Jane herself does not change.

My favorite Maggie Smith performance is in Robert Altman’s Gosford Park, where she plays the witty but snobbish Aunt Constance. Part of an amazing ensemble, Smith still managed to steal every scene, and though she didn’t play the most likable character in Gosford Park, I couldn’t help but admire her. The same can be said of her Jean in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Whether we love her or detest her, Jean Brodie is the film’s most fascinating individual, and we are as drawn to her as the film’s characters.

And the late, great Maggie Smith is the reason why.
Rating: 9 out of 10









Wednesday, February 5, 2025

#2,986. Abigail (2024) - The Films of 2024

 





The opening few seconds of the 2024 horror / comedy Abigail had me grinning from ear-to-ear. Already aware going in that it was a vampire flick (the trailer made sure to spoil that little surprise), I got a bit giddy when Tchaikovsky’s "Swan Lake" started playing over images of a child ballerina, dancing her little heart out on-stage. "Swan Lake" was, of course, the very music that kicked off 1931’s Dracula, the classic Universal vampire film and the movie that practically spawned the horror genre in America. That cool homage was enough to convince me directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett are horror fans like the rest of us, and I figured that, for the next 110 minutes, I was in good hands.

And then Abigail proceeded to exceed my expectations and blow me away!

The young ballerina is our title character, Abigail (Alisha Weir). She doesn’t know it yet, but she is being stalked by a team of kidnappers, a group of criminals and outcasts each with their own specific skillset. The goal: kidnap young Abigail and hold her in a remote mansion hideaway until her rich daddy coughs up a $50 million ransom.

For security reasons, the kidnappers do not know each other’s names. Instead, their employer, Lambert (Giancarlo Esposito), assigns them aliases inspired by the Rat Pack. Frank (Dan Stevens) is the unappointed leader of the group, mostly because his pissed-off demeanor intimidates the others. Joey (Melissa Barrera) obviously has some medical training, and is there to watch over Abigail. Sammy (Kathryn Newton) is a computer hacker who does it for kicks, while the dim-witted Peter (Kevin Durand) is the muscle. Rounding out the team are Dean (Angus Cloud), the stoner who is also a hell of a getaway driver, and Rickles (Will Callett), the ex-military weapons expert.

The kidnapping goes off without a hitch. Abigail is tied up and tucked away in one of the mansion’s upstairs bedrooms. Frightened and confused, the young girl is comforted by Joey, and a bond forms between them. As for the others, they have nothing to do but wait for Lambert to return in 24 hours with their share of the ransom money, and spend their time enjoying the amenities of their luxurious hide-out.

It isn’t long, though, before the criminals realize they are not alone, and that someone… or something… is stalking them. As the hours drag on, the odds that any of these criminals will survive the ordeal grow longer and longer.

As mentioned above, the trailer spoiled the fact that Abigail, which opens as a crime / thriller, transforms into a vampire film at some point (much like the trailer for Robert Rodriguez’s From Dusk Till Dawn ruined a similar twist in that film). Now, for those of you who have not seen the trailer, I will reveal nothing more. But for those who have watched the trailer and not the movie, rest easy. Abigail features additional twists and turns, each as surprising as the last.

The primary reason these surprises work is the film’s superior cast. Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, and the others do a masterful job bringing this diverse set of kidnappers to life. Their various interactions are at the core of this film, from the camaraderie that builds between some (Sammy and Peter flirt a little early on, which develops into mutual trust and genuine affection once things get real) to the antagonism that blossoms amongst others (Frank and Joey engage in a battle of wills that only intensifies with each new scene).

When all is said and done, however, the finest performance in Abigail is given by Abigail herself, Alisha Weir. Her range is phenomenal, and she is convincing as both a frightened child and a bad-ass in complete control. Ms. Weir steals every scene in Abigail. And that is no exaggeration. Everydamnscene! I would go so far as to rank her turn as Abigail up there with Hailee Steinfeld’s Mattie Ross in 2010’s True Grit as one of the greatest child performances ever captured on film. There are many reasons to watch Abigail, and Alisha Weir is at the top of that list.

