Eduardo Noriega : Eduardo Apodaca

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An Unusual Western Set in Beautiful Bolivia

Author: Alison from Montreal, Quebec, Canada
29 July 2011

An aging Butch Cassidy (Sam Shepard), now calling himself Blackthorn and living a quiet life in 1920s Bolivia, learns that Etta Place has died in San Francisco, living her young son behind, to whom Butch has long been writing in the guise of "Uncle Butch." He decides to travel back to the States to see his "nephew," and sets off with the blessings of his indigenous girlfriend Yana (Magaly Solier).

Early on, however, he comes across Eduardo (Eduardo Noriega), a young Spanish man on the run from a posse after he stole a lot of money from an evil mine-owner. Eduardo's horse is dead and he is lost, and he begs Blackthorn to help him; somewhat against his will, Blackthorn does so, and they set off on a last grand adventure, together. But Eduardo isn't all that he seems, and in addition to the posse, an old broken-down Pinkerton man, Mackinley (Stephen Rea), is also aware that Butch Cassidy didn't die all those years ago....

I'm not big on Westerns usually, but this is an exception. Beautifully filmed on location in Bolivia, and employing numerous indigenous actors, we are also treated to flashback scenes of a younger Butch (played as a young man by Nikolaj Coaster-Waldau, who looks very much like a younger Sam Shepard), his friend the Sundance Kid (Padraic Delaney) and their mutual love Etta Place (Dominique McElligot), which deepen and enrich the larger story.

I'm not sure why this screened at FantAsia, as it's not really genre, but perhaps it's because the director, Mateo Gil (making his English-language debut here), is known for earlier Spanish thrillers that were screened in earlier years. In any event, I'm very glad that I saw this unusual Western, which I believe will get a regular release later this year.

What the Sam Hall?

Author: David Ferguson (fergusontx@gmail.com) from Dallas, Texas
3 November 2011

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Greetings again from the darkness. George Roy Hill's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is one of my all-time favorites. Action, adventure, gun play, wise-cracking, romance, charming lead actors, and a touch of western legend, all combine for a very entertaining film. Spanish screenwriter and director Mateo Gil (s/p, The Sea Inside) takes up the story 20 years from the infamous freeze frame that ended Hill's 1969 film.

Sure, you might need suspension of disbelief since we all remember the hundreds of Bolivian soldiers firing at once when Butch and Sundance attempted their escape, but this film is really more about aging and trying to put things right. The Butch we are first introduced to is writing a letter to the son of Etta Place, after her death. He writes that it's time to come home - meaning he is to leave the quiet life in rural Bolivia and make the long journey back to the U.S.

This aging "Uncle Butch" we meet is played by the great Sam Shepard. Mr. Shepard is not just a Pulitzer winning writer, but he has always had an incredibly strong screen presence ... a wonderful face and trustworthy voice. Here is in full grizzled cowboy mode and sports the bright eyes we remember from Paul Newman, while displaying a newfound peace raising horses in the Bolivian countryside.

He lives this life as James Blackthorn, not Butch Cassidy. He even has a relationship with one of the local ladies, who seems filled with the spirit that Butch had as a younger man Blackthorn collects his savings from the bank ... a bit ironic, eh? He sets off on the journey, but is quickly knocked off course thanks to the recklessness of a Spainish thief played by Eduardo Noriega. Noriega says he can makes things right and the two form an unlikely team. Of course, Butch has become more trusting in his old age, and Noriega turns out not to be the partner than Sundance once was.

This whole story is a bit outlandish, but it's at its best when Blackthorn runs smack dab into Makinley, one of the old Pinkerton men who was chasing him twenty years ago. Turns out, Makinley (Stephen Rea) is a social outcast because he was the only one who thought the boys survived that attack so many years ago. Seems both Makinley and Blackthorn have been cast aside and trapped in Bolivia.

