Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

The Ballad of Lefty Brown Blu-ray Movie Review

Haven't we heard some of this tune before?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 12, 2018

In days of yore (like, maybe the from around the 1930s to the 1950s), Lefty Brown (Bill Pullman) would have been the kind of secondary character in a western that could very well have been played by someone like George “Gabby” Hayes or maybe even Walter Brennan. And in fact Pullman’s characterization of this perhaps slightly daft guy has a certain Hayes-ian and/or Brennan-esque feeling about it, with Pullman kind of slurring his words and shuffling around as if he’s about ready to fall over at any given moment, often while wearing a scruffy looking hat which is more than a bit reminiscent of one of Hayes’ stocks in trade. The Ballad of Lefty Brown goes to some lengths to combine aspects of traditional and so- called “revisionist” westerns, and to a certain extent, it actually succeeds, elevating what would have been a “sidekick” to “starring player” status. Lefty is not the sharpest knife in the drawer, and in fact he seems incapable of completing even seemingly simple tasks like pounding a fencepost into the hardscrabble ground, but he has a long history with Eddie Johnson (Peter Fonda), who has just been elected Senator from Montana in the 1880s. An opening vignette documents both Lefty’s inadequacies as a backup guy during a shootout, while also detailing Johnson’s proclivities as an instant judge, jury and executioner. There’s already the feeling that there’s a lot of history between these two men, a history that informs their relationship in ways that Johnson’s wife Laura (Kathy Baker) can’t understand. Laura is especially concerned that Eddie wants to appoint Lefty as ranch foreman during his necessary absence when he starts working in Washington, D.C. A sudden case of horse rustling pushes Laura’s concerns to the back burner, but in just one of several sudden and unexpected outbursts of violence, as Eddie and Lefty discuss whether or not Lefty should be left in charge (even Lefty isn’t convinced), one of the horse thieves fatally shoots Eddie, leading to what in essence turns out to be a revenge drama, albeit one stuffed with all sorts of subterfuge that starts spilling out once the complete backstory of Lefty, Eddie and two other men who were part of a long ago “team” show up in the wake of Eddie’s death.

Those two other guys turns out to be pretty high placed Montanan officials themselves, Governor Jimmy Bierce (Jim Caviezel) and United States Marshal Tom Harrah (Tom Flanagan). They arrive at the Johnson homestead ostensibly to relay their condolences to their former buddy’s widow, but private conversations indicate they really want to keep track of Lefty, who has vowed to find Eddie’s killer and bring him back to justice. There’s obviously something going on here, but writer-director Jared Moshé keeps his cinematic cards fairly close to his vest, leaving the bulk of the revelations to the expected final showdown.

Lefty ends up “meeting cute” (or at least what passes for meeting cute in a western) with a kid named Jeremiah (Diego Josef), a wannabe gunslinger with a love of dime store publications detailing the exploits of his favorite wild west heroes. When Harrah manages to track down both of them, Lefty wants to keep Harrah captive, but when Jeremiah recognizes him as one of the “characters” from the books he loves so much, all bets are off, and soon enough it’s a trio of vengeance seekers trying to track down the guy who killed Eddie Johnson.

Meanwhile, the film continues to ping pong back to Laura at the homestead, where she is obviously more than capable of handling most day to day tasks (and may in fact be more capable than any of the ranchhands). However, her future is put in doubt with a stunning revelation from Bierce, who is obviously (perhaps too obviously) playing some kind of chess game, moving characters around like virtual pawns. A number of sometimes overheated exchanges result at both the ranch and out in the wild with the trio of mismatched “partners”, with a couple of harrowing shootouts ensuing that leave one character badly wounded. By the time Lefty returns to Laura with mission more or less accomplished, he finds his future in doubt due to a telegram Laura has received which claims that Lefty is responsible for her husband’s death. The fact that all of this transpires by about the halfway point of this arguably at least slightly overlong film may indicate just how “novelistic” Moshé’s screenplay turns out to be.

While The Ballad of Lefty Brown is long on mood and contains some generally excellent performances (more about that in a moment), it suffers from a couple of odd decisions that Moshé makes, including his seeming assertion that (despite the “ballad” in the title) he’s dealing with real life characters. A cursory review of Montana’s history shows that there was never a governor named James Bierce, and considering the climax of this film, one which includes an outright felony, that deprives some of the expected impact from actually finding its target, since everything is obviously a folktale. In terms of performances, for me personally the hands down winner in this film was Kathy Baker, who makes Laura part harridan boss, part conniving “rhymes with witch” and part vulnerable homesteader out to protect her property. Pullman is interesting to watch in this film, but I continually wondered if he was perhaps too mannered. In fact his performance reminded me of a long ago set of videos I purchased for some unknown reason that featured none other than Max Headroom star Matt Frewer as the iconic Sherlock Holmes. I remember turning to my wife after having watched a couple of these outings and saying “I can’t decide whether I’m watching an actor give an impressively quirky performance or one of the more serious cases of miscasting I've ever seen.” I would never go so far as to say Pullman is miscast in this role, but it’s kind of a shame that Gabby or Walter couldn't have been available for the part.

The Ballad of Lefty Brown Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Ballad of Lefty Brown is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. As a self confessed nerd, I have to say how delighted I was to see the "shot on Kodak film" logo unfold during both the opening and closing credits. Obviously a tip o' the Stetson to old school filmmaking, director Jared Moshé and cinematographer David McFarland don't hesitate to reference Fordian landscapes while also getting up close and personal for what might be thought of as more Mann-like character beats. By and large this is a really lustrous looking transfer that offers a nicely warm palette and generally excellent detail levels, even in less than optimal lighting conditions. Brightness seems to have been intentionally tweaked at times, something that can give blacks a kind of hazy overlay. The only kind of curious thing I spotted in my viewing was occasional and (to my mind, anyway) odd sudden variances in what is a mostly finely resolved grain field (see screenshot 19 and look at the sky, a moment that is a longer sequence were all of the other shots don't exhibit this "clumpy" tendency).

The Ballad of Lefty Brown Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Ballad of Lefty Brown boasts a rather impressively energetic sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix, one that gets out of the gate with some forceful surround activity and enjoyable LFE courtesy of a thunder storm. The film's sound design makes excellent use of the side and rear channels in the many expansive scenes of wide open vistas, where ambient environmental sounds and H. Scott Salinas' sweeping score offer an inviting bed of sound. The expected shootouts also provide punches of sonic energy that are quite resonant and well delivered. Dialogue is also clearly rendered on this very enjoyable track.

The Ballad of Lefty Brown Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary by Director Jared Moshe and Actor Bill Pullman


• Bringing Truth to Myth: Inside the Characters of The Ballad of Lefty Brown (1080p; 16:28) has some decent if snippet like interviews interspersed with equally brief moments from the film.


• Designing the Look of The Ballad of Lefty Brown (1080p; 12:48) is an interesting piece focusing on the film's locations and production design.


• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 9:52) play with a timecode caption.

The Ballad of Lefty Brown Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Ballad of Lefty Brown subverts at least one traditional western trope by elevating a perceived sidekick to featured player status, but in many other ways it's a surprisingly rote trip through a duplicitous history coming back to haunt various characters. Still, despite a certain familiarity to some of the proceedings, director Jared Moshé certainly has a genuine feel for this genre, and despite some perhaps overly precious elements, the film really has both style and content of its own. Technical merits are strong, and The Ballad of Lefty Brown comes Recommended.