What else does Abigail have going in its favor? Well, it’s a horror / comedy that works on both levels, with copious amounts of blood spewed in every direction (though enhanced digitally, the majority of the gore scenes were done practically, and it shows) and plenty of laughs (often times, the funniest moments are the ones featuring graphic violence). Abigail proved an incredibly entertaining motion picture, and if you have not yet seen it, you should absolutely treat yourself and watch it right now!
Rating: 9.5 out of 10









Wednesday, January 29, 2025

#2,985. Late Night with the Devil (2023) - The Films of 2024

 





Taking a page from Ghostwatch and The WNUF Halloween Special, 2023’s Late Night With The Devil, written and directed by siblings Colin and Cameron Cairnes, centers on a live television program that aired on Halloween night.

This time around, the year is 1977. Night Owls, a late-night talk show hosted by Jack Delroy (David Dasmalchian), has been a perennial runner-up in the ratings since its debut six years earlier, finishing second to Johnny Carson’s The Tonight Show. Having recently returned to Night Owls following a long sabbatical, during which he mourned the death of his beloved wife Madeleine (Georgina Haig), Jack is hoping this Halloween special will finally catapult him to the number one spot on the ratings chart.

Joined as always by his trusty sidekick, Gus (Rhys Auteri), Jack has invited guests who specialize in the paranormal, including psychic Christou (Faysaal Bazzi); former magician-turned-skeptic Carmichael Haig (Ian Bliss); and author / paranormal investigator June Ross-Mitchell (Laura Gordon), who believes that her protégé, 13-year-old Lilly (Ingrid Torelli), the lone survivor of a demonic cult, is possessed by an evil entity.

Things go from bad to worse during the broadcast. Christou claims at one point to be receiving signals from a powerful spirit, and has a violent reaction to it. Then, with Carmichael Haig continually alienating the audience by way of his assertions that the supernatural is phony, Jack decides to up the ante, and convinces a reluctant June Ross-Mitchell to “contact” the demon living inside Lilly… live on the air!

The Night Owls sequences throughout Late Night With the Devil, where Jack and his guests are in front of the cameras, broadcasting to the entire country, are a hell of a lot of fun. Starting with Christou’s psychic readings of audience members (where his results are hit-and-miss) through to the terrifying moment when the demon inside Lilly bursts to the surface, we believe we are watching a live TV show.

Yet it’s what separates this film from others like it that really impressed me. Throughout the entireties of both Ghostwatch and The WNUF Halloween Special, never once do the filmmakers break format. At all times, what we are seeing in those two excellent films is exactly what anyone who watched the programs “live on TV” would have seen. In contrast, Late Night with the Devil also features “behind-the-scenes” footage (shot in B&W), supposedly captured during the commercial breaks. Throughout these asides, we eavesdrop on conversations between Jack and his longtime producer Leo (Josh Quong Tart) discussing the best way to maximize ratings, all as Gus and a few others in the crew express their concerns that things are getting out of hand.

By including these extra scenes (which are too polished to have actually been shot during the breaks), the Cairnes are essentially “stripping away” the realistic vibe that the earlier films went to great lengths to maintain, all in an effort to increase the tension (when Gus is volunteered to be the subject of a demonstration staged by Carmichael Haig late in the movie, the studio audience doesn’t know what we know: that Gus is already scared out of his mind!).

