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McCabe & Mrs. Miller
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McCabe & Mrs. Miller

1971
Drama, Western
2h 0m
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Avg Percentile 73.24% from 1366 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(1366)
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Rated 05 Jul 2007
5
91st
Beautiful and heartbreaking, one of the best westerns I've ever seen. There's no romanticism in Altman's portrait of the west; it's earthy and dingy, and lacks the machismo heroics of most of the genre. As a deconstruction, it works wonderfully, but as a character study it's even better. McCabe is as tragic a figure as you'll come across, and Beatty fits the role like a glove. Christie is fantastic as well. And the cinematography is stellar. Just about perfect.
Rated 14 Mar 2008
10
98th
Absolute genius. Hauntingly sad, beautifully shot, great songs by Cohen. Beatty has never been better, Christie never more bittersweetly endearing. Downtempo, yet never a dull moment. Amazing.
Rated 08 Nov 2010
90
97th
For once a truly unique western that explores and reinvents the genre. The village setting of snow, mud and wood combined with Leonard Cohen's wonderful debut album on the soundtrack creates a melancholic atmosphere that will stay with you for a long time.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
90
97th
Probably the greatest western of all time – maybe it’s because it’s more of a northern. Then again, westerns aren’t really my thing. Re-watched: 5 November 2016.
Rated 25 Sep 2008
82
85th
A somber and lyrical feature that has many moments of quiet beauty and grace. Beatty and Christie are both compelling and intriguing, and Cohen's score is beautiful. I never felt a strong connection with the film, it often felt quite dreamy and distant and vague, but it was on the whole a pleasant and rewarding experience.
Rated 30 Jan 2010
9
93rd
The farther I dive into Altman, the more I like. I knew I was gonna love it from the first couple of seconds when the Leonard Cohen song started playing. Beatty is particularly great, but the rest of the cast keeps up with him just as well. Add in great cinematography plus a great ending and it turns into a classic for me.
Rated 30 Mar 2007
40
23rd
Yawn. Anti-Westerns must have seemed cool back in 1971, but certainly not now. Plus Altman's meandering style strongly suggests that a lot of his "artistic" friends would never talk to him again if he actually made a point
Rated 30 Oct 2008
90
91st
A fervently lyrical masterpiece where the curious images clearly suggest more than the trivial words... It has an archaic yet modern feel, and a sense of devastating yet almost romantic despair impossible to confront with detachment.
Rated 08 May 2010
94
98th
Pitch-perfect role for Warren Beatty as John McCabe, a gambler, charmer and reputed gunslinger who swiftly establishes himself as the big businessman running a saloon and brothel in the wintery town of Presbyterian Church, but encounters with seasoned madame Mrs. Miller and other less friendly business interests suggest he might not have the gall to match the big splash he makes in this lonely backwater.
Rated 22 Jan 2011
80
86th
Warren Beatty and Julie Christie make this an interesting watch. It doesn't wallow in the same clichés as many of its peers (genre wise) and probably shouldn't be regarded as pure western, which is good thing because it doesn't have to restrict itself to all the overused themes. It therefore could only be regarded as an existentialistic neo-colonial piece of art, with Cohens words and music filling out the landscape with profound beauty.
Rated 22 Nov 2014
96
96th
Altman subjects the Western to the sort of radical genre criticism he would apply to the private eye film two years later in "The Long Goodbye." This film is a study in contrasts: poetic and atmospheric, yet dirty and downbeat too, tied together by the haunting music of Leonard Cohen. Beatty and Christie both deliver superb performances, creating deeply flawed people worth rooting for even though we never really like them. Auberjonois and Keith Carradine give stand-out performances too.
Rated 27 Mar 2008
88
90th
A great Altman anti-western, using and subverting the conventions of the genre to make a very interesting character study. The story is pretty thin but it's the way McCabe's character gets slowly revealed through its key points that makes it work. Christie's character, while more in the background is just as interesting as a strong and intelligent madam.
Rated 29 Oct 2009
91
89th
A painfully beautiful gem. Julie Christie's eyes and Leonard Cohen's Stranger song will stick with you forever.
