Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.5

Silverado Blu-ray Movie Review

Lawrence Kasdan brings his postmodern magic to the western in Silverado.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 3, 2009

Lawrence Kasdan almost seems to have had a checklist of various genres he wanted to revisit in his early career, putting his own spin on things. Science fiction? Star Wars--check. Saturday morning action adventure serials? Indiana Jones--check. Film noir? Body Heat--check. And of course, the western, which Kasdan brought his typically postmodern edge to in 1985’s fun and frothy Silverado, a film whose cult has only grown since its initial release, lending it a patina that, depending on your point of view, it never really deserved in the first place, or, alternatively, cements its reputation as one of the last of the old fashioned westerns, one without the angst and hyperbolic sturm und drang of such opuses as Unforgiven. If an objective eye looks at the film now more than twenty years after its release, it’s clear that, yes, the film has flaws. But those flaws can’t ultimately defeat the overarching enjoyment the film brings, one full of Fordian visions of the expanses of the west (mostly New Mexico, as opposed to Ford’s Utah) mixed with some fine character writing with a moral edge that is almost redolent of Frank Capra at times.

Kasdan has always managed to reinvent the wheel with his various projects, uncommonly adept at offering up clichés that don’t really seem trite and true (pun intended) due to the often uncharacteristic environments in which they’re placed or personalities who are bringing them to life. With his brother Mark, Kasdan in Silverado fashions a screenplay that is one part Magnificent Seven (minus three, more or less) and several parts every range war western you’ve ever seen. The Kurosawa-Sturges connection comes by way of the outlaw as hero element, coming to the rescue of a town threatened by bandits of a sort (though here they wear badges). These outlaws cum heroes are here personified by at least three of the lead quartet, Emmett (Scott Glenn), his brother Jake (Kevin Costner), and tagalong Paden (Kevin Kline), all of whom have had brushes with the law and at various times have been incarcerated.

The beautiful vista that opens Silverado after the exciting pre-credits gunfight sequence.

That little fact doesn’t undercut one whit the fact that these characters are basically our “good guys,” forced by circumstance to sometimes do bad things. The fourth main character, Mal (Danny Glover), seems, frankly, a somewhat misguided attempt to craft a politically correct revisionist slant on the film that allows it to at least tangentially address issues of race and discrimination, wild west style. Through a series of coincidences and “meet cutes” that stretch credulity at times, the Kasdans set up a situation where our four antiheroes are forced to choose whether they prefer to fight Cobb (Brian Dennehy), the corrupt sheriff of Silverado, the town in which they all find themselves, or move on to greener pastures, as it were, as they each individually seek to find some measure of peace, whether that means reuniting with a long lost family member or simply settling down with a lady love.

Silverado lacks the bravura elements of Kasdan’s Star Wars screenplays or in fact the brazen revisionist strategy that made Body Heat such a postmodern noir sensation. Instead we’re greeted by mostly familiar characters in a familiar setting that immediately ingratiate themselves into the audience’s sensibility. There’s nothing radically “new” in Silverado, and yet the Kasdan brothers’ sharp writing and especially Lawrence’s visual sense and flair give the film an inviting ambience that has made it a popular favorite for well over two decades. While it has the same sort of sly winking that, say, Raimi’s Quick and the Dead has (and it’s not hard to sense Raimi’s indebtedness to Silverado for its own tone), this isn’t an arch film by any standard. There’s a down to earth, solid quality to each of the characters that brings the grit and determination of each of these men home quite forcefully, at least most of the time. Kline, Kostner, Glenn and Glover are all superb in their roles, managing to convey both the humor and the drama the screenplay proffers without ever sacrificing the overall tenor of the film. Dennehy is his usual stalwart, slightly spooky, self, giving some nuance to a character who's sort of the flip side of our heroic four, that is, he's a bad guy who actually only does evil when he really has to. Rounding out the cast are some fun semi-cameos by Jeff Goldblum, as about the least western character ever in a western, John Cleese as an almost Monty Python-ish sheriff, and Linda Hunt in a superb little characterization as the town's saloon mistress (think Miss Kitty, only shorter--much shorter).