The Cairnes’ do a fine job recreating the look and feel of a ‘70s late-night talk show, right down to the cheap set pieces and gaudy clothes; and David Dasmalchian gives a solid performance as Jack Delroy, a guy just charismatic enough that we believe he’d be the host of his own show, yet at the same time mediocre enough to convince us he’ll never beat Carson in the ratings (Jack always goes for the obvious joke). Yet it’s the approach that Late Night with the Devil takes in telling its story, and its willingness to occasionally suspend the realism other movies of its ilk strive to preserve, that helps it stand apart from the rest.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10








Wednesday, January 8, 2025

#2,984. Christmas Bloody Christmas (2022) - The Films of Joe Begos

 





Listen, I love Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and A Charlie Brown Christmas as much as anyone. But every December, as it draws closer to the big day, I find myself needing more than the standard family-friendly holiday entertainment. At that point, sitting down with a quality Christmas-themed horror or action film to dilute the overdose of televised sweetness becomes top priority.

There are always the standards to fall back on, of course: Black Christmas, Silent Night Deadly Night, Die Hard, and Lethal Weapon, just to name a few. But every so often a new Christmas genre film comes along that blows me away. And that’s exactly what writer / director Joe Begos’ 2022 Christmas Bloody Christmas has done.

A sci-fi horror mash-up that’s a cross between Silent Night Deadly Night and The Terminator, Christmas Bloody Christmas stars Riley Dandy as Tori, the proprietor of a small-town record / video store. It’s closing time on Christmas eve, and Tori begrudgingly accepts an invitation from her lone employee, Robbie (Sam Delich), to join him for a few drinks at a nearby bar. After first visiting her best friend Lahna (Dora Madison) and Lahna’s husband Jay (Jonah Ray), who own the local toy store, Tori and Robbie spend the next few hours at the bar getting shitfaced.

But this isn’t going to be a silent night; the main attraction at Lahna’s and Jay’s toy store this holiday season is a robotic Santa. Using technology created by the military, this Santa is as advanced as they come, with a full range of motion and a vocabulary of over 9,000 words. Before the night is out, the Cyborg Santa (played by Abraham Benruni) will go ballistic, grabbing an ax and murdering everyone in its path. And it isn’t long before it sets its sights on Tori and Robbie.

As he did with Bliss, director Joe Begos floods Christmas Bloody Christmas with color, neon reds and greens that both evoke the holiday and lend an otherworldly feel to it all, especially during the film’s chaotic final half hour. Also true to form for the writer / director is the violence on display, which is graphic and often extreme.

Christmas Bloody Christmas feels like an ‘80s film, specifically a slasher. Comparisons to Silent Night Deadly Night are obvious: both feature a Santa that goes on a killing rampage. But this movie owes just as much to James Cameron’s 1984 sci=fi classic The Terminator. A highly-advanced cyborg, the Santa in Christmas Bloody Christmas is, like the T-800 played by Schwarzenegger, an unstoppable force of nature that will not quit until it has killed every person in its path. A scene set at a police station (yet another nod to The Terminator, which featured a similar showdown) is executed to perfection, ratcheting the tension up to a whole new level while informing the audience of the killer’s unwavering resolve and seeming invincibility.

Unlike the futuristic assassin of The Terminator, though, the robotic Santa of this 2022 film does not have a specific target. It slaughters anyone and everyone it encounters, and will not stop until the last person is dead.

My good friend and fellow podcaster Jason Pyles has insisted that 1984’s The Terminator is as much a slasher movie as Halloween or Friday the 13th. Christmas Bloody Christmas may be his best argument in support of that theory. A blood-soaked holiday horror film and an homage to the slashers of yesterday, Christmas Bloody Christmas is a great addition to that list of alternative Holiday entertainment.
Rating: 9 out of 10









Wednesday, January 1, 2025

#2,983. Battleground (1949) - The Films of William A. Wellman

 





This story is about, and dedicated to, those Americans who met General Heinrich von Luttwitz and his 47 Panzer Corps and won for themselves the honored and immortal name – ‘The Battered Bastards of Bastogne’”.

The Battle of the Bulge, which stretched from December 16, 1944 to January 25, 1945, marked the final German offensive of WWII, a last-ditch effort by the Nazis to catch the Allies off-guard. And for a while, they managed to do just that, surrounding (among others) the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division. With heavy fog preventing bombing runs, and cut off from supplies, the 101st and their comrades held out as long as possible until reinforcements could arrive.

