Critique Frenchy

Le réalisateur espagnol  Mateo Gil traverse l'Atlantique pour s'attaquer au genre le plus américain qui soit : le western. En imaginant les aventures de Butch Cassidy 20 ans après sa mort supposée, il renoue avec la tradition westernienne dans un film classique mais et efficace.

Et si... Butch Cassidy n'était pas mort dans la fusillade célèbre qui clôture le film de George Roy Hill, Butch Cassidy et le Kid ? L'idée selon laquelle le bandit n'aurait pas été tué en Bolivie en1908 n'est pas nouvelle (sa sœur, entres autres, affirme, dans la biographie qu'elle consacre à son frère, qu'il était revenu vivre aux Etats-Unis où il serait mort bien plus tard) mais elle n'est guère très connue, surtout parce que Butch Cassidy est surtout connu à travers le film sus-cité.(Ffff le style !!) Sans chercher à faire une « suite », Mateo Gil a repris le personnage en suivant donc l'hypothèse qu'il ait vécu après 1908, en Bolivie, sous le nom de James Blackthorn ( Sam Shepard).

Comme un roman de Dumas, Blackthorn se déroule 20 ans plus tard. Butch devenu James vit seul depuis la mort du Sundance Kid, et il songe à retourner aux Etats-Unis. Mais un ingénieur espagnol, Eduardo Apocada ( Eduardo Noriega), va se mettre en travers de sa route : coupable du braquage de la mine où il travaillait, il entraîne Blackthorn dans sa fuite en lui promettant une part du butin. D'abord liés par l'intérêt, une amitié va naître entre les deux hommes.

Dans un style westernien classique très maîtrisé, le film adopte un ton un peu crépusculaire pour relater ces aventures rêvées de Butch Cassidy dans un univers post-western. Sans vraiment se rendre compte du changements d'époque, Butch/Blackthorn vit beaucoup dans ses souvenirs, dans une certaine conception du monde qui ne correspond plus à la réalité, contrairement à Mackinley ( Stephen Rea), son adversaire de toujours.

Blackthorn, la dernière chevauchée de Butch Cassidy

Si le western a su renaître de ses cendres grâce à un équilibre subtil tradition et innovation, Mateo Gil semble avoir plutôt voulu faire dans la tradition en limitant au maximum l'innovation. Ont ON peut être déçu par l'absence de prise de risques, cependant le style est si efficace ,fluide et maîtrisé que ce serait presque être trop exigeant .Blackthorn penche volontairement vers la nostalgie exacerbée, sans tomber dans le ridicule néanmoins, bien qu'étant un peu simpliste par moments.Mais la qualité du récit et de l'image, les paysages majestueux et les acteurs talentueux sont bien présents, et réjouira les amateurs de westerns classiques.

Par Flavia Guéhéneuc (01/09/2011 à 11h24)

Le Parisien évoque un «western qui possède la dimension épique des classiques du genre et la noirceur d’un film de Sam Peckinpah». Première également a été séduit par «le cinéaste qui construit un récit riche en surprises et propose une passionnante réflexion sur la perception de la modernité à travers deux points de vue différents».

De manière plus mitigée, Studio CinéLive en fait «une série B tout à fait honorable, servie par un  Sam Shepard impeccable». Pour Excessif, «les flashbacks traduisent l'envie humble de créer des connexions avec le genre et de se placer derrière les monuments. C'est dommage parce qu'il avait tous les éléments en sa possession pour devenir une référence». Enfin, Télérama se montre plus dur :« Seul intéresse, dans sa mise enscène extrêmement classique, l'affrontement entre Butch et Eduardo, son néo-Kid. Entre l'ancien et le moderne».

En terme de chronologie, il est admissible que ce film s'intègre comme la suite de  Butch Cassidy et le Kid, de  George Roy Hill de 1970.  Sam Shepard reprend donc le rôle de  Paul Newman, en Butch Cassidy, devenu au fil de son exil sud-américain, James Blackthorn.