Rated 05 Apr 2010
40
8th
If only the big bad corporation hadn't come--then Julie Christie's madame would have avoided a life chained to the opium den and enjoyed the "freedom" of the whorehouse, while Beatty's inept businessman would have happily continued his hard drinking and gambling ways without consequence. Pretty photography, but I prefer my movies at least be honest about the kinds of lives its characters lead.
Rated 01 Oct 2010
5
93rd
Completely antithetical to trope and mythology. Just as McCabe meets his match in Mrs. Miller, so too did the western in Robert Altman.
Rated 01 Jul 2012
100
99th
Spellbinding, masterful western, with dogged Beatty in arguably the performance of his career, matched by convincingly de-glamourised Christie, and wonderfully venal support work by Auberjonois. Altman's legendary stylistic devices are on full display here, with masterful use of the widescreen format and dreamy camerawork. Film works on a subconscious level rather than literal, and is all the more successful for it. Haunting soundtrack by Leonard Cohen the icing on a genuine masterpiece.
Rated 22 May 2021
80
75th
This is a really good film that I don't love. What is the distinction? I am unsure. Sometimes you have an emotional reaction to a work. If you want to pretend what I do here is film criticism, then I apologize. Okay, I can hear your groans from here. Let me try -- I think the film is a tad (a TAD) too understated for me to push this into my favourite Altman's.
Rated 08 Jun 2007
65
65th
Decent flick. I'm not crazy about Warren Beatty and the story is just alright, but Altman does a commendable job with it.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
98
99th
Funny, sad, and surprisingly understated. A near perfect film, and Altman's most beautiful deconstruction.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
85
84th
A unique and beautiful Western. Its tragedy feels almost inevetible, but when it hits, it hits hard.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
74
50th
Such a strange rhythm. Why does this movie exist? Warren is adorable.
Rated 09 Nov 2007
80
71st
The only all-snowing western I know, and combined with the beautiful songs of Leonard Cohen and the overall elegiac atmosphere, it's one great mood-piece, not all that common in the work of the often detached Altman.
Rated 12 Nov 2007
90
81st
Julie Christie and Warren Beatty are fantastic in this Altman film. Deadwood must have been partially inspired by the reality of this very gritty, inverted western. Such a great contrast to the romanticized John Wayne idea. Also, some of my favorite Leonard Cohen songs are the soundtrack. A truly fantastic film with a beautiful and haunting ending. Unfortunately, the transfer on the DVD is awful, so if it comes on an HD channel in your area watch it that way.
Rated 26 Nov 2007
75
54th
I liked it but didn't think it was that special. The matter-of-fact, fatalistic tone reminded me a lot of Thieves Like Us. As an "anti-Western" it succeeds, I just didn't care that much about the story. Like The Graduate and Harold & Maude, this movie relies solely on one folk-rock act for a few repeated songs. However, I much prefer Simon & Garfunkel and Cat Stevens to Leonard Cohen. Oh, the songs are pretty, but the lyrics rely a lot on terrible metaphors.
Rated 13 Mar 2009
83
82nd
Richly textured mood piece. Altman deglamorizes Hollywood image of period with his realistic visions. Beatty is first-rate as the two-big braggart McCabe.
Rated 10 Apr 2009
0
15th
Obscurely scripted, muddy-coloured and harshly recorded Western melodrama whose squalid 'realism' comes as close to fantasy as does _The Wizard of Oz_.
Rated 13 Aug 2009
97
96th
There are many who consider this film to be the quintessential Altman effort, and it's not hard to see why. The hallmarks of Altman's legend are all there: the overlapping dialogue, the moral ambivalence, the richly-conceived characters. Most importantly and impressively, the film is a thrilling example of the ways in which Altman pulls all these elements of his craft together to give the sense of a fully developed culture and society.
Rated 27 Sep 2009
20
4th
Thanks to the dreary and mellow Leonard Cohen soundtrack, the persistently dim and dull-colored lighting, the uninspired and claustrophobic set design of the town, and the cast of unattractive whores (even Julie Christie looked pretty hideous with that curly hair), I can easily say this is one of the most disconcerting and ugliest movies I've ever seen.
Rated 29 Sep 2009
92
92nd
One of the greatest westerns ever made. Arguably Altman's most memorable work, and easily his most haunting.
