Post by Dracula on Jan 11, 2022 0:27:23 GMT -5
The Harder They Fall(12/31/2021)
The new Netflix film The Harder They Fall, a western with a largely black cast, opens with a disclaimer reading “While the events in this story are fictional, These. People. Existed.” The title card seems to exist to forcefully cut off accusations that the film is being anachronistic by putting black actors into this setting, which is certainly correct, there were in fact quite a few African Americans in the old west. It’s also true that most of the characters in the movie are based on real people… real people who did not actually interact with each other much and were generally pretty different from how they’re depicted here. Honestly emphasizing historical accuracy at all in with this thing seems like kind of an odd move as it’s very clearly trying to be a fairly over the top and silly action movie set in the old west which frankly kind of trivializes the lives of the real people in it and it probably would have been better off just making them all fictional characters. That’s not to say there isn’t fun to be had with this thing… I’ve never seen Young Guns or its sequel but the impression I get of them (westerns as modern action movies with all-star casts and anachronistic soundtrack) is not unlike what I got from this movie. As someone who tends to like my westerns to be pretty traditional in terms of style (not necessarily content, but style) that’s not exactly what I’m looking for, but there are certainly some cool shootouts and moments to be found here.
**1/2 out of Five
The new Netflix film The Harder They Fall, a western with a largely black cast, opens with a disclaimer reading “While the events in this story are fictional, These. People. Existed.” The title card seems to exist to forcefully cut off accusations that the film is being anachronistic by putting black actors into this setting, which is certainly correct, there were in fact quite a few African Americans in the old west. It’s also true that most of the characters in the movie are based on real people… real people who did not actually interact with each other much and were generally pretty different from how they’re depicted here. Honestly emphasizing historical accuracy at all in with this thing seems like kind of an odd move as it’s very clearly trying to be a fairly over the top and silly action movie set in the old west which frankly kind of trivializes the lives of the real people in it and it probably would have been better off just making them all fictional characters. That’s not to say there isn’t fun to be had with this thing… I’ve never seen Young Guns or its sequel but the impression I get of them (westerns as modern action movies with all-star casts and anachronistic soundtrack) is not unlike what I got from this movie. As someone who tends to like my westerns to be pretty traditional in terms of style (not necessarily content, but style) that’s not exactly what I’m looking for, but there are certainly some cool shootouts and moments to be found here.
**1/2 out of Five