While Shepard is outstanding, he shares star billing with the terrain of Bolivia. It definitely holds its own versus the Monument Valley we have seen in so many westerns over the years. The salt flats are particularly beautiful and treacherous, and filmed with skill by the director. We are also treated to periodic flashbacks and a few of the key moments for Butch, Sundance and Etta. We learn that the partnership was truly that ... one for all.

This film will have little box office success, but it's certainly worth a look for those of you intrigued by the Butch and Sundance legend, and are able to wonder just WHAT IF ....

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9 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
 
A Decent Entry In The OLD COWBOY Library

Author: Kristopher from Maine
9 January 2012

Reviews Of Unusual Size

Re: Butch Cassidy never died. He hid out in Bolivia and bred horses. Found himself a little lady and a cabin. Then he decided to head north and visit his Niece. His horse runs off with his money and he ends up with a troublesome varmint that has $50,000 Sterling he's stolen from a group of miners. Cassidy, going by the name Blackthorn decides to help the man.

Outstanding: Filmed beautifully and directed with a solid hand that really shows the vivid beauty of the locations. Sam Shepard is a great actor and looks so excellent in this. He also has surprisingly pitch perfect comedic chops. Unacceptable: The story is pretty far-fetched and Blackthorn gets hornswaggled too easily, even for an old feller.

Summary: I'm a total sucker for westerns and this is a good one. A classic "Old Cowboy Takes One Last Ride" movie. Strong script and great acting. I recommend it highly. A note - The screener copy I watched did not have subtitles for the Spanish language portions of the film, which is probably around 1/3 of the dialogue. I assume the final release has them, but it did make certain scenes hard to follow. 4/5

Very good ¨Chorizo¨ Western with engaging acting , breathtaking cinematography and good direction

Author: ma-cortes
12 August 2012

This Spanish picture is an enjoyable drama Western with an interesting characterizing about the celebrated leader of the ¨Wild Bunch gang¨ of train robbers , Butch Cassidy who along with Sundance Kid were one of the last old-style bandits of the West and they had the quick wit and strength of character to dominate more desperate men .

In Bolivia, Butch Cassidy who left long time ago his criminal activity and now calling himself James Blackthorne (Sam Shepard) , pines for one last sight of home , an adventure that aligns him with a young robber (Eduardo Noriega) and makes the duo a target for gangs and lawmen alike . It's narrated by means of a relentless pursuit by a posse which leads to the two protagonists through wonderful Bolivian landscapes .

Furthermore , it deals with young Butch Cassidy (Nikolaj Coaster-Waldau as James joven) , Sundance Kid (Padraic Delaney) and Etta Place (Dominique McElligott) , whose scenes are developed in flashbacks , both of them when the Pinkerton and railroad agents (Stephen Rea) hot on their trail , the Wild Bunch broke up and both sailed to South America after the turn of century and disappeared there , possibly dying in a shoot-out in 1909 near La Paz , though the story here narrated is quite different .

The film contains human drama , thrills , violence , riding pursuits and action Western complemented with moving tension and intrigue , including some twists and turns . These elements provide the setting for this piece of dramatic Western , giving it its own special quality and ambient . Butch is described as a tired veteran though a crack shot, he never murdered anybody and disliked gratuitous violence , he only wishes returning to US and know his son .

Top-notch acting by Sam Shepard as the old bandit who becomes drawn into a spiraling tangle of danger , deceit and confusion . Acceptable interpretation by Eduardo Noriega as a young mine engineer who holds a dark secret . Colorful and evocative cinematography by Juan Ruiz Anchia who has been making a prestigious career in Hollywood , such as Close range , House of game and River runs black , here he shows splendidly the wonderful outdoors filmed on location in La Paz , Potosí , Uyuni,Bolivia .

