classicsoncall
You have to admit, Bruce Dern cuts an impressive figure in the black frock coat and white beard. You'll usually find him as a supporting player in older Westerns, usually as a villain, but here he's got the lead as a supernatural bounty hunter named Barston, book-ending a trio of tales set in the Old West. His character does a good deal of narration as the tales move forward, offering bits of gritty, sage advice as he roams an area, by his own admission, somewhere between civilization and the Ninth Circle of Hell.Picking a favorite out of the stories presented is a toss-up to my mind, I liked each one about equally. A casting surprise in the first entry had Helen Hunt as a consumptive whore falling for an itinerant killer portrayed by Dylan McDermott. Her character switches personas in the twist that occurs, reverting to an apparition like figure who might have been right at home in The Band's plaintive song, 'Long Black Veil'.Mariel Hemingway and Lisa Pelikan are distant neighbors in the second story, at odds with each other over the relationships with their respective men. The story is one in which Dracula would have been right at home, considering all the howling in the night the prowling wolves outside their cabin door emitted.Dern's Barston achieves his goal in hunting down bad man Red Roundtree (Michael Metzger) in the final story, but runs into some bad old boys who have other things on their mind when he shows up for the bounty. Even though he's done in by the baddies and is set up for the long dirt nap, he winds up heading for Colorado, just around the bend, and dead ahead. Dead ahead just might have been the operative word here. Throughout the bounty hunter's entire ordeal, I couldn't help but admire an unusual and unlikely physical characteristic - the guy had a beautiful set of pearly whites.
merklekranz
Some might describe "Into the Badlands" as a surreal tale of the Old West. I on the other hand would call the film a sleep inducing waste of talent and time. Sure Bruce Dern looks convincing as a bounty hunter, in his black duster and specs. Even the music is interesting and appropriate. Everything else is not good. It begins and ends with the story, which is disjointed and talky. The first part involves a gunslinger talking and talking with barroom whore Helen Hunt. The second is something about Mariel Hemingway talking and talking to a frontier neighbor before some unexplained wolves show up. Dern reappears in the final sequence killing a wanted baddie and then dragging his rotting body around the desert for the rest of the film. - MERK
Woodyanders
Determined and resolute bounty hunter T.L. Barston (marvelously played with spot-on sardonic verve by Bruce Dern) relentlessly tracks outlaw Red Roundtree (mangy Michael J. Metzger) across a desolate and godforsaken dessert. Barston encounters a diverse array of desperate people during his travels. First, most eerie and affecting tale, "The Streets of Laredo" - Rugged roving gunslinger McComas (a fine portrayal by Dylan McDermott) stops off in a dreary mudhole town and falls for sickly and melancholy saloon gal Blossom (a sound and moving performance by Helen Hunt). Meanwhile, the vengeful Sheriff Aaron Starett (the always on the money Andrew Robinson) closes in on McComas. Second and most harrowing story, "The Time of the Wolves" - Tough Alma Heusser (a credible Mariel Hemmingway) and high-strung Sarah Carstairs (a nicely neurotic turn by Lisa Pelikan) find themselves trapped in a cabin during a fierce snow storm that's besieged by a pack of savage wolves. This vignette benefits greatly from the edgy chemistry between the two leads and offers a good deal of nerve-jangling tension. Third and most enjoyable yarn, "The Last Belt" - Barston finally bags Roundtree, but has a difficult time keeping his corpse so he can collect the hefty bounty placed on Red's head. This particular segment adroitly mines a wickedly amusing line in inspired pitch-black gallows humor. Director Sam Pillsbury, working from a crafty script by Dick Beebe, Marjorie David, and Gordon Dawson, handles the macabre material with tremendous gritty style and assurance, maintains a properly dark and grim tone throughout, makes the most out of the bleak and dusty New Mexico locations, presents a believably grimy and downbeat evocation of the 19th century period setting, and delivers several startling moments of shockingly sadistic violence. Dern does a terrific job of holding the whole picture together. Both Johnny E. Jensen's slick, yet grungy cinematography and John Debney's twangy'n'harmonic score are up to par. A real sleeper.
CarfaxAbbey
Dern burns up the desert.Dylan McDermott & Helen Hunt are good, but who needs supporting cast when Dern's soliloquies with corpses are so deadly riveting. A character reminiscent of Kane the `preacher-man' in Poltergeist II, and portrayed almost as eerily, though with Dern wit.Good western portrayal with authentic undertones. And a dern-good soundtrack too, if you can find it.
AD
