The Last Rites Of Ransom Pride

The star of the movie was truly Dwight Yoakam whose character was a frontier Bible preacher, abusive, and alcoholic. Not the best screenplay but artsy, gritty film work (reminded me at times of an episode from the X-Files). I particularly liked the exchange between the lead actress (Lizzy Caplan - who looked, at least early in the film, to be accessorized by The Buckle), and Yoakam (in his prairie church building with no side walls), firing Bible references at each other (not quoting the verse, just the reference). The soundtrack by Ray Wylie Hubbard was superb, especially "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse." Kristofferson had only a few scenes, but always a natural, especially in a western. Favorite quote: "I was always a lover, despite the killings." Recommended for its entertainment value.

Despite the thin plot and a screenplay that appeared to have been written by a High School kid, a few of the actors did the best they could to put some lipstick on this pig. It’s been a long time since I saw a western movie that made the old spaghetti westerns look like art. Jumbled scenes mixed with poor lighting and, at some points, a lack of authenticity for the time period. This movie was better than nothing but not one I would want to watch again in the future.

Not a Roy Rogers type of western to watch with the kids!! (I knew that before I bought it however). I enjoyed it! Very interesting. Kind of a horror-movie quality to the editing. Lots of sexual referencing, including a scene or two of "uncomfortable-ness". But like I said - a pretty interesting plot and some incredibly interesting characters!!

OK movie, watched to see Dwight without his tight jeans and hat. Not disappointed. Shocking change, because I haven't seen him in years. Didn't even know he could act, just wiggle a lot.

This is literally un-watchable. Dwight, what in heck were you thinking? With some very watchable actors in it, we figured we ouldn't go wrong--we are big western fans, after all. But this one was pulled out of the machine and dumped right into the trash bin. Shameful!

Got it when TV programing is the pits

Not as disappointing as expected.

Was ok

That is a recurring quote from Mr Pride (deceased - but you probably got that from the title). This is a violent western from director Tillen Russell, who has been more famous for his TV and documentary work. He has gone for a full throttle action fest that starts as it means to go on, with a bad gun deal going wrong. The perpetrator is Ransom Pride, and in the subsequent shootout he kills a Priest, and this is Mexico which takes a dim view of that sort of behaviour; even though he has been shot and killed, the sister of the Priest who comes across as a Shaman / Witch, won't let the body be buried. Not sure if the Catholic Church would agree with her, but I guess she is not up for a theological debate.Enter Juliette Flowers (Lizzy Caplan) who was Ransom's love interest and she has promised to bury him with his momma. But she will have to deal with Pappa, the Rev Early Pride, (Dwight Yokam) who is an ex gunfighter who has seen the Lord, become a preacher and developed a dysfunctional alcohol dependency along the way. Ms Flowers strikes a deal with the grieving sister but it involves Ransoms brother Champ (Jon Foster -`Terminator 3'). So the intrepid pair set off to reclaim the body. Meanwhile Rev Pride takes out a bounty on Flowers' head as he considers her to be nuthin betta than a whore!Thus the scene is set for a blood infused western that is shot and framed with great care, it oozes style like a Vogue Special and that goes for the costumes too. The music is spot on in that it adds to the mood instead of creating it as is the sad case for many a film. There are even stylised sub titles when it goes all Mexican. We have a plethora of characters and stars of yesteryear including Jason Priestly and Kris Kristofferson - who I would have liked to have seen more of. We have frontier gallows humour, iconic shots including more than one church without walls and characters from the less mundane side of life including a gun toting dwarf. The one off thing is the deliberate insertion of subliminal shots that get longer air time the further into the film we go. They act as add on's to the on screen action and like mono sodium glutamate in food are really not that necessary here too.All of that said I really enjoyed it, this has been compared to Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy which is a book I love; whilst this is nowhere near as visceral it kept my interest at full tilt for the whole ride. As ever there are some plot twists that stretch credulity a tad and the ending will leave some feeling short changed. Despite all of that it is still a slick, well made and acted western in the modern genre and as such I will gladly like to see more of Mr Russell's work.

This film is just ok. There are too many gimmicks and atmospheric tinkering for me the story while far fetched in the extreme is ok for a western and it makes one wonder how much better this would have been with a better director in charge ,slightly better actors (eg Billy Bob Thornton and Salma Hayek/Penelope Cruz spring to mind for the main roles) and a bit better editing . I would not recommend it.

The Last Rites of Ransom Pride, with its individuality, boldness and bizarre blend of mythic yarn-spinning, is an extraordinary debut feature. Tiller Russell's Western is set in 1912, which explains a bereaved father transporting his son's corpse across the desert in the back of a car. Add a richly caparisoned tent in the middle of nowhere housing tragic Siamese twins, one of whom is dying (which means they both are), and a bitterly articulate dwarf. There is also a disfigured Mexican voodoo priestess, a scripture-quoting killer, a code of honour, and in Lizzy Caplan (True Blood) a believably tough woman who fights, swears, beds and kills on a par with the men. Totally riveting, with a weird poetry all its own.

Great Good Quality great sound Brilliant film very happy great fast delivery Recommend To All

this dvd was bought because of the main actors are usually a guide to a good film story well shot and performed. Sadly in our case this was not so. The story line was broken and missing in parts the characters couldnt speek up enough to hear clearly the plot, and the only thing at the end you couyld say with conviction was "thats a relief its over"