Butcher's Crossing

First off, I've never made a movie so I have to give cudos to anyone who attempts any kind of artistic (albeit, a glancing blow at artistic) piece, but this filmmaker seemed to grapple with the basic precepts of any kind of cohesive vision here. Butcher's Crossing made most Hallmark TV movies of the week look important comparatively. The characters were about as generic as a film could make them, nothing made any sense, like buffalo would just hang out in the same area for weeks while they were picked off 30 at a time. The editing was moronic at best. This could be thought of as an entertaining picture if one had only been exposed to the Sharknado franchise, but then again, what the hell do I know?

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Will Andrews (Fred Hechinger) quits Harvard and travels to Kansas in 1874. He meets up with a man named McDonald (Paul Raci) who is acquainted with his father. McDonald is too busy for Will who wants to go on a buffalo hunt to see our country. At the saloon, he finds Miller (Nicolas Cage) who is a buffalo hunter. Will asks to come along, but the local herds are too thin. He knows where there is a great herd in Indian County in Colorado. He needs money for the trip, which is about all Will happens to have. He hires a skinner and a camp man as they set out in late fall, a bad time to go, so close to winter. This is a Nicolas Cage film I will soon forget. It was all about the futility of hunting buffalo as we see by the ending. There is not a lot of action and it is mostly men talking and the dialogue and actors couldn't carry the film. Guide: F-word. Near sex. No nudity.

The absolute worst movie ever. I saw "western" and thought "oh yeah" and followed it up by paying $20 to rent this ridiculously disgusting, stupid, bad plot and wrong actor choices movie. I would rather have had an ingrown toe nail pulled by a gorilla than watch this garbage. I assured my husband it will be great. He did Con Air. Not all his movies are awful! This was undeniably a waste of time and money, not to mention awful. I should have gone outside to clean up dog poop instead! Why, you ask, is this so bad? The portrayal of cowboys being so stupid as to get stuck in a blizzard for up to 8 months with only one way out. Seasoned cowboys would have KNOWN BETTER! Nicholas Cage pretending to be a tough guy is the equivalent of Pee Wee Herman being a tough guy. Neither are believable and you lose respect for the actor, producer and director. It was slow and boring. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME, MONEY OR BRAIN CELLS ON THIS GARBAGE. GO SHOVEL DOG POOP. FAR MORE PRODUCTIVE.

I didn't really expect to like this film all that much. Sometimes in that situation you turn out to be right, sometimes you turn out to be pleasantly surprised. 'Butcher's Crossing' fell somewhere in the middle. I certainly enjoyed it more than I expected to, let's just say that. The casting of Nicolas Cage is an interesting one. On the one hand, I didn't feel he was overly suited to the role. On the other hand, I felt his charisma brought a lot to the movie. And in a movie that is pretty desolate and grim, having a character/actor that you can enjoy and feel some familiarity with can go a long way. I found myself a lot more interested in the story line than I expected. Generally old-time westerns do absolutely nothing for me. But the story here, simple as it was, kept me entertained and wanting to know what was around the next corner. 6.5/10.

Will Andrews (Fred Hechinger) is desperate to experience the wild west and some buffalo hunting. After being refused to be taken on the wild ride by his father's friend, he is lured into by Miller (Nicolas Cage), who had once witnessed a big herd of buffaloes and wants to get his hand on the hunt. Thus, the wild west journey begins with Will funding the whole hunting expedition. Amidst the harsh experience of the journey itself, the greed takes over and the following madness makes the group numb towards the cruelty they display. What happens to the Miller's crew, Miller's greed and Will's excitement to experience the wild west forms rest of the story. Butcher's Crossing is an ambitious film, wanting to focus on the physical and emotional rollercoaster this group go through during their buffalo hunt. It is not a easy ride and they get stranded during their wild hunt. The film throws scene after scene, depicting their time on the desert and during the hunt. The problem was it failing to register the impact. We barely get to know the characters and their motives, probably with the exception of Will Andrews. This makes it hard to connect with these characters and their hardships. Not that the performances are bad. Infact it is what that carries the film till the end. Yet, it doesn't stop feeling like a missed opportunity as the intent was to explore the human emotion and the effect the brutal killings to even the fellow men's death have on them while battling the toll the entire expedition has on their physical and mental health. The narrative only scrapes through these emotions instead of exploring it a bit deeper. I did like the ending twist when they return back, I wish the build up to the climax had paid off better.

It appears people are vote bombing because they don't like seeing guts, gore, and buffalo getting killed. Buffalo co-evolved with American Indians for thousands of years as a hunted animal. They were hunted sustainably and revered. Nobody is endorsing the killing of buffalo to this extent; that is the point of the movie to show the atrocities by Americans in the 1800s. If you are disgusted, the film has done its job. I thought the supporting cast was a little weak but the writing was on point. Beautifully shot, Nicolas Cage hits a home run for his character (perfectly casted by the way), and a wonderful conclusion. This one is worth a watch.