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DVD Yellow Rock
 Run time: 89 min Rating: 4.5 Genres: Western Director: Nick Vallelonga Writers: Lenore Andriel, Steve Doucette Stars: Michael Biehn, James Russo, Lenore Andriel |
| Storyline Five men ride into the eerie town of Yellow Rock, hoping to rescue a family member and his lost boy. |
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| Details: Country: USA Release Date: 1 November 2011 (USA) |
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DVD Yellow Rock
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4 comments
I'm a huge western fan but the other 2 reviewers on this film are way off base…must be related biased basis to the production of the film. This film is just awful… you'd be far better off just watching an old episode of Roy Rogers. The acting and the script are both completely lacking of any substance and with half the budget and a camcorder anyone could have made a better western than this…don't waste your time. The story line needs work and in many places scene changes are completely disjointed. The actress playing the good doctor simply isn't believable in her role and her lines are lacking in reality. The bad guys are really the only semi-bright spot but there is absolutely no character development from that end either. The movie sets were extremely amateurish but the camera work and cinematography were at least somewhat up to standard for such a low budget film. Nevertheless, I absolutely can not recommend this film even to the most die-hard western fan.
The historical information questionable, which was displayed in the narrative by the native American at the beginning of the movie (Was it the white man who began scalping, or the native American?…Did the native Americans really live in PEACE before the white came?…Seems that they were always fighting with other and taking other tribal members into slavery…) Also, the dialog was not good, the Dr.'s outfit seemed tailored, the boards were cut mostly clean through as with a table saw or ban saw, the intonation of the dialog was inappropriate, and the Dr.'s hair was dyed red…she looked too old to have non-gray hair. Also, the guy who drank all the time clearly tried to take after Val Kilmer in Tombstone…very bad imitation. The tribe coming at the end and shooting the one man without even knowing what happened with the others seemed a little strange. I think I wasted my money.
Westerns are a rare event in this day and age. We are obsessed with the future: cybernetics, machines, space, we end up forgetting about the original final frontier. A frontier that did not require a degree in science to achieve, but simply a spirit of adventure and a will to survive. Yellow Rock may not revolve around the idea of discovery, but rather the effects of discovery. Although practically a cliché at this point, the classic story of the white man abusing the kindness of Native Americans is a formula that works, especially for this movie's favor.
Yellow Rock has several aspects supporting it that could only be achieved in a Western film. The atmosphere achieves a sense of tensity, but feels campy and fun at the same time. The two protagonists, an independent woman doctor and a man with a troubled past, are likable and competent. The antagonists are cartoon evil, and although the film attempts to hide the real villains, most people will catch on rather quickly. In truth, the "plot twist" may be the weakest part of the movie simply by how predictable it is. Regardless, Yellow Rock is a solid Western, and if you have an itch for anything new, you should give it a fair shot.
To me personally it was better than some other westerns I have seen. It was slow to start but it eventually caught up. I originally watched it because of Michael Biehn was in it. But I thought it was good enough to watch. I don't watch movies due to any historical value I watch for entertainment. I loved that the movie was based on part of the American Indian perspective. Would I watch this again? Yes I would watch it. I was in an old west class in high school and they had us read poems from the Indian point of view. What I had read saddened me and to watch this it brought it all back. Again, why only the one star? I think that some of the acting in the movie was really sub-par by a couple of the actresses but other than that it was not too bad.