I hate to break this to all the Dwight fans out there, but when it comes to film making, the emporer has no clothes. This is less a western as it is an exercise in vanity. There are many long lingering closeups of Dwight, even one of his rear end, and all of them should have been cut. The plot is not worth repeating, you've seen it a million times, you know, a sheriff in a moral crisis- what sets this film apart is that it's over two hours long, and apparently no one had the wherewithal cut it to a watchable length. The acting is all over the boards, some people are amazingly hammy (Peter Fonda, Billy Bob Thornton) some people are amazingly boring (Dwight, Briget Fonda) and all of them appear to be lacking any real direction. There is no cohesiveness, no drive, no shape to this film. Buy the soundtrack and enjoy it in the privacy of your home, no need to waste your time with the film.
Review of South of Heaven, West of Hell
