Now its proximity to the Mexican border only
gives it a comparative advantage in crime and exploitation. All the decent folk
have long since left, but the stranger who rides into town is no choirboy. He
is not looking for trouble, but it finds him nonetheless in Ti West’s In the Valley of Violence (trailer here), which opens this
Friday in New York.
His name is Paul, but he is the sort of
gunslinger who often has no name. The Mexico-bound former cavalry man has
deserted due to his mounting revulsion for the so-called “Indian campaigns.” We
can tell by looking at him he was disgusted by the killing, precisely because
he was so darned good at it. However, Gilly, the ringleader of the local Denton
ne’er-do-wells is not so fast on the uptake. As the town Marshal’s deadbeat
son, he can usually get away with his bullying behavior, but Paul is an entirely
different sort of cat, just like his assertive dog Jumpy.
Like night follows day, Gilly challenges
Paul when he reluctantly stops for supplies. Paul might have let things slide
had the entitled thug not threatened his dog. When Paul duly shows him up, the
chagrined marshal rather apologetically runs him out of town, to preserve
public order. At that point, the deserter and the lawman would be fine letting
matters stand, but not Gilly. Of course, he and his entourage lay a trap for
Paul, but they only succeed in killing Jumpy. We know what that means—and so
does West, who delivers Charles Bronson levels of vicarious payback.
Who knew Ethan Hawke had so much Eastwood
in him? Granted, it is more of the tortured Josey Wales Eastwood, but it
definitely still counts. He instantly projects a sense of a man well acquainted
with death, while delivering West’s frequently droll dialogue with wry understatement.
He also forges some terrific (albeit slightly problematic) ambiguous romantic
chemistry with Taissa Farmiga, as Mary Anne the younger and more naïve of the
two sisters operating the town’s high vacancy hotel.
Yet, the real scene stealer is none other
than John Travolta, who gleefully gnaws the scenery even as his character
struggles to be the voice of reason. Travolta been grinding out a spate of VOD-theatrical
day-and-date B-movies, but Valley gives
us reason to hope he might just have yet another comeback in him. As an extra
added bonus for cult movie fans, West’s frequent co-conspirator Larry Fessenden
does his thing playing one of Gilly’s ill-fated cronies.
