Silverado

(Lawrence Kasdan, USA, 1985)

This strikingly atypical film in the oeuvre of writer-director Lawrence Kasdan – specialist in such liberal-yuppie dramas as The Big Chill (1983) and Grand Canyon (1991) – is also unquestionably his best.

It is for anyone who has ever loved a few hundred classic Westerns.

From its sudden shoot-out start with a rifle flying magnificently through the air and into the hand of Scott Glenn, through the slow-burn introductions to the rest of the heroes, to the plethora of epic, iconic set-pieces, this film is an absolute winner.

It is a special and merciful pleasure to see a boyish, squealing, monkey-like Kevin Costner, long before his descent into the stolid, righteous, He-man roles he later filled.

MORE Kasdan: French Kiss, I Love You to Death

© Adrian Martin January 1993