Rated 16 Feb 2010
99
99th
Robert Altman's greatest film and possibly the best Western ever made. Wonderfully photographed by Vilmos Zsigmond. Saw it described once a "gauzily mellow" which sounds about right.
Rated 17 Mar 2010
90
96th
This is a surprisingly brutal anti-western with barely any sympathetic people nor heroes or villains really. The whole point was to showcase the trials and tribulations of a grimy frontier town where law and order goes only as far as a man's word. There is a fatalistic edge to their world. Warren Beatty turns in an excellent performance as a morally bankrupt card dealer, drunk, and brothel owner. This is probably one of Altman's finest and most memorable films.
Rated 17 Jun 2010
10
97th
Beautifully shot anti-western. Warren Beatty as the simple businessman John McCabe is absolutely perfect. Julie Christie keeps up with him the whole way in this alluring tale. Seemingly interesting music choices are truly fitting. Wonderful ending on top of that.
Rated 13 Feb 2011
94
83rd
Altman takes the Western genre and turns it on its head. Gone is the silent self-assured gunslinger, replaced by a man with more pretentions than sense, and a prostitute who is the most capable entrepenuer around. Gone are the open desolate plains, replaced with mountains, trees, mud, ice and snow. Through his naturalistic style, Altman is able to create a real sense of the misery and drudgery of the frontier life, and this only heightens the tragedy that unfolds before us.
Rated 11 Sep 2011
100
98th
A masterpiece. Visually this is absolutely beautiful, Beatty and Christie are great and I liked the use of Leonard Cohen. But really, it's hard to say why I liked this film so much. Maybe it's the excellent atmosphere, which makes this one of those films you get lost in. (two times)
Rated 07 Nov 2012
90
97th
This (post-)western is Altman at his genre-tweaking best. McCabe is an absolutely wonderful character, the best role of Beatty's career. 'The Last Picture Show' also premiered in 1971 which shall henceforth be known as the year of masterful cinematic elegies.
Rated 22 Mar 2013
75
56th
On a visual aesthetic level it is extraordinary, there's a muddy realism to the look and yet the film is still stunningly beautiful. I've gotta say though that the combination of Leonard Cohen's music and Warren Beatty's bumbling performance had a slightly soporific effect on me. And whilst the film has a rich rueful quality to it, the whole cold fatalism thing stopped me from really connecting with it emotionally. So I liked it a lot, but unlike a lot of people wasn't exactly blown away.
Rated 16 Sep 2014
41
13th
Referred to as an anti-western, but personally i prefer the good old "classic" westerns.
Rated 17 Jul 2015
95
88th
Altman applies his unique sensibility to the Western. Neat little spins on western tropes: the shootout in the snow, the romantic sensibility stripped from the narrative and confined to Leonard Cohen's folk songs, the relentless mud and ugliness of actual life in this setting.
Rated 15 Nov 2017
7
67th
Is it just me or does Julie Christie look a bit like Klaus Kinski? // What the hell, that lanky kid was Keith Carradine? // Video game idea #138: A tranquil, Harvest Moon-esque simulation game in which you play as the proprietor of a whorehouse in a snowy frontier town.
Rated 08 Dec 2019
95
87th
Snowy drama that's heavier on the atmosphere than the action, and is almost as divorced from the 'revisionist Western' as it is from the original Westerns. Definitely a singular take on the genre, but with all the snow and nihilism it feels a little bit like watching Corbucci's 'The Great Silence' through a haze of opium smoke.
Rated 03 Jan 2007
91
89th
Em honra de René Auberjonois (1940 - 2019). Esse filme definitivamente cresceu em mim desde que o vi nos anos 90, em todos os aspectos um anti-western que decreta a morte do gênero de um jeito ou de outro, é esteticamente um deslumbre e uma das obras máximas de Altman. Box Versátil Cinema Faroeste Volume 8.
Rated 13 Nov 2007
99
99th
Crack an egg in your whiskey jar and let the snow fall upon your bordello!
Rated 16 Nov 2007
50
56th
lovely film, sorta meh story.
Rated 01 Mar 2008
92
87th
# 168
Rated 19 Dec 2008
92
84th
169
Rated 23 Mar 2009
88
63rd
loses some points for a really slow first half, second half is quite good!
