when you can see the actors participating as producers it usually means they wanted to make a movie no-one else did. after viewing this film i can conclude 'the jack bull' makes no exception to the rule. john badham is not a miracle maker, more a box-office director. this kind of a story would have needed something more, as this was obviously supposed to be a serious, credible film.
the problem is simply direction. i know i shouldn't land it all on one guy, but just look at it! the goody good boy, the amazing wife, ordinary man, justified revenge...blah blah. the air shots from the ride to cheyenne with the cheesy music and background dialogue, the endless verbal attacks on billy but not on ollie shows the pathetic situation of american 'political correctness' a.k.a. neo-racism, and it's all filled with dramatic death scenes, at some points it's just a tiresome watch.
so, every other scene is pretty much crap, but every other scene is not. regardless of the movies problems i did enjoy it, john cusack looks like a new yorker to me, but he is a good actor and he can somewhat pull it off anyway. the supporting cast is good all-around. i like the way the cities are portrayed as cold, dark and primitive places unlike in most westerns. the ending is good, although again too melodramatic. john goodman's character is useless, i didn't need to see mister righteous there to make me feel a little better. i just felt sick as i saw another cliche-bomb walking the streets of rawlins.
it's worth a watch, no, infact it's okay, if you can just ignore the things i loathed. but it's not even close to the best westerns of the 1990's. plusses for acting and camera-work.
the problem is simply direction. i know i shouldn't land it all on one guy, but just look at it! the goody good boy, the amazing wife, ordinary man, justified revenge...blah blah. the air shots from the ride to cheyenne with the cheesy music and background dialogue, the endless verbal attacks on billy but not on ollie shows the pathetic situation of american 'political correctness' a.k.a. neo-racism, and it's all filled with dramatic death scenes, at some points it's just a tiresome watch.
so, every other scene is pretty much crap, but every other scene is not. regardless of the movies problems i did enjoy it, john cusack looks like a new yorker to me, but he is a good actor and he can somewhat pull it off anyway. the supporting cast is good all-around. i like the way the cities are portrayed as cold, dark and primitive places unlike in most westerns. the ending is good, although again too melodramatic. john goodman's character is useless, i didn't need to see mister righteous there to make me feel a little better. i just felt sick as i saw another cliche-bomb walking the streets of rawlins.
it's worth a watch, no, infact it's okay, if you can just ignore the things i loathed. but it's not even close to the best westerns of the 1990's. plusses for acting and camera-work.