It proved to be the turning point in the war, and director William A. Wellman puts us in the middle of the fighting, following a group of soldiers as they freeze, starve, and begin to lose hope. Wellman recreates the conditions and events of the Battle of the Bulge wonderfully, but as with many of his movies it’s the characters that transform Battleground into one of the finest World War II films ever made.

Battle weary and in need of a little relaxation, the 2nd squad 3rd platoon of the 327th Glider Infantry Regiment, which is assigned to the 101st Airborne, have been given a temporary leave, and hope to spend the next few days unwinding in Paris. The Germans, however, have other plans for them, and launch a surprise attack. With their leave cancelled, the bitter men of 2nd squad head first to the city of Bastogne, then deep into the forests of the Ardennes, where they are to await further orders.

Cut off from the outside, they have no idea they are being surrounded by the Germans, and are heavily outnumbered. Still, even with heavy fog and freezing conditions settling in, the hungry troops continue to fight, praying that the Allies will quickly come to their rescue.

No stranger to war films (having directed 1927's Wings, the first movie ever to win the Academy Award for Best Picture), William A. Wellman knew how to stage a dramatic battle scene, and Battleground would also go on to win an Oscar for Best B&W Cinematography (courtesy of Paul C. Vogel). Yet before any battle is staged, and before the brilliant shots of the snowy Ardennes landscape, Battleground introduces us to its characters, and we spend a good deal of time with them prior to the skirmishes.

Van Johnson, playing the sarcastic PFC Holley, is technically the lead, yet in the end we know him about as well as we do the other men of 2nd squad. Pvt. Jim Leyton (Marshall Thompson) is the newest arrival, a raw recruit thrust into a situation for which he is not prepared, alongside a group of men he has barely met. Pvt. Donald Jarvess (John Hodiak) worked as a reporter for a local paper, and regularly praised the Allied efforts against the Nazis in his columns. Now, on the ground and part of the fighting, he has a slightly different outlook on war.

Pvt. Johnny Roderigues (Ricardo Montalban) is a native of Los Angeles, and is excited to experience the first snowfall of his life, while his good friend Pvt. “Pop” Stazek (George Murphy) has received word he is going home. Unfortunately, at the time the squad was sent to Bastogne, Pop’s official orders had not yet arrived.

Staff Sgt. Kinnie (James Whitmore) is a hardened veteran who leads the men into battle, but is also just ‘one of the guys’. Pvt. “Kipp” Kippton (Douglas Fowley), having heard that regulations state a soldier must have at least six of his own teeth to continue serving in the army, at one point knocked all of his teeth out with the butt of his rifle. Instead of a discharge, though, the army gave him a set of false choppers. Then there’s Pvt. Bettis (Richard Jaeckel), who suffers from battle fatigue.

This is just a sampling; there are more characters, and the personalities, fears, and idiosyncrasies of each and every one are front and center.

ames Whitmore was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, and while he does a fine job, definitely delivering an Oscar-worthy performance, he is no more impressive than any other actor throughout Battleground, his Sgt. Kinnie no more memorable than any other soldier. If the Academy had an award for Best Ensemble, this film would have walked away with it.

The men of the 101st Airborne were a part of history, and as Battleground shows us, they had no idea just how important it was at the time. In one key scene, a dispatch has made its way through, and as Jarvess is reading it to the others, he refers to the battle they are engaged in as “Bulge”. It was the first that the men ever heard that word, not realizing that their families back home, and people around the world, knew the word all too well by this point, and were following the action intently. Yes, it was an historic battle, and Battleground does a wonderful job recreating the harsh conditions. But history would have to wait; for these men who lived through it, it was all about survival, and getting themselves and their buddies out alive. We see and feel their struggles, their suffering, and even their victories. Wellman and his crew ensured that we lived it right along with them, and that is why Battleground is damn near a masterpiece.
Rating: 9.5 out of 10









