Die fünf Vogelfreien

According to the position of the stars, it looks like high noon, while other aspects suggest we're once upon a time in the West. Perhaps it was the year of creation, Henry Fonda in an unusual role as a villainous son of a whore, or Jack Elam, who waited at the station at Leone's for the Harmonica and, without moving his head, had a perfect overview of trains arriving from both left and right. The plot revolving around filling James Stewart's cup of patience with a bunch of bad manners tightens the screws very gradually, but once the decent main character is hit with a wave of hysteria and self-criticism, you don’t have to worry about the climax. Usually, westerns with melodramatic violins and an excess of female characters get sent to the grave with two or three shots on principle, but since I resonate with the moral message about not yielding to evil, the characters are indeed quite well-rounded, and there’s no John Wayne, I’ll keep my critical gun holstered for now. (12.12.2022)