Nicolas Cage met a classic American Wild West story in this captivating, albeit rushed, movie adapted from John Williams' novel (published, 1960) after the same name.
"Butcher's Crossing" had some remarkable foresight-worthy points worth appreciating. From the way European colonizers took and sold Native-American lands, to the genocide and mass resource exploitation that happened around that time, there was a world of subtext waiting to be gleaned from this script.
The events bottled in this plot were as sick as they were intriguing, especially the parts where they highlighted human greed and how some people couldn't hold anything sacred, let alone ecological balance.
Playing one of the hunters aiming to carve a life for himself by exploiting the wild and untamed regions of early North America was Miller, played by "Nic" Cage. He brought a familiar level of intensity to his character and a gravitas that fans have come to expect from him over the years. I liked watching the way Cage went about emulating a little Clint Eastwood and a little John Wayne.
One of the newcomers to the 'new world' was Will Andrews (played engagingly by Fred Hechinger). The character and the artist were both interesting, and created remarkable contrast in a story that was mostly about mindless over-hunting.
Will represented so many everyday people who started out with hopes and dreams, only to realize different as time went by. In "Butcher's Crossing", Will wanted to see and experience the land he'd heard so much about. But he could only do that if he accompanied some buffalo hunters who made a living selling fresh bison hides. He ended up with Miller and also ended up funding the hunt.
Now, Miller had a strange aim. He wanted to hunt in a treacherous mountain area where he believed buffalo with thicker hides roamed. His desire was to earn double for those hides and make a lot of money real fast. The purveyor McDonald (played cleverly by Paul Raci) wasn't too sure about Miller's claims, but he reluctantly humoured him anyway.
Before long, things took a deadly turn when Miller and his newly commissioned hunting troupe met with environmental hazards, wintry wilderness perils, and in-fighting among themselves.
Their troublesome skinner Fred Schneider (played wonderfully by Jeremy Bobb) had a way of getting on people's nerves. But he also had some wise thoughts which went ignored by the rest of the party. Their troubled wagon rider Charlie Hoge (played well by Xander Berkeley) was at his wit's end, literally. Then there was poor Will, who ended up getting less than his money's worth, in every emotional sense of the word.
The story in "Butcher's Crossing" was good, though it rushed in places it should've slowed down. Some of the scenes weren't adequately explored as a consequence. Though characterizations were on point, the movie felt imbalanced in a way that didn't do the characters' journeys justice. This includes Nicolas Cage, but he did good work with the limited scope given to his character.
Be that as it may, the movie's simplified portrayals of greed, callousness, and misplaced ambition were worth watching.
The biggest takeaway from "Butcher's Crossing" is the importance of wildlife conservation, which in turn ensures the survival of entire ecosystems. Despite the mass culling of bison for profit, Native-Americans - including those from the Blackfeet Nation - helped ensure the beasts' comeback in what has since been called one of the greatest conservation stories of all time.
Be sure to catch those pre-credits vintage photographs and vital facts. They lent the movie a world of meaning and value.
"Butcher's Crossing" had some remarkable foresight-worthy points worth appreciating. From the way European colonizers took and sold Native-American lands, to the genocide and mass resource exploitation that happened around that time, there was a world of subtext waiting to be gleaned from this script.
The events bottled in this plot were as sick as they were intriguing, especially the parts where they highlighted human greed and how some people couldn't hold anything sacred, let alone ecological balance.
Playing one of the hunters aiming to carve a life for himself by exploiting the wild and untamed regions of early North America was Miller, played by "Nic" Cage. He brought a familiar level of intensity to his character and a gravitas that fans have come to expect from him over the years. I liked watching the way Cage went about emulating a little Clint Eastwood and a little John Wayne.
One of the newcomers to the 'new world' was Will Andrews (played engagingly by Fred Hechinger). The character and the artist were both interesting, and created remarkable contrast in a story that was mostly about mindless over-hunting.
Will represented so many everyday people who started out with hopes and dreams, only to realize different as time went by. In "Butcher's Crossing", Will wanted to see and experience the land he'd heard so much about. But he could only do that if he accompanied some buffalo hunters who made a living selling fresh bison hides. He ended up with Miller and also ended up funding the hunt.
Now, Miller had a strange aim. He wanted to hunt in a treacherous mountain area where he believed buffalo with thicker hides roamed. His desire was to earn double for those hides and make a lot of money real fast. The purveyor McDonald (played cleverly by Paul Raci) wasn't too sure about Miller's claims, but he reluctantly humoured him anyway.
Before long, things took a deadly turn when Miller and his newly commissioned hunting troupe met with environmental hazards, wintry wilderness perils, and in-fighting among themselves.
Their troublesome skinner Fred Schneider (played wonderfully by Jeremy Bobb) had a way of getting on people's nerves. But he also had some wise thoughts which went ignored by the rest of the party. Their troubled wagon rider Charlie Hoge (played well by Xander Berkeley) was at his wit's end, literally. Then there was poor Will, who ended up getting less than his money's worth, in every emotional sense of the word.
The story in "Butcher's Crossing" was good, though it rushed in places it should've slowed down. Some of the scenes weren't adequately explored as a consequence. Though characterizations were on point, the movie felt imbalanced in a way that didn't do the characters' journeys justice. This includes Nicolas Cage, but he did good work with the limited scope given to his character.
Be that as it may, the movie's simplified portrayals of greed, callousness, and misplaced ambition were worth watching.
The biggest takeaway from "Butcher's Crossing" is the importance of wildlife conservation, which in turn ensures the survival of entire ecosystems. Despite the mass culling of bison for profit, Native-Americans - including those from the Blackfeet Nation - helped ensure the beasts' comeback in what has since been called one of the greatest conservation stories of all time.
Be sure to catch those pre-credits vintage photographs and vital facts. They lent the movie a world of meaning and value.