Even the revenge plot line, which is key to so many great Westerns, is turned on its head in an unexpected pivot in the third act. As a longtime researcher of horse operas, I found Long Shadows has the same high-caliber power found in classics like Barbarosa and The Outlaw Josey Wales. The love of Old West mythology is on full display, as is the urge to go further into the frontier of this uniquely American art form.
Of course, it helps that the film was shot in Tucson, which is Westworld itself. The vistas captured show the southwestern poetry of the landscape, which is gorgeous with sharp and pointy spikes sticking out. The array of old west areas to shoot seems to rival those in the famous Texaswood area in the Spanish desert, where they shot all those spaghetti westerns. The big difference is that the places you shoot in Arizona have the real history of the Old West behind them, hanging like a haze over places like Tucson and Tombstone. Its location authenticity is such that it can really bring out outstanding performances by the talent. Hines, who helped write the screenplay, is obviously having the time of his life in this yesteryear.
“One of the greatest movies of 2025.”
The great Bisset turns in a lethal portrayal of a Dickensian-level villain that locks the audience into Long Shadows immediately. Ms. Bisset has always been a cinema icon to me, as the first live-action piece of film I ever saw in a theater was her swimming into darkness in the trailer for The Deep. I was also impressed by how nasty Monaghan could get, as I still picture him as the space hippy in Moonhaven.
Mulroney turns in one of his best performances in a career of outstanding work. His transformation is complete and captivating, encompassing the highest and lowest points of frontier existence. Maye is perfect for the lead, with both desperation and determination visible at all times onscreen.
Maye is due to become even bigger, and his work here will be one of the reasons. Long Shadows shows why the collective imagination on this planet thrives from the call of the West. It is one of the greatest westerns ever shot and one of the year’s best pictures.
"…one of the greatest westerns ever shot and one of the year's best..."
I don’t have to see this film to recognize the hackneyed male white colonial tropes. Women are wh—-es to be beaten l, exploited and rescued. Revenge is NEVER sweet but it makes for sturdy film structure until the empty end. The avenging orphan stereotype, How the West Was Won. The problem with Mr. Talbot Haynes reviews is his film school history is NOT real history, it’s white supremacy masquerading as. I recommend The Red Nation Youtube appraisal of Ford’s The Searchers, and Scorsese’s whitened The Flowers of the Autumn Moon. Vietnam destroyed the moronic fable if white colonial genocidal virtue, and American Cultures roll in selling it. Any Western that isn’t portraying the genocidal extermination of Palestinians by “European colonists” is propaganda, a throwback, an insult to moviegoers. The Wild Bunch, Easy Riders & Bonnie & Clyde saw western colonialism as irredeemable. So does anyone with a conscience and a little history beyond state school & media. Free Palestine.
I was lucky enough to see the premiere. Immediately, it became my favorite Western. I haven’t watched a whole lot in that genre, but I count Dances With Wolves and True Grit (2010) as among my all-time favorite movies, not just Westerns. If the Oscar panel has any clue what it is doing, this should win a few nominations.
It was a wonderful movie, so proud of everyone involved, especially my brother, Grainger Hines