Silverado

Four men arrive in the town of Silverado by separate roads: Paden, Emmett, Jake and Mal. The land baron McKendrick and Cobb, the sheriff who works with him, have the place sewn up. The four begin acting together, first for their own reasons and then to protect the settlers. Lawrence Kasdan directed. Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn, Danny Glover and Kevin Costner star. It was shot at Cook Ranch in New Mexico, photographed by John Bailey with a score by Bruce Broughton, on a 23 million dollar budget. It opened on 10 July 1985 and took 32.2 million dollars domestically over an eleven-week run. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 78 percent. Roger Ebert found in it some of the same reckless brilliance as Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Janet Maslin called it a sweeping, glorious-looking western. At the 58th Academy Awards it was nominated for Best Original Score and Best Sound, and it took a Best Casting nomination at the 1986 Artios Awards. Who it is for: viewers who like enjoyable, crowded films built squarely on classical western shapes. Who it is not for: anyone expecting a revisionist western. The film does not interrogate the genre; it plays it the old way on purpose.