West at its best

Even though Ed Harris's is no modern approach to the western in Appaloosa, he succeeds in coming up with a fine dramatic comedy, with fresh characters, witty dialogue and a keen interest in how relationships must have developed among frontier folks, tyrannical ranchers, no-nonsense lawmen — and complicated women.

The initial scenes feel familiar. Bragg (Jeremy Irons), a merciless rancher, guns down a sheriff and two deputies, plunging a small New Mexico town, circa 1882, into lawlessness.

Town leaders (British actor Timothy Spall among them) beseech lawmen-for-hire, Virgil (Harris) and his longtime partner Everett (Viggo Mortensen), to clean up the town.

Virgil whips out a contract — from here things start to diverge from the familiar — that gives him control of the town.

Not the usual

The arrival of a seemingly helpless widow, Allison French (Renee Zellweger), marks another departure from genre dictates. She plays the piano and cooks but is not your usual heroine from a western.

The movie, adapted by Harris and Robert Knott from a novel by Robert B. Parker, is chock-a-block with dialogue that startles and amuses.

Characters reveal themselves through their words and their wit is gunpowder-dry. The focal point is the relationship between the two lawmen.

This is no Brokeback Mountain but Virgil has been “husband'' to Everett much longer than he has been to Allison. “We're both with Virgil, not with each other,'' remarks Everett, when Allison makes a pass at him.

This is how men rely on each other in the West, how they get a job done and survive. Virgil allows no place in his heart for emotions when it comes to the job. But Everett does.

One of the glories of Appaloosa is that you can't be certain where things are headed.

The film boils down to how the western maverick gets tamed, how Virgil settles down with Allison, for whom he develops feelings that overwhelm his logic and focus.

Several high points

It's difficult to say where the film's genius lies — in the sophisticated writing, the astute direction, the cut-for-story editing (by Kathryn Himoff) or the restrained though sharp-eyed cinematography (by Dean Semler).

Harris lets the project take shape in an unhurried manner, which allows humour to guide the story to a safe harbour.