Rated 12 Aug 2009
73
73rd
great film, but it looked and felt so different that i'll have to see it again before placing it among my top faves
Rated 28 Sep 2009
84
89th
Brilliant.
Rated 20 Oct 2009
80
81st
I just simply wanted more of these characters. However, this desire for more will bring me back to this film (yet again).
Rated 03 Nov 2009
60
39th
Is this film has a meaning? Except bad snow effects...
Rated 12 Jan 2010
85
76th
Billed as an "anti-western", the film definitely lives up to that description. A fascinating film that deserves to be seen more than once.
Rated 13 Jan 2010
94
88th
124
Rated 18 Jan 2010
100
95th
watched: 2010, 2013, 2015, 2021, 2024
Rated 12 Mar 2010
30
24th
A perhaps too-realistic Western that wastes its top-notch cast and settings in a numbing exercise of mumbling, murkiness and deeply depressing futility. Greatly over-rated.
Rated 19 Oct 2010
40
97th
"Like Thieves Like Us and The Long Goodbye, it feels too effortless and self-contained to actively read as an exercise in genre deconstruction." - Ed Gonzalez
Rated 25 Nov 2010
88
88th
When this gets going, in the bar and brothel milieu, or with the combative relationship between the eponymous pair, or in the haunting showdown, it's phenomenal. The dirty light is gorgeously captured, lending the town much of its remote character. I take issue with Altman's decision to alter McCabe's portrayal suddenly in conjunction with the reveal about his identity, but the shift is necessary to inject tension into the final sequence, a true classic despite the regrettable fake snow effects.
Rated 02 Jul 2011
95
95th
after this and m.a.s.h. altman, one of the greatest directors, went downhill. lost control of his vision.
Rated 30 Aug 2011
84
69th
I feel I should like this more than I do, and I think part of the problem is that I might have watched it during the wrong time of year. It's definitely a story for winter, and the cold that helps define the last moments is brilliant - and a stroke of luck for the filmmakers, since it was reportedly nature intervening - but a bit less inviting on a warm summer day. I think I'll have to revisit it on a cold December night.
Rated 15 Nov 2011
77
84th
Really slow movie, but definitely worth its while. Great performances and a great ending. Shittiest sound mix ever, though, in the first 30-40 minutes, that is. Have never heard a more human-brain-confusing mix of dialogue and background noises. But that's Altman for you, I guess. :D
Rated 30 Nov 2011
94
88th
#120
Rated 17 Jan 2012
66
18th
This is a film that never really gets going. The acting is fine but the story is very slow with to many boring parts. There are numerous Robert Altman films that are better than this one.
Rated 24 Aug 2012
40
48th
I really wish I had liked this more. Some great cinematography but in the end, the performances and characters themselves let it down. The story also doesn't make any sense :(
Rated 04 Jan 2013
75
62nd
I loved the opening scene of this film, but unfortunately the rest of the film didn't have the same kind of impact. Beatty was good, but I didn't see the fuss over Christie and the story could have been better. It was a bit slow at times. Glad I saw it though.
Rated 07 Aug 2013
75
89th
Good film.
Rated 28 Dec 2013
71
41st
It's well-made and all (I especially like the lush, but murky cinematography), and serves as a useful and (perhaps) undying analogy of American economics, but I still don't get too much else from this movie. I'm still not a fan of Altman's approach at focusing on ensembles rather than individuals -- it works in some ways, but ultimately leaves me feeling disengaged.
Rated 21 Jan 2014
7
92nd
entertaining, amusing and charming, with altman's trademark background chatter. unlike most generic westerns with big bad men who grin and grimace a lot, this one has no time for silly things like sacrifice and honour and shows that these saloon people like to, well, fuck as much as in any other genre.
Rated 11 Aug 2014
90
81st
McCabe & Mrs. Miller is like no other western ever made, a chilly, minute portrait of a hamlet hacked together from damp kindling and basic bodily luxuries completely insufficient as padding against the wild.
Rated 06 Nov 2014
96
97th
This is a really, really fucking sad movie.
Rated 29 Dec 2014
30
5th
Hippie-ish, nihilistic Western (of a sort). Near zero care factor. Handsomely-filmed but ultimately filth. And depressing.
