Commentary on Cowboys and Aliens - Posted to IMDB on 8/7/2011

Satisfyingly reinvents the Western for the 21st Century but disappointing in its marginalization of women and minorities, 7 August 2011

 *** This review may contain spoilers ***


Sometimes my expectations for 21st century culture inhibit my ability to embrace entertainment on its own terms. So my response to Cowboys and Aliens is positive but mixed.

The preponderance of marginalized women and minorities in film is a sticking point for me and I must begin with my reactions to the unthinking but evident sexism and racism in Cowboys and Aliens.

There are very few women in the film at all. There is one minor female whose fate is key to the plot. She is established early on as a former prostitute. Yawn. There a Mexican woman who has no purpose but to stand by her Anglo husband and SPOILER ALERT! she is spirited away by the spaceships so early in the film that, as a Chicana, I couldn't help but wonder if, in fact, the bad guys were not ETs but rather La Migra. . . did I misunderstand the meaning of "Aliens" in the title??? Granted, there is a major female character who is courageous and intelligent. To say more is to give away too much of the plot. So draw your own conclusions once you have seen her character arc.

There are virtually no Black people in this movie. I must temper my criticism with "virtually" because eventually we get to see one. Uno. Bound and subjugated, might I add.

There are lots of Native American Indians in the film, and Adam Beach is notable as another primary character and a refreshing infusion of diversity - to a point (again, to elaborate too much would be to reveal too much; let it suffice to say he expresses much more appreciation for the conquistador than for the conquered.) Ultimately, the treatment of indigenous peoples by the story is fairly encouraging in a Dances with Wolves kind of backhandedness. The juxtaposition early on of White people collecting scalps is historically correct and gratefully received.

The only other Mexican character with a speaking part, by the way, is clearly portrayed as an Idiot among idiots. Mi pobrecita raza… Now that we have the political responses out of the way, let us approach Cowboys and Aliens on its own terms.

Despite my criticisms above, as a western fan I enjoyed this ride. I am not opposed to strong males – White or otherwise – in and of themselves, and the lead actors here are cowboy gold.

Since the new Bond incarnation debuted, many have believed that Daniel Craig is a worthy successor and is hot hottie-hot hot. In this film he proves both his appeal and his versatility. Unlike other Europeans before him - Yul Brynner, Stewart Granger, Alain Delon, Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan, to name just a few - Craig seems comfortable and is believable in the Western genre and the American accent, channeling the compact power of Alan Ladd as Shane with the hint of an Eastwood squint to bind with his own impressive chemistry and conjure a fresh incarnation of the frontier loner archetype.

Harrison Ford is a revelation in this motion picture. Has any other actor, so celebrated initially as a swash-buckling sex symbol, ever worked the grizzled thing to such effect as to elevate it to equal sexiness? The only equivalent to Ford in C&A would be if Gary Cooper had decided at some point to take the Walter Brennan role. Film buffs may cite a parallel with Humphrey Bogart in African Queen, but, due respect to the power of Bogart on screen, he was never a swash-buckler and was a lousy cowboy. Others may point to Cary Grant and Father Goose, but to view Father Goose without the fog of nostalgia is to recognize it as an unsuccessful effort. Thankfully, Cary Grant never even tried to be a cowboy. No, Harrison Ford has set a new benchmark here.

Director Jon Favreau elegantly finesses a hybrid of graphic novel grit, sci-fi thrills and frontier comfort food. From Swingers, to Iron Man, to this film, Favreau has proved that he can create guy movies with universal appeal - small and thoughtful or big and macho, his films retain at their core a compelling human story. One of the most refreshing qualities of C&A's script and direction is that while it obviously reinvents the western and its conventions, it also acknowledges and pays tribute to them, including the likes of Rio Bravo, The Searchers and the aforementioned Shane among its touchstones. The high tech outer space action is thus wrapped in classic western elements that give comfort and satisfaction to generations for which this motion picture otherwise would not be intended.

While true to its comic book roots, C&A retains, from its spot on score by Harry Gregson-Williams, to the sublimely subtle Searchers reference in its penultimate scene, the essence of iconic westerns. In weaving together the look and feel of modern comic books and graphic novels with classicism, incorporating great humor, but with nary a snicker, nor a trace of irony, C&A has the potential to revitalize for this century a genre presumed dead more often than Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction.

Of the three developing Wyatt Earp projects known to this author at this date, it will be interesting to see which, if any, come to fruition and attract the cross-over audience of movie classicists and comic book cultists that will be vital to box office success - an audience effectively addressed by C&A.

Hope persists that the problematic characterizations of gender and race can be resolved as the Western continues to evolve. Women, African Americans, Native Americans, Asians, Mexicans and other Latinos all contributed to the history of the American frontier in a variety of ways which increasingly are documented. Yet their stories are seldom, if ever told. If audiences can accept aliens in the Wild West, will they not accept heroes and heroines of color? Jon Favreau – you're good at this – see what you can do!