Des bandits de grand ciné

 La vie et les cavales de Butch Cassidy et de Sundance Kid ont été interprétés de nombreuses fois depuis les années 30. Outre Sam Shepard en 2011, Paul Newman, John Crawford ou encore Scott Paulin ont incarné Butch Cassidy. De son côté, Sundance Kid a été joué lui entre autre par Scott Brady, John Davis Chandler et Robert Redford. Au total, les deux bandits ont été portés plus d'une vingtaine de fois à l'écran.

Western cinematography is not dead...

Author: Melody Ayres-Griffiths from Castlemaine, Australia
11 September 2011

Westerns are all about cinematography, and Blackthorn is no exception.Wide, sweeping vistas are the order of the day -- but this time, they're something new: South America, and in particular, Bolivia. This tale of an aging-exiled American outlaw and his attempts to return home may seem a bit straightforward and tame, but in the end it's not and you'll be glad to have spend the hour and forty-five minutes partaking in this latest great example of the genre.The directing isn't too bad either and the actors generally deliver their lines well, although a few are a bit over-read. For a modern western that's not an adolescent fantasy and has a great deal of heart, it gets 9/10.

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20 out of 21 people found the following review useful:
 
Good film

Author: Perry Bee from On a distant star
19 November 2011

I grew up watching westerns, and Butch and Sundance must be up there with my favorite bank robbers. I still love a good western but Hollywood seems to be to busy with re-makes of all kinds,vampires that live in sun light type films, over done special effects galore films, and cheap ass horror film after cheap ass horror film. So I was happy to see this film coming out, good cast, great story, and fantastic scenery to boot! I am not to sure about the stories take on Butch, but besides that I really enjoyed it, the scenery was fantastically caught on film, the story moves at a nice pace, and at times really hit a nerve with me about life, friends that have come and gone, and growing old, and looking back at what we might have done different. Anyway I enjoyed this film, not a Oscar winner, but well worth it, solid acting by all actors, I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

Outstanding Lead Performance, Beautifully Shot

Author: bdgill12 from United States
16 October 2011

If you're a guy and you haven't at some point had the dream of becoming an outlaw who takes down government banks and rolls with either a wicked car or a massive horse then...well...you're weird. Let's just be honest: being an outlaw is just super cool. Robbing from the rich and corrupt, taking out bad guys (even though you're kind of a bad guy yourself), and living outside of the law are all exciting ideas and make for even more exciting men (and women). We gravitate toward those characters in movies because they are always charismatic, fun, and give off an air of freedom despite

(and perhaps because of) always being just one step ahead of certain death at the hands of stodgy law makers and guys who don't have the stones to be outlaws themselves (I'm talking to you, Pinkertons!). Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is one of my very favorite films, the rare "classic" that plays just as well today as I imagine it did when it opened in 1969. The idea, then, of an alternative history in which Butch and Sundance escape the doom that awaited them at the end of that film (and in real life, I guess) is beyond interesting to me. I saw a blurb about Blackthorn a couple of months ago and immediately knew I would seek it out. I'm awfully glad I did.

20 years after the standoff in which he and the Sundance Kid supposedly died, an aging Butch Cassidy (Sam Shepard) still lives in Bolivia, laying low and breaking wild horses for wealthy riders. He has a good life but one that is a good deal quieter than he experienced in his outlaw days and that lack of action wears on him. So when he comes in contact with Eduardo Apodaca (Eduardo Noriega), a Spanish engineer with a plan to steal thousands from a mining company, he senses an opportunity not only to relive the glory days but to buy his way back home. The heist turns south, however, when it becomes clear that Noriega isn't who he says he is, forcing Cassidy into circumstances he may not be able to overcome.

Blackthorn (which is the name Cassidy goes by) is a slowburn that moves methodically through both the narrative and the Bolivian landscape, providing action in short, contained bursts rather than excessively throughout the run time. Part of the story is told in the form of flashbacks that fill in the blanks between BCSK and while these aren't the best parts of the film, they re-engage the audience with the Cassidy storyline and essentially create an immediate rooting interest in the character. This is a big part of what makes the film work. It progresses exactly the way a Western should when it concerns itself with an aging protagonist and that makes for a rich and intriguing narrative.

