South of Heaven, West of Hell (2000) YTS

Reviewed by Wuchak 5 / 10

**_Interesting first half goes off the rails bad

**_Interesting first half goes off the rails bad in the second_** A marshal in southern Arizona (Dwight Yoakam) tracks down a clan of murderous bank robbers with whom he grew up (Luke Askew, Vince Vaughn, Paul Reubens, etc.). Along the way he meets a woman that distracts his attention (Bridget Fonda). Peter Fonda, Bo Hopkins and Matt Clark are also on hand. “South of Heaven, West of Hell” (2000) is an eccentric adult Western with a great cast made by country music star Dwight Yoakam. He had some success at acting (e.g. “Sling Blade”) and so tried his hand at scriptwriting and directing here. He also plays the noble protagonist, of course, and does well in the role. There’s some beauty, like the cinematography and romance, but there’s also an uncompromising nasty edge that emphasizes the ugly side of the Old West, as was done in “The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid” and Peckinpah’s “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.” If you like those Westerns and similar artsy ones, like "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" and "The Missouri Breaks," give it a try, but it’s arguably the least of ’em (with Brando’s “The Missouri Breaks” being the best IMHO, although “McCabe & Mrs. Miller” certainly has its points of interest). I should add that the violence in the flick is creative and stark, not to mention sometimes amusing. Speaking of amusing, Dwight did the music, which is sometimes ill-fitting, especially in the violent second half, which suggests that he was shooting for quirky and perhaps black comedy. Meanwhile Billy Bob Thornton shows up in an interesting bit part. Unfortunately, too much of the second half smacks of lousy filmmaking. No doubt Yoakam was being experimental and artistic, but I found too much of the film awkward, uncompelling and repugnant, even amateurish, which leaves a bad taste. It’s no surprise that it was a flop and hasn’t developed a cult following. I give credit to Dwight for trying and taking great risks (with SOME of it working), but it turned into a cinematic nightmare for him. The script needed rewritten to flush out the potential and tweak flaws, but that takes money which Yoakam didn’t have (he already sold his mansion in Malibu to help finance it). He had access to quality actors and enough money for a decent Western, but I guess you could say he was in over his head. It smacks of a Tarantino Western by a wannabe. Bridget (Peter’s daughter) would only do six more movies and a handful of TV episodes before retiring from the biz in 2002. The film runs 2 hours, 11 minutes, and was shot in southeastern Arizona (Sharp's Ranch historical site in San Rafael Valley, Old Tucson, Mescal and Benson). GRADE: C/C-

Reviewed by 3 / 10

Bad casting

Movie was slow and had some bad writing but since no one will say it I will. Dwight Yoakam is not a leading man having all the women go after him made the movie hard to watch. He is better as that nasty guy who buys hookers. You know you were all thinking of it in real life no singing no money, he ends up with a woman who is a 3 maybe 4. I couldn't sit through all of it between the bad casting and the bad writing I had to watch something else. They had a lot of big names in this movie. When you see a list actors names in the title you say at worst it will be just okay but with all of them it should be a hit. Look at Yellowstone it was a huge hit for 5 seasons why because the writing was good and the didn't act like they were in slow motion or touched in the head. This should have been a hit but some peoples egos got in the way and we ended up with this mess.

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South of Heaven, West of Hell

2000

Action / Drama / Western

South of Heaven, West of Hell

2000

Action / Drama / Western

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**_Interesting first half goes off the rails bad

Bad casting

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