There are at least a couple of elements in the film that are woefully underdeveloped, or, perhaps, which were left on the cutting room floor. Rosanna Arquette’s character seems like almost an afterthought, a woman who (as is rightly pointed out in the commentary) may once have been thought of as a sort of quasi-Etta from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, “caught between two lovers,” but who in this final version appears too briefly and too inconsequentially to ever amount to much.

Aside from the beautiful visuals, Silverado also boasts one of the most splendiferous scores of the past half century (and, no, that isn’t an exaggeration, at least to my ears), a beautifully evocative set of cues by Bruce Broughton, who really should have won the Oscar that year (John Barry’s okay, if not especially brilliant, Out of Africa won, part of that film’s Academy Awards near-sweep). This is big, elegant music, obviously culled from both Copland and Elmer Bernstein’s Magnificent Seven score, but with a character all its own, highlighted by one of the most memorable themes in recent memory. Film score lovers routinely place Broughton’s work on this film at the top of their favorites, and it’s easy to understand why.

If Silverado doesn’t break the mold while attempting to simultaneously stay in it, as do several of Kasdan’s other pieces in various genres, it’s no less entertaining as a result of that. In fact there’s something peculiarly comforting in watching a film that is both this familiar while subtly stretching the bounds, all with a big heartedness and sense of humor that westerns too often lack. It’s a uniquely appealing film that rises above its drawbacks to deliver the sort of rough and tumble entertainment that has become a rarity in modern megaplexes.

Silverado Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Silverado arrives on Blu-ray with a largely excellent 1080p AVC encoded image with an aspect ratio of 2.40:1. This is a film that shows its age from time to time, with a not unpleasant softness in some of the wide vista shots, and some very natural, if verging on overpowering at times, grain in the outdoor footage especially. Some of the faces (Dennehy's especially in his opening scenes) have an oddly smooth quality to them that hints at some at least minor DNR, but the presence of the grain in the bulk of the film argues against anything too egregious. There's also some fairly minor, though noticeable for the eagle eyed, edge enhancement around such items as tree branches. This is a film that revels in the dirty, dusty ambience of the old west, so colors are purposefully not especially strong, staying resolutely in the beige to brown spectrum. Fleshtones often have a ruddy appearance, though the New Mexico winter could have had something to do with that. When we do get some vibrancy in the palette, this Blu-ray supports it extremely well. Sharpness is very impressive in mid-range to close up shots, with clarity so precise you can virtually make out the seams in costumes. Black levels are nicely inky with contrast strong throughout. Overall this is a quite impressive looking Blu-ray if the film's original look is taken into consideration.

Silverado Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Silverado's Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack elevates the overall fun of this film to an exciting new level for home theater enthusiasts. This is not only a sterling track from a clarity perspective, it's one of the most directional in recent memory, with consistently smart use of surround channels, especially in the many gunfight sequences. Fans of the film know Silverado starts out with a literal "bang," as Glenn shoots down a host of unseen nemeses, and listeners are in for an aural treat from the first seconds of the movie. LFE is used quite well not only in gunshots, but the thundering sound of horses' hooves. Dialogue is clear and always smartly placed in the soundfield. But the best part of this soundtrack is the marvelous reproduction of the absolutely glorious Broughton score. Broughton's gorgeous use of brass spills over the soundfield with thrilling brilliance and any lover of fine Americana in film music is going to have a heyday listening to this perfect music so perfectly reproduced.

Silverado Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

I received a "check disc" for this review, and so cannot speak to whether its UK release matched the US digibook release. The on disc supplements include a generally decent, if at times meandering, commentary by three historians, a commentary which often veers from the film itself and might annoy some listeners as a result of that fact. The video supplements include two SD featurettes, a 27 minute interview with Kevin Costner (who needs to learn how to correctly pronounce "taciturn," if he doesn't mind me saying so) and a 37 minute Making of 'Silverado' opus that offers the typical talking head scenarios with the Kasdan brothers as well as other cast and crew. There is also BD Live functionality which had virtually nothing online yet when I checked.

Silverado Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Silverado may not be the perfect postmodern western, but it sure comes close, managing to graft equal parts humor and pathos onto an admittedly generic framework. Overlook its passing flaws and revel in Kasdan's excellent visual sense as well as the generally intelligently drawn characters. And most of all relish that unbelievably wonderful Broughton score.