DVD Review: Silverado - Gift Set
Jump To: Video/Audio/Features/Bottom Line
::Movie review
The trick with any artistic medium is to play to its strengths. Motion pictures are no different. One of the great things about movies is that they have the ability to tell a story in ways impossible through other means. Take, for example, the opening moments of Silverado.
The camera fades in on the interior of a small, dark and dusty, one-room shack, where a man is sleeping. Gunfire erupts, punching tiny holes of light in the walls of the shack. The man leaps into action, gun in hand. Bullets are exchanged and the shack becomes brighter and brighter with each new bullet hole. One by one, without ever seeing them or leaving the shack, the man dispatches the attackers outside. And then the gunfight is over and the man opens the front door and steps out...
...to a magnificent and expansive view of mountains and valleys. It is the total antithesis of the claustrophobic shack and completely unexpected.
It is a pure movie moment -- a moment that cannot exist in print, on stage, or even in real life (after all, you'd have to see that view to get into the shack in the first place!).
Silverado is filled with moments like these. It is a western movie and it not only knows this, but relishes in that fact. Some movies recycle clichés because they aren't clever enough to come up with anything original. Silverado begins with every western movie cliché you can think of, and gives them new life with wonderful inventiveness. The difference is important and allows the movie to feel familiar without being predictable.
Even more amazing is that the structure and style of the film even manage to take off-the-shelf western moments, such as the heroes riding abreast on horseback, or the final shootout on the deserted street, and turn them into pieces that belong in the film, rather than obligations to the genre.
Silverado assembles 4 heroes, Emmett (Scott Glenn), Jake (Kevin Costner), Paden (Kevin Kline) and Malachi (Danny Glover) who eventually find themselves battling corruption in the tiny frontier town of Silverado.
Emmett is the man in the shack at the beginning of the film. Following the shootout, he sets off with his horse and the horse of one of the gunmen. He encounters Paden lying on the desert floor wearing only his long johns. Paden explains that he was jumped and left for dead, so Emmett offers him the use of his spare horse. Emmett explains that he's on the way to Silverado to visit family, but has to stop in the town of Turley first to meet up with his brother, Jake. Paden recons he'll come along -- and try to find himself some clothes.
In Turley, Emmett and Paden meet Malachi, who is busy being run out of town for the crime of being black. They also discover that Jake is currently in jail and set to be hung the next morning. Brotherly obligations being what they are, Emmett figures that he has to break his kid brother out. Paden recons he'll help -- seeing as he's just gotten himself thrown in jail, too.
Soon, Emmett, Jake, Paden and Mal are all helping each other flee from Turley's Sheriff Langston (John Cleese) and decide to ride together. Emmett, Jake and Mal all have family in Silverado. Paden recons he might as well not break up the team -- and he has no other pressing business anyway.
All of this is handled with a great amount of fun and energy, which is balanced against the serious and deadly backdrop of underhanded corruption within the town of Silverado . There is an evil sheriff (Brian Dennehy), a slimy card shark (Jeff Goldblum) and a tougher-than-she-appears saloon owner (Linda Hunt). The story depends on us recognizing these character archetypes so that it doesn't have to waste time introducing them. Instead, Silverado is able to build upon the elements we know and expect, making otherwise stereotypical characters memorable.
When all is said and done, there may be westerns that are considered more "classic" than Silverado (Once Upon A Time In The West, for example), or westerns with more important stories (The Unforgiven), but there may not be any that are more fun. Silverado is like the embodiment of all of your memories about what a western movie should be, but wrapped up in a shiny new package. As entertainment, it is nearly perfect.
::Video
There was really no reason to make this into a 2-disc set, other than to allow the movie disc to enjoy the full benefits of Sony's Superbit process. The added attention to careful (and as minimal as possible) video compression really pays off and Silverado look about as amazing as it possible can. This is a movie that lives and dies by its visuals, and so the presentation requires something special.
Although the film came out in the mid-80's, you wouldn't know it by this transfer. The colors are vibrant and practically jump off the screen. Contrasts are very strong, with deep, detail filled blacks. There is quite a bit of film grain, but it isn't distracting and actually lends character to the film. On the compression side, I couldn't spot any digital artifacting or edge enhancement.
::Audio
The audio is not as impressive as the video, but still quite good. The overall clarity is spotty at times, which is certainly an issue with the source material, and the dynamic range emphasizes the highs a bit much, with a bit of clipping at the low end. Still, the average listener probably won't notice and the mix still serves the film well.
::Special Features
Disc one of this set contains an audio commentary by three western historians (who's names I was unable to track down -- but I will post when I have a chance to listen to the track again). I'm becoming an increasing fan of commentaries by non-filmmakers and this one is a perfect example of why. Not only do these guys offer up some rather insightful comments about the movie itself, but also about the entire genre of the Western. This is easily the best extra in this set and one of the better commentary tracks I've heard recently.
Switching over to disc two finds A Return to Silverado with Kevin Costner and The Making of Silverado documentary. Return to Silverado is a retrospective interview with Costner and it's worth a listen. He is a big fan of the genre and obviously had a great time with this film. He also offers up his opinions about some specific mistakes that he made as an actor in this role -- these are things you may not have noticed when viewing the film, but when Costner points them out, his comments make sense. The documentary features interviews, both new and archived, with many members of the cast and crew and chronicles much of the making of the film.
Next up is a "featurette" that, quite frankly, made me rather angry for its blatant mislabeling. The packaging and DVD menu refer to it as A History of Western Shootouts with John Cleese. Sounds promising. In reality, this is little more than a commercial for other Columbia Tristar westerns. Now, I don't mind commercials. They are part of the business. What is irritating is the misrepresentation of this as a bonus "featurette."
Although not really a "DVD" feature, this set also includes a deck of Silverado-themed playing cards and old west saloon style packaging. It's a nice touch.
::Bottom Line
Some may argue that Silverado is not a "serious" western, but that just misses the point. Silverado never claim to be serious. It's a throwback to the classic westerns, with heroes and villains and dramatic shootouts. Yes, the film is simplistic and that's the point. This is the sort of movie to put a silly grin on your face within the first 30 seconds -- and you'll still have that grin when the credits roll.
Buy Silverado at DVDEmpire.com
| Movie |  |
4.5 / 5 |
| Video | |
4 / 5 |
| Audio | |
3.5 / 5 |
| Extras | |
3.5 / 5 |
| Family Friendly | |
2 / 5 |
| As a western, there is quite a bit of violence, but all of it is stylized, making Silverado just your average, fun, wild west story. Still, some parents may not be comfortable letting the youngsters watch all of the gun play. | ||
| Overall | |
4 / 5 |
- Robert Wurth, ©2005
::Technical Specs
Studio:
Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment
Year of Theatrical Release:
1985
Disc Format:
1 single-sided, Dual Layer
Image Format:
Anamorphic Widescreen
Aspect Ratio:
2.35:1
Region Encoding:
1 (North America)
Sound Format:
Dolby Digital 5.1
Running Time:
127 minutes
Director:
Lawrence Kasdan
Stars:
Kevin Costner, Scott Glen, Jeff Goldblum, Kevin Kline, Linda Hunt, Danny Glover, John Cleese
MPAA Rating:
PG-13
Disc Supplements:
- Western Historian Commentary Track
- A Return To Silverado with Kevin Costner
- The Making of Silverado documentary
- A History of Western Shootouts with John Cleese
- Silverado-themed playing cards