Saturday, November 16, 2024

#2,982. All the King's Men (1949) - Best Picture Nominees



 





Political corruption has been a key plot point in Hollywood movies for decades, from the “aw shucks” mentality of Frank Capra’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington to the pessimism of Alan Pakula’s All The President’s Men. In Robert Rossen’s fantastic 1949 film All The King’s Men, we are introduced to a crusader who ends up playing both sides of the political fence, starting out as bright and optimistic about government as Jimmy Stewart’s Jefferson Smith, only to be transformed into the very man he initially wanted to overthrow.

Newspaper reporter Jack Burden (John Ireland) is assigned to cover the campaign of Willie Stark (Broderick Crawford), a small-town yokel running for Treasurer. Burden has been told that Stark is a rarity in the world of politics: he’s an honest man. While following Stark, who is harassed at every turn by his political rivals, Burden realizes everything he’s heard about Willie is true.

Burden writes a series of articles on Stark, who he sees as a decent yet naïve man who ultimately has no hope of winning the election. Sure enough, when the votes are tallied, Willie has been defeated.

As a reward for accepting the assignment, Burden takes a vacation, traveling home to spend time with his mother (Katherine Warren) and family friends, including Judge Monte Stanton (Raymond Greenleaf), the Judge’s nephew Dr. Adam Stanton (Sheppard Strudwick) and Adam’s sister Anne (Joanne Dru), with whom Burden is deeply in love.

Something happens, however, in the months that follow Willie Stark’s defeat: an accident in a school building kills a dozen children, the result of shoddy construction. Which just so happens to be one of the issues Willie Stark was trumpeting during his campaign: construction contracts going to family and friends of the current council members, regardless of qualifications. Remembering his stance on the issue, the public heralds Stark as a voice for the common man, and this newfound popularity lands him a nomination for Governor of the state.

With Burden and Sadie Burke (Mercedes McCambridge) as his advisors, Willie Stark makes a series of informative but uninspiring speeches, not realizing until it’s too late that his nomination was nothing more than a sham, a move designed to split the vote of the “common man” to clear the way for the crooked incumbent to return to office.

Those who set Willie Stark up to take this particular fall, however, come to regret their actions. As it turns out, they’ve only managed to awaken a sleeping giant.

All at once, an angry Willie Stark transforms into a political dynamo, delivering fiery speeches and riling up the “hicks”, who, like him, have had enough of the current administration. Within 4 years, Willie Stark is elected Governor, winning in a landslide.

But he is not the same man he once was; in fact, as his term stretches on, Willie Stark proves himself the most corrupt politician of them all, a fact that grows more apparent to his old pal Jack Burden with each passing day.

Broderick Crawford won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Willie Stark, the political optimist who, before long, lets power and his role as “the voice of the people” go straight to his head. Early on, Crawford plays Stark as a lovable fool, a man who has good ideas but lacks the grace and tact to get them across to the voters. The moment of his transformation (which, incidentally, also comes the day after he got drunk for the very first time) is a tremendous scene, with Willie, enraged by the realization he was just a patsy, delivering a speech that riles up the very people he was meant to corral and placate. Crawford plays it wonderfully, and, like Burden and Sadie, we the audience are happy that Willie Stark has finally unleashed his inner politician.

Willie rides this newfound vigor all the way to the State Capital, where, over time, he’ll make backroom deals with shady characters, doing so for what he calls the “greater good” (this includes the construction of a free hospital that he wants Adam Stanton to run). But as director Rossen shows us, in a hard-hitting manner, all power corrupts, and it isn’t long before Willie Stark has become the type of government official he had initially fought against.

