The Ballad of Lefty Brown was released on December 15th, 2017. It is written and directed by Jared Moshé. In it a cowboy named Lefty Brown (Bill Pullman) sets out to avenge the murder of his boss.
Loyalty is the central theme of The Ballad of Lefty Brown. The plot is set in motion when Edward Johnson (Peter Fonda), the boss and long time friend of our eponymous protagonist, is murdered and Lefty sets out to bring his killers to justice. Accompanying Lefty is Marshal Tom Harrah (Tommy Flanagan), an old friend of Lefty and Ed from back in the day. Tom has been sent by another old friend, James Bierce (Jim Caviezel), now a Governor, with all the responsibility that entails, to dissuade Lefty from his task, preferring to let the army handle it. After some heated debate (that involves Tom being tied up by Lefty), Harrah is persuaded to help Brown track down the killers, convinced it's what Ed would have wanted. They also meet Jeremiah Perkins (Diego Josef), an aspiring gunfighter who looks idolizes Tom, Ed and Jimmy (all of whom have had dime store novels written about their former exploits).
When it is revealed that Bierce was behind Ed's murder, as he had opposed the building of a new railway, Tom is torn between loyalty to Jimmy and to his departed friend. Meanwhile, Lefty is framed for the murder in order to detract attention away from Bierce. He is captured by Ed's grieving widow Laura (Kathy Baker), who believes that he is the murderer. It is up to him to escape and uncover the conspiracy.
Many westerns fall into one of two categories, they will either portray the west as a place to escape the decadence and emptiness of modern society or as a brutal wilderness to which the protagonists must bring the benefits of civilization. Lefty Brown fits firmly in the former mold. Its characters have forged their own place in the wilderness and the railroads, along with the development they will bring, are seen as a threat to this. Jimmy, in buying into the myth of progress that the railroad represents, becomes a villain.
This attitude, I suppose, also informs the films attitude toward vigilante justice. The films ends with Lefty and the townsfolk lynching Bierce, believing that he will use his political connections to clear himself of Ed's murder. Earlier in the film we see Johnson take the law into his own hands to hang a murderer he and Lefty caught. In many ways this idea of justice carries throughout the film, as Lefty pursues Ed's killers against the urging of Jimmy and Tom, who prefer to leave the job to the competent authorities.
The film can be a little heavy handed with its themes at times. Jimmy's monologue before he is hanged, maintaining the justice of his actions in his own eyes, is, in particular, a little hard to swallow considering that he's about to loose his life. Another problem is that the film doesn't really explain why Ed opposed the railway in the first place. Clearly Jimmy's pursuit of progress has corrupted him. Is the film suggesting that this pursuit is inherently corrupting? That perhaps it is better to maintain a more "settled" existence? By the time the credits role, it remains unclear.
The Ballad of Lefty Brown features a great cast. Bill Pullman puts in a sensitive performance as the slow-witted but unflinchingly loyal Lefty Brown. Peter Fonda lends a real sense of gravitas to Edward Johnson. Though he has very little screen time, his character looms over the film like the ghost of Hamlet's father. Kathy Baker, meanwhile, is every bit his equal as Johnson's matriarchal wife, Laura. Jim Caviezel is suitably (if uncharacteristically) sleazy as the treacherous Jimmy Bierce while Tommy Flanagan is his usual cantankerous self as Tom Harrah, the haunted, hard-drinking Irishman. Joe Anderson is suitably menacing as the killer-for-hire Frank Baines. Finally, young Diego Josef holds his own among a veteran cast as Jeremiah Perkins, the would-be gunslinger befriended by Lefty.
Jared Moshé does a great job in this, his second film as a director. His use of hand held camera's lends a sense of uneasy to much of the film. This is contrasted with the locked down wide shots of the landscape, emphasizing the unchanging and indifferent order of nature. David McFarland's cinematography captures the stark beauty of the Montana landscape while H. Scott Salinas somber score is used sparingly but effectively.
All in all The Ballad of Lefty Brown is an above average western. Given the current dearth in the genre's output of late, I would certainly recommend for any and all western fans.
Score: 8/10
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