4.75 out of 10
‘Blackthorn’ is a ‘what if’ tale centered on famed outlaw Butch Cassidy assuming he was not killed in the famous shootout in Bolivia with longtime partner Sundance Kid. The film has three things going for it: ‘what if’ stories are usually a lot of fun, it’s a western about one of the most infamous outlaws of the Old West, and it has the fantastic Sam Shepard taking the title role of the elderly Butch. Sadly, those were not enough to elevate this above your average straight-to-video western. The pace is a little slow, even for a western, and the story does nothing to draw you in. Fans of westerns or Shepard may find enough to like here, but this is a pass for others.
‘Blackthorn’ is a fun look at what may have happened if Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid survived the famous shootout in Bolivia. But, that’s about it.
Any spoilers will be clearly marked so you can avoid reading them if you so choose.
Blackthorn will be available on video in Baltimore on December 20, 2011.
The Good
Sam Shepard fit right into a western like a geek at Comicon. He was a perfect choice for the aging outlaw. He looked the part and delivered a great performance. Eduardo Noriega (Open Your Eyes) was his costar playing a Spaniard on the run from some people he stole money from. Noriega also did a fine job with the role and showed a lot of range. And the always brilliant Stephen Rea played a Pinkerton agent who was always right on the famous outlaws’ trail. Blackthorn definitely had a lot of great performances.
There were several great flashback scenes in Blackthorn. Many times Butch, who goes by James Blackthorn in his anonymous retirement, would reminisce about the past and director Mateo Gil (Open Your Eyes, Vanilla Sky) did a great job showing us the younger fugitives and how it was that Butch managed to survive and disappear. These scenes were very important to the overall flow of the film as they broke up the monotony of watching an old man and a foreigner run from their pursuers.
Blackthorn is a classic western through and through. The pace mimics lifestyles from that period, slow, deliberate and cautious. There are a lot of great landscape shots and settings, a couple of shootouts and one or two twists just to keep you on your toes.
The Bad
You do need to be a true fan of westerns to really get into this one. I watched this one while doing a few other things around the house. I do enjoy westerns, but this time around that was the only way I could enjoy this one. The pace and story are slow enough that you won’t miss anything if your eyes aren’t glued to the screen. Often the dialogue is all you need to keep up. If I forced myself to sit still and stare at the TV for the entire 105 minutes I may have rated this one a little lower. Even for a western the pace is a tad slow.
The story is interesting and a fun ‘what if’ tale but it ultimately fails to pull you in. This probably has to do with how few characters are involved in the rather simplistic plot. There just wasn’t enough to build on to get any momentum. Sure, it’s tough to tell a story about a single aging outlaw when most of the people from his past are dead. But, give us something more to grab on to.
The Bottom Line
If you are a hardcore fan of westerns or consider yourself to be Sam Shepard’s biggest fan then you may enjoy this interesting ‘what if’ western. If you find you need to clean up the living room and ‘Jeopardy’ is not on then you could put this on in the background. For everyone else this is probably a pass. There just isn’t enough story or good dialogue to justify 100 minutes of your undivided attention. Instead of going down in blaze of glory, Blackthorn simply goes down.
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