Rated 11 Jun 2015
89
97th
88.500
Rated 06 Jul 2015
76
49th
Great soundtrack.
Rated 26 Jan 2016
7
73rd
Beautifully stylish and with a haunting soundtrack, the story often feels unsubstantial and dreamy.
Rated 22 Oct 2016
85
97th
Rightly praised for its murky visuals, innovative sound design and its trenchant critique of contemporary capitalism, McCabe & Mrs Miller remains one of the greatest and most original achievements of New Hollywood. Beatty excels as the bumbling McCabe, a would be entrepreneur who lacks the brains and know-how to succeed in an increasingly cut throat world. But it's Zsigmond's haunting, moody and sensual photography that stuns and leaves the deepest imprint, creating a truly singular experience.
Rated 14 Nov 2016
90
85th
(...)Überhaupt; man beachte den Titel: McCabe & Mrs. Miller. Das verheisst keinerlei persönliche Beziehung, klingt wie ein Firmenname. Ein geschäftliches Arrangement. Alles, was Mrs. Miller tut, ist geschäftlich. Was mag sie hinter sich haben? Sicher nur; sie liess alles zurück. Der arme McCabe. Er mag ein Poet sein, doch das ist einerlei in Presbyterian Church. Mrs. Miller wird wohl die Einzige in der Stadt sein, die überhaupt weiss, was Poesie bedeutet. Doch sie liess auch das zurück; b
Rated 13 Feb 2017
20
6th
If you don't like traditional westerns, adventure, beautiful scenery or characters with anything noble about them, this revisionist western might be for you. If you do like stories with more "realism", indecent people you don't really care about, miserable conditions, dark lighting and lots of whores, this might be your kind of movie. Alas, it isn't mine. Also, Cohen's score makes you feel like this is a poetic tragedy about an everyman you can relate to, belied by the movie itself.
Rated 15 Feb 2017
85
82nd
The lost feminist masterpiece of our time.
Rated 28 May 2017
80
78th
I'm not the biggest Altman fan but I really enjoyed this one. Beatty and Christie were perfect as entrepreneurs (for lack of a better word) in a new town and the town itself had a wonderful life to it. It's kind of a tough watch at the beginning but as the movie goes on it becomes quite easy to warm up to.
Rated 30 Jan 2018
80
67th
I had a bit of a time getting invested but this is a beautifully shot anti-Western where great performances by both Christie and Beatty. Although the Cohen score is wonderful, occasionally it would get used in a silly way; felt some of the placing was odd. Not a lot happens but even today it is nice to see such a low-key premise explored.
Rated 09 Mar 2018
90
75th
As could be expected from Altman, it's perfectly deprived of the usual cinematic ostentation and explicitness and yet very cinematic, in its own way. Just like in real life, one never really penetrates beyond the physical shells of the characters, which makes the love story subtle to non-existent. Rather demanding like a good book, but when you get to the end of it, you feel rewarded, and start making plans of rereading it.
Rated 23 May 2018
78
56th
Really picks up at the end
Rated 12 Jul 2018
62
80th
I couldn't get it. If this is an adaptation from a novel, we should have got more depth about individuals, their background, motivations, etc. The movie on the other hand, much spends its time on broader social dynamics. But for me, for all its shallowness, it admittedly has a certain 'mood' -especially thanks to the songs, colour palette and melancholic stares of the two leading actors... [perhaps they're running away from their past and being dragged from place to place, I don't know - possibl
Rated 14 Jul 2018
80
75th
Works better as a mood piece than as a character piece, especially since it's a bit lopsided in that regard. But the characters are still great, and the realistic depiction of the time period is particularly compelling.
Rated 10 Aug 2018
90
95th
ne kadar doğaçlama dahil olursa olsun, altman'ın hiçbir koreografi yokmuş izlenimi veren çekimleri, kalabalık sahneleri yansıtışı, kasabayı görüşü şaşırtıcı biçimde "gerçeğe" yakınsatıyor hikayeyi. özellikle karakterler üzerinden gelen janr oynamaları bu sayede çok daha çekici oluyor. hikaye boyu takip eden hüzünlü mü sadece gündelik mi belli olmayan his finalde son vuruşunu yapıyor.
