SVS: “Silverado”

Remember a few weeks ago when I recommended The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, even though I wasn’t quite sure why I love it so much?

Well, today’s I’m recommending another Western. But this time, I know exactly why I love it. It’s not groundbreaking. It’s not profound. It’s not particularly “Influential” or “Complicated” or “Inspiring” or “Highly Regarded.”

It’s just an insane amount of fun. And the day I can’t get on board with “nothing more than an insane amount of fun” is the day I stop watching movies.

So, I’m layin’ my cards on the table. Silverado is on NETFLIX INSTANT.

Two brothers, ex-prisoner Emmett (Scott Glenn) and current prisoner Jake (Kevin Costner), team up with a butcher named Mal (Danny Glover) and Paden (Kevin Kline), a man left to die in the desert by outlaws, to take on the crooked sheriff (Brian Dennehy) of Silverado. Their families, who all live in the New Mexico town, depend on their heroics. Jeff Goldblum co-stars in director Lawrence Kasdan’s classic Western with an Oscar-nominated score.

Lest I seem too dismissive above, though, let me be clear: This is a great Western.

It’s got a great, quip-filled script (easily one of the most-quoted films of my upper-childhood, and quite possibly Kasdan’s finest hour); great performances (especially if you love a wonderfully menacing Brian Dennehy or a manic Kevin Costner taking himself just seriously enough or Danny “Growling” Glover or a smarmy Jeff Goldblum or John Cleese or THE ENTIRE CAST IS AWESOME!); great set-pieces (including the opening scene — still one of the most attention-grabbing I’ve ever seen, and the perfect tone-setter for everything that follows); and a great, great score (from the days when Broughton was known for his music rather than run-ins with the Academy).

It’s great, great fun. And you could do worse on a Friday evening; much, much worse.

…but not, perhaps, a whole lot better. Enjoy!Attribution(s): Posters, publicity images, and movie stills are the property of Columbia-Now-Sony Pictures, and other respective production studios and distributors, and are intended for editorial use only.