South of Heaven, West of Hell (2000)

Simply Perfect

A Disappointing Continuation

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

In 1907, somewhere in the Arizona territory U.S. Marshall Valentine Casey (Dwight Yoakum) procides over his town, its quit and for the most part nothing special or exciting ever seems to happen. It isn't long however before he gets a strange visit from his old family headed by Leland Henry (Luke Askew), Uncle Jud (Michael Jeter) and outlaw brothers Taylor Henry (Vince Vaughn) and Arvid Henry (Paul Reubens). They want Valentine to re-join them in there travels and exploits but he refuses now loving his peaceful life in the small Arizona town. That night the local bank is robbed leading to the deaths of several townspeople and Casey's deputy as well, and the family escape into the night. A while later Casey is no longer the town marshal feeling guilt and pain for what occurred that night he now works on a ranch with his assistant U.S. Christmas (James Terry McIlvain), however Casey is kinda reborn again when he falls in love with the beautiful but troubled Adalyne Dunfries (Bridget Fonda) all seems to be going fine, until his dreaded family manage to track him down again this time, killing several of his farm hands and abusing Adalyne. Now He must confront the sins of his past. And finally bring his evil family to justice.First of all I want to know how you can have some of the best locations in Arizona, and one of the best esambled cast of cult actors in a movie and still manage to screw it up this bad. I mean lets look at the list Billy Bob Thornton and Peter Fonda both in wasted cameos, a young talented Vince Vaughn who is firing on all cylinders here, Bridget Fonda, Paul "Pee Wee Herman" Reubens actually acting in a serious role, Bud Cort, the ever enjoyable late Michael Jeter, the great Bo Hopkins, Nobile Wilingham, and Luke Askew who is putting in a hell of a performance and you still manage to screw this movie up?? The problem with South of Heaven, West of Hell mainly lies in its director Dwight Yoakum a talented country music singer who at this time had acted in several roles, but, had never played a lead character or directed a movie before. The film itself looks gorgeous with its scenery, but, Yoakum doesn't know when to say CUT and end a damn scene, scenes go on and on and on and never stop and when they do they've completely worn out there welcome, he goes for the existential route of long scenes of everyone being weird and strange which just drags the movie out, while IMDB says the film lasts 104 minutes the version I watched lasted 139 minutes yes that right 2 hrs 19 mins. It also doesn't help that Yoakum himself literally sleep walks his way threw this picture its at times like watching paint dry, yes the actor who played the great Doyle Hargraves in Sling Blade in awful here. As for the other actors most of them practically scream there lines in odd scenes were everyone just completely overacts, I'm not exactly sure why but its bad. Joe Unger a actor who I always enjoyed watching is here as well in a strange and embarrassing part of the plot were he's being held prisoner in a shed. The best characters here are Billy Bob who was more then likely just here as a favor, Vince Vaughn who again shows when he tries he's talented, Michael Jeter who is his normal goofy self, and Luke Askew who is probably the best thing here as the crazy family leader Leland Henry. The movie begins to gain steam towards the end, the ranch invasion scene is well shot and makes you think Yoakum might just end this movie on a high note. However the finally gun battle between he and the family in a absolute cluster of people screaming, blowing people up with dynamite (body part flying and all), its all shot with someone who seems to be suffering from ADHD.This thing was a more of a disaster behind the camera as it was in front of it. The film was a critical and box office failure. Shortly before production began, the financier backed out and Yoakam made the decision to finance the film on his own, partially through the sale of his home in Malibu. His production company (A Cast of Strays) ultimately filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and several crew members registered complaints with unions and filed lawsuits in small claims court against the company. Yoakam said it was "the hardest experience I've ever gone through in my professional life in terms of executing art" (yeah that's one way to put it). To help pay off the debt accrued while making the movie, Yoakam hired a cheaper backing band in 2002, which resulted in a falling out with his longtime producer, bandleader, and guitarist Pete Anderson. The movie was later picked up by Trimark Pictures (the company that released Leprechaun in the Hood that same year). They where in bad shape when they released the film and went out of business two months later. A lot of this may be why Yoakum looks to be miserable during the film, sadly South of Heaven, West of Hell could had been something special with its cast and locations, but, its sadly a waste from start to finish.

I am usually a sucker for any offering from the western movie genre, which is why I picked up the DVD for this movie when I found it at a dollar store. But I found it to be really bad, so I can only wonder what casual or non-fans of the western genre would think of it. Now, the movie does offer a once in a lifetime cast, and I admit that writer/director Dwight Yoakam does manage to generate some genuine desolate atmosphere. He also directs the gun battle scenes in a manner that makes them come across as more realistic than usual. However, the action moments only make up a small part of the movie. Most of the movie is simply an extremely slow-moving mess, with too many characters just standing around talking about uninteresting thing with barely any plot in sight. I have to admit that I almost fell asleep several times watching the movie since it was so dull for the most part. Incidentally, I watched the full 133 minute version of the movie - a cut version running 100 minutes apparently exists. This is one time I wish I saw the cut version of a movie.

A mess of things here to both love and, well not love. It is a wild experiment that is nothing if not different and it is something to behold. A long and sometimes tedious Movie with a great deal of quirkiness and a meandering mystical story.A daunting task, undertaken by the Star/Director/Writer, this is an impressive first time effort. Not without some self-indulgent flaws and failings, it nevertheless is an Artistic array of elements that dosen't quite mesh with moments of confusion.For a Western that is quite violent, it is the gunfights that seem flat and uninspired. Especially the more elaborate confrontations containing multiple participants with dynamite and a machine gun. These come off as less than exciting when they are surely meant to be.The more close-up, gritty altercations work much better and overall it is the bizarre characters and the pithy, dark writing along with some excellent Cinematography and staging that make this quite an off-kilter combination of a standard Western template with unexpected genre concepts.

it was a long sit... this was about the worst movie i've ever seen: excelling in bad directing, plot full of mistakes and unnecessary "funny characters" (couldn,t get my cheek turned), misuse of some good actors and so on and so on... even this "musician" failed to produce a proper score: sounds merely as leftovers that could cheaply "fit in"!and then this overacting: supposedly meant for a laugh but in this case the stomach turns!IF there is a story i would opt for a serious cut-down and a remake by the Coen brothers (for their intelligence and humor) otherwise by Tarantino (for brutality and humor)!!! but that's never going to happen! better as well...i loved the end: 1- it was finally over. 2- the man in dress was not kissed. 3- i realized it was all wasted money 4- i got to know who where lured into this projectDON'T TRY THIS AT HOME!!!!!