Sensitive as well as thrilling musical score by Lucio Godoy .This exciting motion picture was well directed by Mateo Gil . Mateo is a notorious screenwriter , he wrote various films for Amenabar as ¨Agora¨ , ¨Mar Adentro¨ , ¨Abre Los Ojos¨ and ¨Tesis¨ . He only has directed ¨Nobody knows anybody¨ or ¨Nadie Conoce Nadie¨ and recently this Western titled ¨Blackthorn¨ . Rating : Above average movie for its intrigue , memorable performance , plottwits , atmospheric mood piece and impressive photography . Well worth watching .

Le réalisateur Mateo Gil

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A beautifully made crepuscular western

Author: Fotodude
2 July 2011

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Spanish filmmaker Mateo Gil has been constantly collaborating with Alejandro Amenábar since his first film; Tesis (1996), the latter subsequently putting the former in the shade. Thus this is only Gil's second feature film.

I haven't seen his first work, and apart from Amenábar's films and little projects of his own, he also spent his time trying to adapt the novel Pedro Páramo, which proved to be unmanageable. And that brings us to Blackthorn, a film that must have been on Gil's mind for quite some time, whether directly or indirectly. In any case, it is a great film, so it makes me hope it's not too late for Mateo Gil to develop a fruitful career as a full-length film director.

On the surface, Blackthorn doesn't tell anything new; it brings back the crepuscular atmosphere of the likes of Sam Peckinpah's westerns, with an iconic but worn-down figure as the main character. The man is getting old and wants to go back home; he's saved enough money for that, but he loses it when he runs into an adventurous and foolish Spaniard.

So the two of them must now work together to get the money so that the old man can leave. The most original aspect of the film, again only at first sight, comes from the setting; this western takes place in the barren landscapes of Bolivia, the country where supposedly Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid got killed (see the last shot of George Roy Hill's 1969 movie). The film starts off from there, imagining that in fact Butch Cassidy never died.

So Sam Shepard plays a 50 or 60 something Butch Cassidy, now going by the name of Blackthorn. Shepard brings the right amount of wisdom, melancholia and roughness to the character. His performance is somewhat reminiscent, without going very far back in this comparison, of Jeff Bridges' in True Grit. They also have in common that they are both worthy of award recognition. Sam Shepard should pick up at least a handful of nominations for his touching, restrained yet aggressive turn, but considering the kind of film we're talking about, it probably won't happen. Shame.

As for the rest of the cast, everybody's all right. Eduardo Noriega does an OK job at keeping up with Shepard's performance, and the other relatively fleshed-out character; Mackinley, is played by Stephen Rea with skill, despite the character in question being quite underused.

That brings me to the first and main flaw of the film; the way the flashbacks are structured is questionable, at least for the first few of them. Unless I'm wrong, there are six flashbacks throughout the movie, showing us the younger years of Butch Cassidy and his teaming up with the Sundance Kid and their lady friend Etta Place.

The flashbacks have potential, and it's hard for me to say anything against flashbacks being used in film narrative (in my eyes they usually improve a film a lot), but said potential is not exploited that well, thus achieving sometimes confusing transitions between the present and the flashbacks (which is reinforced by the fact that these are not clearly differentiated, tonally speaking, from the present scenes) and lacking the lyricism (except for the last ones) they could've had. Regarding Mackinley, he only shows up in one of these flashbacks.

So when we see him in the present, supposedly as a character with great relevance in the film and in Butch Cassidy's life, it doesn't work very well because we've only seen him for about a minute before that. Blackthorn has a few other flaws, mostly in the form of missed opportunities, not to mention a somewhat unsatisfactory ending, but its qualities easily outshine them. Apart from Sam Shepard's terrific personification, the cinematography is a strong highlight (which isn't that surprising given the genre and setting), as well as the score, making a risky move by alternating between some epic music and country-like songs.

Some of the dialogue is also memorable, and as far as the progression of the story goes, every plot detail is worked out competently. But what I liked most about the film was the nostalgia surrounding it, those letters Blackthorn writes to his kid, the mountains and the deserts where he quietly rides his horse, his memories, and his determination to go back home. In his words (approximately), "there are only two significant moments in a man's life; when he leaves home, and when he finally comes back."