Verdict
Summary
The script has a chilly feel to it, and the performances are solid and unironic, completely committed on the surface, but when you examine the film for its underlying themes, the film takes on a whole new dimension. Not for everyone, but a deep and uncomfortable film in the genre, Posse is a challenging western.
Plot:
An outlaw gets in the craw of a vain lawman, who hopes to be elected to the senate.
Review:
Lawman Howard Nightingale (Kirk Douglas) is a great lawman, but he’s also very vain and aspires to be elected to the U.S. senate. He makes a big show wherever he goes, taking with his posse a photographer, who is sure to be by his side to document his accomplishments at all times. When Nightingale slaughters an outlaw gang, the gang leader Jack Strawhorn (Bruce Dern) gets away, leading Nightingale’s posse into the wilderness where the outlaw quickly assembles another gang … which Nightingale’s posse obliterates. Now in Nightingale’s custody, Strawhorn is paraded around the nearest town (with lots of fanfare), and when Nightingale accompanies his prisoner on a train ride, the tables eventually turn against Nightingale as the people end up siding with Strawhorn over the vain lawman … who can’t believe his fortune and favor has all but slipped through his fingers.
Very much an “anti-western” if there ever was one (a precursor to Eastwood’s Unforgiven), but with oddly clashing tones, Posse from director / star Kirk Douglas is a really strange film, especially for its time when the American western movie followed a formula that was rarely – if ever – broken. The script has a chilly feel to it, and the performances are solid and unironic, completely committed on the surface, but when you examine the film for its underlying themes, the film takes on a whole new dimension. Not for everyone, but a deep and uncomfortable film in the genre, Posse is a challenging western.
Kino Lorber’s recent Blu-ray release of Posse comes in a new 4K scan transfer, looking sharp and crisp, and includes an audio commentary by a film historian and the trailer, as well as a slipcover.