Rated 09 Oct 2018
92
93rd
You can tell at a glance how important McCabe & Mrs. Miller was to film history.
Rated 11 Jan 2019
82
91st
It is you my love, you who are the stranger.
Rated 15 Jan 2019
70
53rd
John McCabe: "If a frog had wings, he wouldn't bump his ass so much, follow me?"
Rated 16 Oct 2019
75
66th
I would've enjoyed this a lot more if the audio mixing wasn't so poor
Rated 25 Jan 2020
94
98th
Beatty and Christie gave two of the best performances of all time. The look Christie gives when confirming her 5$ worth to a prospective customer is peak acting. I never got why Miller hid her opium habit from McCabe, but it did add an interesting dynamic to their relationship ("You're a funny little thing. Sometimes you're just so sweet"). The exclusive use of natural/lamp light doesn't turn out as well as in Barry Lyndon, but apparently those rooms really were that dark
Rated 16 Nov 2020
55
59th
Just another anti-Western.
Rated 11 Jul 2021
96
99th
Pauline Kael: "A beautiful pipe dream of a movie: Robert Altman's fleeting vision of what frontier life might have been [...] Delicate, richly textured, and unusually understated, this modern classic is not like any other film." His vision is given full realization by Vilmos Szigmond's gorgeous cinematography. The wonderful Leonard Cohen songs may have been a miscalculation, though--whenever I hear them, I forget to pay attention to what's going on.
Rated 14 Jul 2021
100
96th
Naturally this is known as one of those "Anti-westerns" yet I don't buy that. Altman's film is not very much out of line with many of the westerns of the time period in terms of plot. However in terms of style and how it is shot this feels definitely more like a modern western than one from the 1970s. That is where it's main appeal lies.
Rated 18 Oct 2021
100
96th
I was entranced by this movie. The soundtrack to the movie is really what pushed it over the top for me. The acting is wonderful as well. Julie Christie was my favorite but Beatty was also gruff yet tender. I went in thinking this was going to be much more of a traditional western but I was gladly wrong about that. The story is really deep with plenty of twists and turns and it ends with a very tense actions scene that is reminiscent of a classic western but also layers on so much more.
Rated 05 Jun 2022
75
57th
Very solid. Washed out colors, effective score, great performances from both Beatty and Christie. The climax is excellent. Conjures a specific mood. I didn't quite love it as an absolute classic--it's a little slow to get going, maybe to a fault--but it's a very good film. I might like it more on a second viewing at a different time, maybe.
Rated 07 Jun 2022
8
98th
"i got poetry in me", but poetry and myth, dreams and romance, these are notions for the wide sun-bleached plains where there's no limit to what the individual can be. we've built over that land now, and here poetry sputters in the bitter chill 'til it's buried in mass-produced tombs of snow, our weary, disposable bodies soon to follow. among the best looking american films of the past 50+ years, and the definitive post-western. i admit i'd still remove the cohen score almost completely though.
Rated 14 Jul 2022
75
46th
On one hand you have the great atmosphere, bolstered by outstanding cinematography, production design, and soundtrack. On the other hand you have a rather confusing performance from Warren Beatty, with no other characters really fleshed out enough to make an impact. On top of that the plot is kinda thin and mostly unexciting. Things do get interesting towards the end, but by that time you can only fix so much. Despite wasting a lot of potential it still ends up being a somewhat solid movie.
Rated 03 Aug 2022
70
58th
frontier living sucked. comfort is to be cherished.
Rated 24 Feb 2023
83
84th
Oh, so that's where DEADWOOD came from.
Rated 26 Mar 2023
61
36th
I think the only thing I enjoyed here was the Cohen soundtrack.
Rated 23 Jul 2023
76
79th
You're watching this doofus fake it till he makes it, then you see the two gentleman who want to buy him out in their actually nice hats and suits who McCabe's lame witticisms and charming facade doesn't fool, and you know he is well and truly fucked. Not because they are smarter than him, all of the men of the film are kind of mediocre in their own way. It's just that the giant corporation has the money to pay someone to do the dirty work. Sort of an anti-capitalist fable and pretty dang sad.
Rated 17 Jan 2024
77
82nd
This film captures the loneliness of the frontier life and the era of “anything is possible” well. It has great performances by both Beatty and Christie.

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