“Four of the Apocalypse” (1975)
Snow and strange are rolled into one in this uncommon road movie. Saying a film is “Lucio Fulci’s weirdest” is a tough call to make, but this spaghetti western is certainly an odd standout from the director. Loosely based on two stories by Western author Bret Harte, the script unites four outcasts on the road after they’re expelled from the town of Salt Flats. Among their encounters is a crack shot bandit named Chaco (played by Thomas Milian, with a look that prefigures Captain Jack Sparrow), who ultimately leads the quartet into an ill-considered drug trip that exploits the vulnerabilities of the travelers. A bit of Jodorowsky and even some of the wandering elegiac tone of “Jeremiah Johnson” are at play here, tempering Fulci’s own instincts towards lurid cruelty. At times, as when the central quartet encounters an evangelist wagon-train, the director nearly strikes upbeat notes. It isn’t long, however, before the worst aspects of human nature take the field once again. Chaco performs truly horrible deeds, and a bizarre revelation of unwitting cannibalism adds to the film’s sense of psychosis. Greenhorns might want to steer clear, but those seeking unexpected paths will find this to be an odd experience.
Availability: DVD (Blue Underground)
“Dead Man” (1995)
Johnny Depp stars as William Blake — not the poet, just a man who has arrived in the hellish town of Machine, seeking work. Turned away from his promised job, Blake soon has a bullet in his chest. His certain death is delayed by ministrations from a Native American named Nobody, who treats the young white man like a reincarnation of the famous William Blake. Inching ever closer to death, Blake kills a number of men as Nobody escorts him to the ocean, where he believes Blake can flee the Earth and rejoin the spirit world. Jim Jarmusch scripts and directs with Blake’s actual poetry in mind, and while the intended meanings of his script can be difficult to decipher, he taps into a deeply intuitive vision of the American west. Here the natural world is already troubled by corrupted industrialized invaders. The vanguard agents of big business, in the form of men like Lance Henricksen‘s cannibalistic bounty hunter, are literal monsters. Jarmusch pays great attention to the details of Native American life. As Nobody, Gary Farmer steals the movie, even with Depp giving one of his better performances. Cinematographer Robby Müller (a Wim Wenders regular) captures the scenery in such crisp and silvery black and white that the film seems to exist in its own supernatural space. The score from Neil Young, primarily improvised on electric guitar, intensifies the psychedelic feel.
Availability: DVD/Blu-ray (Miramax); Digital (Amazon/iTunes)
“Ravenous” (1999)
In original release this bizarre supernatural/horror/western/comedy hybrid probably got more attention for its unique score, by Michael Nyman and Blur’s Damon Albarn, than it did for the big performances from Guy Pearce and Robert Carlyle as two military men who are united by cannibalism. Pearce is a cowardly officer who lucks into a heroic action during the Mexican-American War. He ends up posted to a middle-of-nowhere fort high in the Sierra-Nevada mountains. One snowy night a ragged man played by Carlyle appears at the window. He tells a story (evidently inspired by tales of the Donner Party) featuring a lost wagon train and eventual cannibalism. When the company of the fort heads out to rescue other possible survivors, violence breaks out and things get weird. It’s easy to wonder “what if” with “Ravenous,” which suffered persistent studio tinkering during the shoot. Original director Milcho Manchevski was nearly replaced by Raja Gosnell, then finally swapped out for Antonia Bird, who directed most of the film. (Later, Bird echoed early complains by Manchevski, saying that his issues with the studio’s heavy hand were on the money.) The end result is that an intended satirical tone never entirely coheres. Regardless, this is an entertaining and bloody yarn that constantly changes direction even as Bird maintains a tone that is equally comic and horrific. Not to be outdone by Pearce and Carlyle, Jeffrey Jones delivers a great turn as the commander of the isolated fort, and the climax builds to a big showdown that is unlike any other western face-off.
Availability: DVD/Blu-ray (Shout Factory); Digital (Amazon/iTunes)
“Slow West” (2015, John MacLean)
Vividly painted on the screen and splashed with equal amounts of dire violence and sharp black comedy, this story is pitched like the center of a Venn diagram featuring Biblical parables, fairy tales, and campfire stories. A young man (Kodi Smit-McPhee) follows the woman he loves from Scotland to America, where she has fled with her father after an accidental death at home puts a price on their heads. The boy runs afoul of danger almost immediately, but recruits a local bounty hunter, played by Michael Fassbender, to escort him through the untamed west. First-time feature director John Mclean, who also writes, exploits his cast to their full potential. (Ben Mendelsohn delivers a terrific James Coburn-esque turn.) Mclean isn’t shy about detouring into bizarre anecdotes, as when a nomadic writer reveals himself to be a hell of a lot like film director Werner Herzog. This is a love story where there’s no reason to expect the love to thrive. Here the intense conflict is buffered by an appreciation of natural beauty and an understanding of man’s own ability to overcome adversity by building families and community out of whatever cast-off orphans may be at hand.
Availability: DVD/Blu-ray (LionsGate); Digital (Amazon/iTunes)
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For more snowy action, there’s always “The Searchers,” which features a gorgeous snow sequence, though it’s just one part of the film. Likewise, Sam Peckinpah’s early effort “Ride the High Country,” a terrific film, takes place in the Sierras, but isn’t really a winter story. Cinematographer Lucien Ballard captures a crispness in the light and air, however, giving the film the feel of a tipping point between seasons.
Lucio Fulci made two “White Fang” films (1973 and 1974), based on the book by Jack London. They’re just restrained enough to almost feel like family films, but just violent enough that some families will really squirm while watching. Joe D’amato, in a rare effort that has appeal outside exploitation circles, riffs on those films in “Red Coat,” a story of two former friends, a Mountie and a killer, and the gold-hungry bandits who want revenge on the killer for an old betrayal. With the frenemies plot and a dogsled chase, this one also seems to borrow from “The Wild North,” mentioned above.
On the weird side there’s “Bone Tomahawk” (2015). We’ve relegated it to “other mentions” because we set this list in motion with one Kurt Russell western, and having four westerns with cannibalism on the proper list would skew too heavily towards the flesh-eaters.
“Seraphim Falls” (2006), with Pierce Brosnan and Liam Neeson, has good snowy sequences, and while neither “Joe Kidd” (1972) or “Pale Rider” (1986) are particularly chilly Clint Eastwood films, both feature some snow-covered scenery.
To go a bit further afield, a couple of Zatoichi movies have great snow sequences, with the climactic fight scene in “Zatoichi Challenged” standing as a particularly good battle in the snow.
