understated drama with stunning photography

mjneu59

Introducing Bill Miner, the 'Gentleman Bandit' of the Arizona stagecoach lines during the 1860s and the originator of the classic phrase 'hands up', who after a thirty-year prison sentence in San Quentin suddenly finds himself an anachronism in the young 20th century. Inspired by a screening of Edwin S. Porter's The Great Train Robbery, Miner sets out to disprove the claim that you can't teach an old dog new tricks, becoming Canada's first train robber and, in the process, something of a local folk hero. That's the entire film. First time director Philip Borsos seems less interested in developing his story (calling it a story at all might be stretching things a bit) than in presenting a modest but superb evocation of the early century, with breathtaking cinematography in the Canadian Rockies and simple, straightforward performances, led by the photogenic Richard Farnsworth in the title role.

score 7/10

mjneu59 24 November 2010

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2343391/