(And by the way, can we please have more Westerns, Hollywood? They don't have to be big budget entries like Cowboys and Aliens, just simple little films like this and Meek's Cutoff. More of that please.) In addition, the behind-the-camera work on Blackthorn is excellent. The shot selection is simple yet purposeful and the settings are well-chosen. The cinematography is outstanding, highlighting the tremendous and beautiful geographical diversity of South America. The landscape is in many ways the premier supporting character.

But as you might expect, Blackthorn depends almost entirely on the performance of Shepard and the man delivers magnificently. Shepard is one of the greatest actors of his generation and yet he is often overlooked when that conversation comes up and I am one of the guilty who has too often neglected to mention his name. I can't think of a single actor who I would prefer to play the aging Cassidy and he completely lives up to that statement. I think it would have been very easy to play Cassidy as some sort of knock-off of Paul Newman's interpretation of the character.

Instead, Shepard makes him wholly his own with just a hint of reminiscence for the iconic original. The years have taken their toll on Cassidy but Shepard never makes him come off as bitter or even overly tired so much as hardened and slightly more crotchety. Cassidy shows the physical rust that would accumulate during a 20 year hibernation but he displays the wits and reflexes that make men like himself so exciting. There are a few moments in which I found myself thinking, "The guy still has it!" the same way I would if I was watching an aging slugger take one monster swing that sends a ball 450 feet up into the stands. It's a powerful yet understated performance that has reminded me of Shepard's true greatness. I won't be forgetting his value again anytime soon and the same should be said for Blackthorn as a whole.

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Great movie, what more can you ask for?

Author: daniel_984 from Norway
7 September 2011

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

To sum the movie up in short: Great acting, great camera-work, great story, and last but not least: great nature.I've personally never been interested in western movies, but thought I would give this one a go for some reason. Man I was taken aback by this movie. By far the best movie I've seen so far thisyear.The director really manages to establish compassion with Cassidy (or James Blackthorn), but if Cassidy's legend deserves it I guess is another question.Through the movie, there is subtle hints about the plot, things I didn't really understand until the end. With some small twists, this movie is in my eyes at least a "must see", if you care for movies with a bit of depth.

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30 out of 49 people found the following review useful:
 
European Western, not Spaghetti Western

Author: guycorhuo from Madrid, Spain
18 April 2011

Blackthorn is an estimable contribution to Western movies. Contrary to the American style, here the epic it's illustrated in a less gimmicky way. There's not apotheosis at the endings of the sequences with a high emotional music theme. Poetry it's in the words, the silences, the landscapes and the development of the characters. Apparently it's a traditional story aboutcompensation with the past, but there's much more. An a-la-Hawks representation of male friendship, a social message, a nostalgic review of classic Western and two little twists in the story that avoid a possible predictable ending.

Very interesting it's the Mateo Gil's choice, in opposition to the Roy Hill movie, to show Bolivia as a wide open country. While Roy Hill, in the 1969 movie,shoot the South American scenes in a cloistered vision -to give them a claustrophobic value that works as allegory of the characters mood- in contrast with the North American scenes, Gil hasn't renegade to shoot the desert, the wide plains and even the canyons from Bolivia brought out by the brilliant cinematography of Ruíz Anchía.

Perhaps there're a couple of moments that the narrative pace goes down in contemplative scenes, but overall the rhythm and the story will keep your attention. Great works of Sam Shephard, Eduardo Noriega, Stephen Rea and Nikolaj Coaster-Waldau. You would like Blackthorn if you like Unforgiven, Appaloosa, Open Range or, of course, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid but not if your taste it's nearest to The Quick and the Dead, Young Guns I or II, or Cowboys & Aliens. (Pas d'accord pour mettre THE QUICK & THE DEAD dans le même sac que les 3 autres !!)