The Homesman

2014
6.6| 2h2m| R| en| More Info
Released: 14 November 2014 Released
Producted By: The Javelina Film Company
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

When three women living on the edge of the American frontier are driven mad by harsh pioneer life, the task of saving them falls to the pious, independent-minded Mary Bee Cuddy. Transporting the women by covered wagon to Iowa, she soon realizes just how daunting the journey will be, and employs a low-life drifter, George Briggs, to join her. The unlikely pair and the three women head east, where a waiting minister and his wife have offered to take the women in. But the group first must traverse the harsh Nebraska Territories marked by stark beauty, psychological peril and constant threat.

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Reviews

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.
MusicChat It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.
Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.
Borserie it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.
Lisa Marshall Great acting/directing. Just a very hard subject in some very hard times. Wouldn't want to live it, so didn't really enjoy watching it. But the movie was extremely well done.
MikeyAB Such a disappointent. Film makers cannot make good westerns anymore and this is a lazy, illogical, depressing, low budget effort, and in an attempt to make itself realistic succeeds in being almost totally unrealistic. Even the horrible Bone Tomahawk was better and that DVD was literally thrown out of my house. Don't bother.There is a much better detailed and accurate review of this rubbish elsewhere.
Floyd Shoemaker This movie had potential and starts off strong......then it just falls apart.SPOILERS!Are we really to believe that Mary would suddenly want to disrobe and have sex with George out in the cold with the mentally ill women watching? Are we then to believe she would suddenly hang herself? She was the one with the commitment to getting the women to Iowa and she suddenly kills herself? Why? Because she did the dirty? Really makes no sense at all and things just go downhill from there.Also, you really don't get the feeling that there was a strong bond between Mary and George anyway......this sudden love and respect seems to come out of nowhere.Could have been a good movie....but it's not.
headhunter46 I grabbed this off the shelf at the rental store just because it had Tommy in it.It is NOT your typical western. It is NOT a feel good movie.I really had to think about what to write here, it was hard for me because this movie is so different. At one point I said, "Forget it".The movie opens with a woman plowing with two mules. We are introduced to a hardy single woman named Mary Bee Cuddy. She has a very nice homestead with sturdy buildings, a secure home and several animals. I still am curious why it didn't tell us how she managed that but it is not critical to what follows. Life on the prairie can drive you mad. The harshness, the lack of rain so no food grows, the animals you depended on die, what's a person to do? For some, it meant a broken spirit and just retreating into a catatonic state. For others it became lashing out and snarling like a wild animal.Three of the wives in the vicinity have gone mad and need to be transported to a place where they can be cared for. Mary Bee Cuddy steps up and offers to make the 4-5 week trip over harsh terrain and God knows what kind of weather or hostile people one might meet in 1850's Nebraska. This being since none of the men were willing to do it.She finds Briggs on a horse, noose about the neck left for dead by vigilantes. She convinces him he must help her transport the three women or she will leave him where he is. Thus begins a strained, unusual partnership. They endure cold nights and run out of food. It is not explained why they didn't pack more food, so that is a bit of a plot hole but it adds to a situation later on. Briggs is rebuffed by the owner of a hotel where he pleads for mercy on the woman, just some food and one nights stay. But they have wealthy investors coming so no, they must leave. Briggs goes back for food late and night and wreaks a horrid vengeance on the heartless owner.Briggs mentions he was the army, talks of Kiowa raids that ran off about 300 horses. So they tracked the Kiowa down, killed all of them and stampeded the horses through the Kiowa village most likely killing women and children. Briggs doesn't mention women and children but we suspect it happened. Later we learn he stole a horse and deserted. Even though he is a crusty, rugged man, we are left wondering if the stampede was too much for his conscience. Later he risks his life approaching a band of Native Americans who have rifles and bows. Knowing they are greatly out numbered he walks toward them with a horse and offers it in the hope they will leave satisfied. Prior to that, he gave his six shot pistol to Mary and told her to get in the wagon with the three women. If the native people do not accept his offer, she is to shoot the other women and then herself to spare them from possible torture. You seldom see that in a western. But it is another reminder of how harsh life was back then.They have numerous trials, ups and downs, and after a situation hard to comprehend, Mary Bee Cuddy hangs herself. As Tommy is digging her grave he is constantly ranting at the three "crazy women" which gives us a bit of insight as to what happened to Mary. It really jolts the viewer to have such a turn of events. Mary was so strong, so independent we came to imagine her going home to become an exceptionally successful lady.Briggs finally makes it to the place in Iowa where he leaves the three women. He buys a very nice tombstone for Mary which demonstrates his deep respect for her. The early Briggs would have ridden away with no thought, the same as he ripped the buffalo hide off the dead Native American who was wrapped and placed on a platform. He buys a pair of shoes for a barefoot young lady who works at the hotel where he was staying. As he heads back across the river on a raft, his tombstone for Mary gets pushed off and disappears. We see him dancing to banjo music and the movie ends.We are left with so many questions. Did he chase after the tombstone? Not likely, it was dark the odds of him finding it are slim.Did he return to her homestead? Not likely, he said he had no patience for farming. Then it occurred to me he left the mules with the pastors wife.But there he was dancing away as if he had not one care in the world. Did he simply return to being a vagabond? We'll never know.Again it is NOT a feel good movie, it makes you ask questions, it shows you how hard life was in the early days of the west. Some people will shut this off after only a few minutes because it doesn't fit the usual pattern, but if you are patient and keep watching, waiting for the plot to develop you just might gain some insight into the human mind and why people do the things they do.