Weekend Buff

Hostiles (2017)

This is my favorite western of all time. It is not particularly well known or well received by critics, but I thought it was underrated. It is also not a quite a cop film, but here we are.

Just to recap: Not well known - Not well received - Not a cop film.

Let’s continue.

Hostiles starts in the New Mexico Territory in 1892. The wild frontier is in its last days but that is not enough to save Rosalee Quaid (Rosamund Pike) and her family from an attack from a band of Comanches. The opening scene is as dramatic and heart wrenching as any scene in a western.

Captain Joseph Blocker (Christian Bale) is at Fort Berringer, New Mexico. He is ordered on one last mission before retiring. To take Cheyenne Chief Yellow Hawk (Wes Studi) to his historic homeland of Montana as he dies of cancer. Blocker hates Indians, Yellow Hawk in particular, as he has been fighting in the Indian Wars for decades. Now that the Indians no longer pose a threat, the national outlook has softened to one of pity rather than anger. Indian’s’ rights activists have made Yellow Hawk’s plight to return to Montana a national story. Blocker must take the assignment but cannot let go of his anger - it encompasses him.

Nevertheless, he begins his journey with a small contingent of troopers and Yellow Hawk’s family. They encounter Rosalee Quaid, and she joins the fraught trek. Death and danger from all fronts follow the group, there is no “one” enemy.

A great performance by Christian Bale highlights the film. Director Scott Cooper (Black Mass, Crazy Heart) adapted the story from a forgotten manuscript of deceased screenwriter Donald Stewart (Missing, Jack Ryan Saga). Stunning visuals and deep emotion make this movie worth the watch. Bale, Pike, and Studi are supported with great acting from Adam Beach (Flags of our Fathers) and Rory Cochrane (Dazed and Confused, Argo) amongst others.

The film exemplifies the end of an era. The west is closing, Indian tribes are in their final moments of anything resembling freedom, the wounds of the Civil War are healed for all those except the soldiers, and the old hatred of Indians has become uncouth and unnecessary. Modernity is arriving.

The characters are still fighting their own old battles as the film begins. Blocker’s hatred of Yellow Hawk is a burning fire that threatens to consume them. Yellow Hawk is done with fighting. He sees that the battle is over. Blocker must find that truth on his own. Yellow Hawk just want one more view of home and the life that used to be. The other characters, and the United States itself are on similar journeys.

This is not a feel-good movie. Dark, filled with anger, and uncomfortable it shows a group of characters that need to catch up with the times or surrender to their demons. In some ways it reminded me of some of the old timer cops that I worked with over the years. The pre-Guiliani days were in the past. The city was safer, and cops were no longer at war. Not to say there was no danger, but cops were dying less, winning more, and became more professional. The days of the nightstick and street justice had changed. The old timers had to do things differently and adapt.

To me this film captured that feeling succinctly. It’s a piece of American history that is not often told. Characters from all backgrounds and ideals paint the picture of America

Hostiles is a winding story. The journey is the plot.

The film runs an hour and a half and keeps moving. The visuals are stunning and will make you yearn for a trip to one of the National Parks. It can be found for free on Tubi or rented for the usual $4. Appreciate the good, the bad, and the ugly of America’s western story with Hostiles.

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