Mercedes McCambridge, in her screen debut, also won a much-deserved Academy Award for her turn as the cynical Sadie, who falls for Stark’s rhetoric a bit harder than most. In addition, Rossen’s expert direction brings an interesting flow to the story: mannered at the outset, frantic in the final act, mirroring first Willie Stark’s humble beginnings, then his meteoric rise.

Even by 1949, corruption of power was a time-honored (read cliché) topic for motion pictures to explore. Yet All The King’s Men does it in a way that never feels like it’s treading on familiar ground. It is a movie that continues to resonate, and is just as vital as ever.
Rating: 9 out of 10









Saturday, November 9, 2024

#2,981. Dead Man's Burden (2012) - The Wild West

 





I’m convinced that, of all genres, the western holds the greatest potential for uncovering a hidden gem. From big-budget productions to low-budget indies, filmmakers across the globe have been exploring the American west for well over a century now. Just imagine how many thousands, if not tens of thousands, of westerns are out there for the taking. When I sit down to watch a new western, I always hold out hope that it will be something special.

Dead Man’s Burden, the 2012 directorial debut of Jared Moshe, is something special.

Set a few years after the American Civil War, Dead Man’s Burden tells the tale of two siblings attempting to reconnect, each hiding a secret from the other that could ruin any chance of a happy reunion. Wade McCurry (Barlow Jacobs), a former Sergeant-Major in the Army, receives word that his estranged father is dead. Having stayed away from the family’s New Mexico farm for ten years, Wade finally arrives home, where he is reunited with his younger sister Martha (Clare Bowen), now the wife of Heck Kirkland (David Call).

With their father gone, Martha intends to sell the farm to a mining company, whose representative E.J. Lane (Joseph Lyle Taylor) has made them a very generous offer. Though disappointed (he was hoping to settle down and farm the land), Wade quietly steps aside to allow Martha and Heck to do as they please.

It isn’t until he visits family friend Three Penny Hank (Richard Riehle) that Wade discovers his father’s death might not have been an accident (the old man supposedly fell off his horse). Hank even believes Lane may have had a hand in it (Wade’s and Martha’s father refused to sell, while Martha let it be known she was anxious to move as far away as possible).

Armed with this new information, Wade attempts to bring Lane to justice, though the truth of what really happened to his father may be more than he can bear.

Writer / director Moshe doesn’t conceal either Wade’s or Martha’s secrets from the audience. In the film’s opening scene, we watch Martha gun down her father (played briefly by Luce Rains) as he is riding away. As for Wade, while still making his way home, he has a run-in with two brothers (Adam O’Byrne and Travis Hammer) who are out hunting. Wade tells them his family originally hailed from Texas, but when they ask which Confederate General he served under, Wade is hesitant to reply. That’s because Wade did not fight for the Confederacy. He was a Union officer, which is what caused the initial rift between he and his father. In fact, when Wade first arrives at the farm, Martha believes he’s an imposter because she was told Wade had died years earlier while on his way to enlist with the Confederates.

Yet even with their secrets, a fondness develops between Wade and Martha, who have a genuine love for one another. Martha tells Heck that Wade was always more a father to her than their actual dad, while Wade is clearly pleased that the young girl he left behind has matured into a smart, hard-working woman. We know more than they do, of course, and once the truth is out about them both, their relationship will likely be ruined. One of the film’s strengths is that, because we see the love they have for one another, the weight of their inevitable falling out grows heavier with each passing scene.

Moshe does a fine job developing his characters while also taking advantage of the picturesque New Mexico landscape (there are some truly stunning shots in this film). Still, Dead Man’s Burden does stumble a little in the third act when a gunfight breaks out. While most of the movie was shot in a classical style, a la John Ford, this firefight took a more modern approach, with rapid cuts that not only feel out of place, but make the action confusing and hard to follow.

Fortunately, this was the film’s lone weakness. A dramatic, well-crafted tale of family bonds stretched to their breaking point, and featuring a cast of mostly unknowns, Dead Man’s Burden did, indeed, prove to be a hidden gem.
Rating: 8 out of 10