Director: Tiller Russell
Writer: Tiller Russell, Ray Wylie Hubbard
Producers: Michael Frislev, Duncan Montgomery, Chad Oakes
Starring: Dwight Yoakam, Jon Foster, Peter Dinklage, Scott Speedman, Kris Kristofferson, Lizzy Caplan, Cote de Pablo
MPAA Rating: R
Running time: 82 min.

(3.5/5)

Though westerns have been making a small come back since the release of 2005’s The Proposition, few outside of John Hillcoat and Andrew Dominik have managed to bring anything new to the table. You can add Tiller Russell’s name to that short list though whether his additions to the genre are anywhere on the same level of Hillcoat and Dominik is disputable (even I can’t go that far), he is bringing something new to the well worn chaps.

Admittedly, Russell’s The Last Rites of Ransom Pride is batshit crazy and I can’t even begin to comprehend how the production team can explain the usage of modern weapons, a car and even a motorcycle but it works with the zaniness of the rest of the production.

The film stars Scott Speedman as the titular Ransom Pride, a lawbreaker who gets killed in Mexico. His girlfriend Juliette Flowers (the fabulous Lizzy Caplan) has promised to return Ransom home and lay him to rest with his mother and so begins the adventure. Flowers turns up at the Pride home where Reverend (Dwight Yoakam) isn’t much interested in Flowers’ quest and he certainly doesn’t want his “good” son involved but Champ (Jon Foster) has other plans and he takes off with Flowers. The story soon gets ugly when Champ turns into more of a gunslinger than his brother ever was and all the while, he and Flowers are fighting off the bad guys of the wild wild west, including a group on orders from his father.

Russell’s film is chalk full of wacky goodness. Aside from the strange usage of technology not of the time, there’s the crazy showdowns and the Bruja, an unrecognizable Cote de Pablo, who makes everyone’s life miserable. The other thing that makes this unlike your average western is the high speed camera usage and fast forward editing which gives you a glimpse of the future. At first, this is a little jarring but I quickly warmed up to the gimmick which is used to great effect. The music, more suited to an action film, and the rapid fire editing, we’re not talking Michael Bay here but somewhere in the ballpark of Tony Scott, feels out of step with the genre but more of a re-visioning than a misstep.

The Last Rites of Ransom Pride is going to rub some people the wrong way because it doesn’t really fit any conventions. It’s an action film set in the west in 1912 or is it a western with a splattering of action? The modern bits are too obvious and worked into the story to be mistakes so I can only imagine that Russell decided from the get go to throw out the “how to make a western” book and for some unexplainable reason, the goofy, out of step bits completely worked for me here. Definitely not your father’s western, The Last Rites of Ransom Pride is a fun, sometimes even goofy, western for those willing to give something different a shot. Whether we’ll see more of Russell’s take on the genre remains to be seen but I’m game for more.

The Last Rites of Ransom Pride has been available on DVD from Alliance Films since Tuesday, October 19th.

DVD Extras: Director’s commentary.