Sunday, February 7, 2016

Only now does it occur to me... BONE TOMAHAWK (2015)

Only now does it occur to me... that Sid Haig and David Arquette ought to co-star in a full-fledged buddy comedy.
 
Their dynamic here––as a couple of bumbling, cutthroat highwaymen––only lasts for a few minutes, but it's thoroughly enjoyable, with Sid doing the irascible old man bit and Arquette dialing up the sort of Steven Weber-pastiche he nailed in Mick Garris' RIDING THE BULLET.

The film itself has some pacing issues and a streak of unlikeability––it's a generally nihilistic thriller, part acid western and part torture porn.
 
But then again, it's great to see that mustache on screen again.  Kurt presumably grew it for THE HATEFUL EIGHT, but sensibly realized that it was far too fantastic a 'stache to confine to only one film.

He also has a great "grumpy old men" relationship with brilliant character actor Richard Jenkins (THE CABIN IN THE WOODS, THE VISITOR, BURN AFTER READING).
There are some notable performances and shenanigans along the way––an extremely restrained Sean Young shows up, possibly wearing the same shoulder pads from BLADE RUNNER:
 
Matthew Fox chomps on cigars and occasionally contorts his face into the expression known to LOST fans as "Jackface":
and the tribal troglodyte villains seem culled from a MAD MAX movie, but that's okay, too.
BONE TOMAHAWK, ladies and gentlemen.

8 comments:

Mike B. said...

Ha! "Steven Weber-pastiche," love it.

Sean Gill said...

Sometimes you gotta pay homage to the greats!

Sean Gill said...

"Simple pleasures, like the facilitation of one's movie title with a murderous Kurt Russell."

I can't argue with you there! If only TEQUILA SUNRISE had adhered to this maxim.

Unknown said...

Watching BONE TOMAHAWK I was kinda hoping for a Powers Boothe cameo, perhaps reprising his role from TOMBSTONE, but alas it was not meant to be.

Sean Gill said...

J.D.,

Agreed--and while we're at it, let's throw in Paxton as one of the cave people!

SFF said...

So I guess based on your great OCCURS to me look, this one is worth watching. I's been on my rental list. But you offer up some great additional info I was not aware of. Excellent point about the STACHE! Ha

gweeps said...

What a great movie! Loved the pace. Richard Jenkins was amazing.

Russell had a stupendous mustache.

If anyone wants to see a recent film where seemingly EVERYONE has a stupendous mustache, watch this: http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BOTE1NTYxMTc3MF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNzM0OTIyMTE@._V1._CR65.1875,207.71306610107422,1654.4545288085938,1958.9090042114258_SX640_SY720_.jpg

Sean Gill said...

SFF,

Good to see you, and I think you'll get a kick out of it.

Gweeps,

Holy cow--how have I not heard of this?! Dafoe? Berenger? Presumably direct-to-DVD production value? Sign me up!