I've seen and reviewed hundreds of Westerns here, but this is one of the most unconventional stories you're liable to come across. It's got that familiar element of a greedy land grabber trying to bilk a woman out of her family's ranch, but the story goes much deeper to reveal the dysfunction of all it's characters, most notably Martha Kirkland (Clare Brown), who opens the story in uncharacteristic fashion. I won't make that reveal here for the benefit of those who haven't seen it yet, but the film sends the viewer on a compelling journey in trying to determine who the picture's good guys and bad guys are.
With all the clichéd story lines one will run up against in the Western genre, this one offers up a number of intriguing elements that haven't been tested before, at least up to this point in my viewing experience. The first was that 'bullet in the glass' which put Martha and husband Heck (David Call) on notice that Wade McCurry (Barlow Jacobs) wasn't buying the explanation for his father's death. The limited back stories of the principal players also contributed to the unsettling resolution that came with Heck's confrontation against Wade. That he rode with Quantrill's Raiders and Bloody Bill Anderson went a long way to explain how he had no trouble gunning down mining company rep Lane (Joseph Lyle Taylor).
For an independent production with a novice director, I can only see good things going forward for Jared Moshe, who crafted this movie with relative unknowns. The cinematography was more than competent, and though I acknowledge the occasional inaudible dialog that other reviewers have mentioned, my use of captioning proved useful enough to understand what the characters were talking about. For anyone who believes the tale is too slow in the telling, stick around for the final resolution, as it stands typical Western conventions on their head. The only thing I was left to ponder in the end was how Three Penny Hank got his name.
With all the clichéd story lines one will run up against in the Western genre, this one offers up a number of intriguing elements that haven't been tested before, at least up to this point in my viewing experience. The first was that 'bullet in the glass' which put Martha and husband Heck (David Call) on notice that Wade McCurry (Barlow Jacobs) wasn't buying the explanation for his father's death. The limited back stories of the principal players also contributed to the unsettling resolution that came with Heck's confrontation against Wade. That he rode with Quantrill's Raiders and Bloody Bill Anderson went a long way to explain how he had no trouble gunning down mining company rep Lane (Joseph Lyle Taylor).
For an independent production with a novice director, I can only see good things going forward for Jared Moshe, who crafted this movie with relative unknowns. The cinematography was more than competent, and though I acknowledge the occasional inaudible dialog that other reviewers have mentioned, my use of captioning proved useful enough to understand what the characters were talking about. For anyone who believes the tale is too slow in the telling, stick around for the final resolution, as it stands typical Western conventions on their head. The only thing I was left to ponder in the end was how Three Penny Hank got his name.