Silverado
Dir: Lawrence Kasdan
1985
****
Lawrence Kasdan had only directed two films before Silverado; the erotic thriller Body Heat and the thirty something drama The Big Chill. Both films are great but relatively simple to film, Silverado is a sprawling Western with a huge cast, so it was quite a big step for him at the time. The script is typically Kasdan in style, in many respects his previous scripts (The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Return of the Jedi) are all Westerns when you break them down, so it does seem like logical progression. It's really well constructed, with every character having their own story interweaving with each other's to form a good old fashioned good vs. evil battle in a small town. The ensemble cast is more than impressive with Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn, Danny Glover, Kevin Costner, Jeff Goldblum, Linda Hunt and Brian Dennehy all giving suitably great 'Cowboy' performances. However, in my opinion it is the surprising cameo from John Cleese as a straight talking English Sheriff that edges this film ahead of it's contemporaries. Over thirty years later it's still a thrill to see, what is essentially, Basil Fawlty in the Wild West. It's a classic contemporary Western, it has everything a good Western needs and a fantastic script. Often overlooked, Silverado can hold it's head up within the genre, it's aged very well and is entertaining throughout.