THE LONG RIDERS – The Blu Review

Howdy fans of HBO’s recent series “Deadwood” and the Coen brothers’ TRUE GRIT! Look out! Galloping down the Blu Ray trail is the 1980 epic “oater” THE LONG RIDERS. It tells the story of several of the great outlaw gangs. You may have seen other films concerning the exploits of these desperados. Well this version is worth a look for two reasons. It’s directed by one of the great action film makers to come out of the 1980’s-Walter Hill ( THE WARRIORS, 48 HOURS ). The other reason, and the film’s big marketing point, is the casting of the brothers with real life siblings-David, Keith, and Robert Carradine play the Younger brothers, Randy and Dennis Quaid are the Miller brothers, Nicholas and Christoper Guest are the Ford brothers, and James and Stacy Keach are the James brothers. This might seem like gimmick or “stunt” casting, but the family resemblances and dynamics enhance the story. Davis Carradine’s a great, swaggering thug as Cole Younger and James Keach brings a sad, haunted quality to Jesse James. There’s several great supporting actors here, too. James Whitmore, Jr. is wonderfully smarmy as an over-confident Pinkerton agent who soon realizes that he and his men are in over their heads. Chris Mulkey and Harry Carey, Jr. score big laughs as victims of a stagecoach hold-up. James Remar is scary in a savage saloon knife fight with Cole. Fans of TV’s “Parks and Recreation” will be stunned to see the mother of Leslie Knope ( Amy Poehler ), Pamela Reed playing a very spirited and sexy Belle Starr. She almost makes the screen sizzle.

There’s no extras here beside the theatrical trailer ( doesn’t count as an extra, Hollywood! ), so let’s focus on the film transfer. THE LONG RIDERS  will really give your sound system a test. Some of the dialogue is soft, but the gun shots roar like cannons. The score by Ry Cooder sounds exceptional especially in a square dance scene. Picture quality is supurb except for a few interior shots which were slightly grainy. The scenery is stunning, and the gun battles are beautiful and brutal. Like Sam Peckinpah, Hill made good use of slow motion in the final action sequence. If the film had been made today I’m sure the bullet hits would have been added after filming with digital effects. Back then they used small explosive packs called ‘squibs’. I’d bet that the actors were pretty sore at the end of the day even if they were heavily padded. I’d not seen the film before and aside from Dennis Quaid’s ‘babyface’ ( wonder if that moustache was real ), you might  think it had been made a couple of years ago and not over thirty! THE LONG RIDERS  holds up very well indeed and deserves a spot on the shelf of any western or action film fan.