South of Heaven, West of Hell

Interesting first half goes off the rails bad in the second

A marshal in southern Arizona (Dwight Yoakam) tracks down a clan of murderous bank robbers with whom he grew up (Luke Askew, Vince Vaughn, Paul Reubens, etc.). Along the way he meets a woman that distracts his attention (Bridget Fonda). Peter Fonda, Bo Hopkins and Matt Clark are also on hand.

“South of Heaven, West of Hell” (2000) is an eccentric adult Western with a great cast made by country music star Dwight Yoakam. He had some success at acting (e.g. “Sling Blade”) and so tried his hand at scriptwriting and directing here. He also plays the noble protagonist, of course, and does well in the role. There’s some beauty, like the cinematography and romance, but there’s also an uncompromising nasty edge that emphasizes the ugly side of the Old West, as was done in “The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid” and Peckinpah’s “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.”

If you like those Westerns and similar artsy ones, like "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" and "The Missouri Breaks," give it a try, but it’s arguably the least of ’em (with Brando’s “The Missouri Breaks” being the best IMHO, although “McCabe & Mrs. Miller” certainly has its points of interest). I should add that the violence in the flick is creative and stark, not to mention sometimes amusing.

Speaking of amusing, Dwight did the music, which is sometimes ill-fitting, especially in the violent second half, which suggests that he was shooting for quirky and perhaps black comedy. Meanwhile Billy Bob Thornton shows up in an interesting bit part. Unfortunately, too much of the second half smacks of lousy filmmaking. No doubt Yoakam was being experimental and artistic, but I found too much of the film awkward, uncompelling and repugnant, even amateurish, which leaves a bad taste. It’s no surprise that it was a flop and hasn’t developed a cult following.

I give credit to Dwight for trying and taking great risks (with SOME of it working), but it turned into a cinematic nightmare for him. The script needed rewritten to flush out the potential and tweak flaws, but that takes money which Yoakam didn’t have (he already sold his mansion in Malibu to help finance it). He had access to quality actors and enough money for a decent Western, but I guess you could say he was in over his head. It smacks of a Tarantino Western by a wannabe.

Bridget (Peter’s daughter) would only do six more movies and a handful of TV episodes before retiring from the biz in 2002.

The film runs 2 hours, 11 minutes, and was shot in southeastern Arizona (Sharp's Ranch historical site in San Rafael Valley, Old Tucson, Mescal and Benson).

GRADE: C/C-