Americana

2025 Lionsgate

Rated: R

Length: 1 hr 47min

Crime ~ Drama ~ Thriller ~ Neo-Western

Starring: Sydney Sweeney, Paul Walter Hauser, Halsey, Eric Dane, Zahn McClarnon and Simon Rex.

Welcome To The New West

Cal Starr (Luke David Blumm) is a young boy in small-town South Dakota, deeply obsessed with Native American culture and convinced he’s the reincarnation of Sitting Bull. His older sister, Mandy (Halsey), is trapped in a toxic relationship with the abusive Dillon MacIntosh (Eric Dane). When Dillon steals a priceless Lakota ghost shirt and stashes it at home, Mandy sees an opportunity to escape her circumstances. After a violent confrontation, Mandy attacks Dillon with a hammer and attempts to flee with both Cal and the artifact, only to have Cal refuse, determined to fulfill what he sees as his spiritual destiny.

In the days leading up to this moment, down-on-his-luck veteran Lefty Ledbetter (Paul Walter Hauser) befriends shy waitress Penny Jo Poplin (Sydney Sweeney), who dreams of country music stardom. Their lives entwine when Penny finds a mysterious note about a high-stakes deal involving the valuable ghost shirt. The item is at the center of a tangled plot involving Dillon, his partner Fun Dave, and shady antiques dealer Roy Lee Dean (Simon Rex), who traffics in stolen Native artifacts. The shirt’s theft sets off a violent chain reaction as several parties, including Lefty and Penny, race to find it first, drawn inexorably into the Starr family’s dark world of criminality and cult-like control.

As Mandy brings the ghost shirt back to her family’s compound, ruled by her sadistic father Hiram, the scene explodes into chaos. Lefty is captured trying to rescue Penny, who becomes caught between factions. When a Native American radical group led by Ghost Eye (Zahn McClarnon) descends on the compound to reclaim their sacred artifact, a fierce standoff erupts into a western style shootout.

In Americana the Lakota ghost shirt is more than just a rare artifact, it is a living symbol of spiritual hope and cultural identity. Rooted in the Ghost Dance religion of the late 19th century, ghost shirts were believed to carry sacred protective powers, shielding the wearer from bullets and harm during violent confrontations. This belief stemmed from the desperate need among Native American tribes like the Lakota to find strength and protection amid brutal oppression and the threat of cultural extinction. The shirts themselves were traditionally decorated with powerful symbols drawn from nature and the cosmos, such as eagles, stars, and the sacred pipe, each holding deep spiritual meaning.

The film weaves this symbolism into the narrative, making the ghost shirt a powerful but contested icon. Its value extends beyond monetary worth to embody the enduring resilience, spiritual connection, and identity of the Lakota people. Throughout the story, the artifact’s journey serves as a metaphor for struggles over cultural survival and restitution, highlighting how such relics carry the hopes of entire communities and the scars of historical injustice. The tension over the ghost shirt represents both personal desperation and a wider fight to preserve indigenous heritage in a world often indifferent to it.

Americana explores the lives intersecting around this sacred object. Sydney Sweeney portrays Penny Jo Poplin with a mix of vulnerability and determination, capturing the essence of a shy waitress chasing big dreams amid chaos. Paul Walter Hauser’s turn as the lovelorn veteran Lefty brings a touch of awkward humanity and warmth to the gritty narrative. Halsey impresses as Mandy, a desperate woman running from a dark past, delivering a raw and compelling intensity. Eric Dane’s ruthless, menacing portrayal of Dillon MacIntosh adds the edge to the film’s tension. The supporting cast, including Zahn McClarnon and Simon Rex, bring vibrant layers to this modern Western ensemble, helping to ground the film’s complex interwoven stories in this gritty, modern Western Crime Thriller.

The Unholy Trinity

2025 Roadside Attractions/Saban Films

Rated: R

Length: 1 hr 35min

Action ~ Adventure ~ Western

Directed by: Richard Gray

Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Samuel L. Jackson, and Brandon Lessard.

Three outlaws, one final reckoning.

Justice rides at dawn.

Henry Broadway (Brandon Lessard) arrives in the remote Montana town of Trinity seeking answers after his father is wrongfully executed. Henry’s father was framed for a crime he didn’t commit, and Henry is determined to uncover the truth and clear his family’s name. The town holds secrets that have been buried for years, and Henry quickly learns he’s entering a dangerous web of suspicion and danger.

Sheriff Gabriel Dove (Pierce Brosnan) runs Trinity with a steady but firm hand, trying to maintain order in a rough and lawless town. Meanwhile, a mysterious and menacing figure named St. Christopher (Samuel L. Jackson) stirs trouble, bringing chaos and violence wherever he goes. Henry finds himself caught between these two powerful men as tensions rise and old conflicts resurface.

As Henry digs deeper, he discovers hidden betrayals, a stash of stolen gold, and grudges that threaten to erupt into deadly violence. He must navigate a dangerous path, deciding who to trust and how far he is willing to go to uncover the truth. The stakes grow higher with each secret revealed and each betrayal uncovered. The story builds to a gripping confrontation where Henry’s choices will shape the future of Trinity. The line between friend and foe blurs, and the battle for justice twists and turns up to a suspenseful climax.

The Unholy Trinity combines classic frontier themes with a fresh storyline. Set in the rugged Montana town of Trinity in the 1870’s , the film explores justice, betrayal, and survival through the eyes of Henry Broadway (Brandon Lessard), a young man seeking answers about his father’s mysterious past. The strong performances by Pierce Brosnan as Sheriff Gabriel Dove and Samuel L. Jackson as the dangerous St. Christopher add layers of tension and intrigue, making the conflicts feel personal and real. The film balances action with character-driven drama, offering a modern take on the Western genre. It’s a gripping, atmospheric Western that honors the spirit of the Old West and is well worth a watch!

Wind River

2017 The Weinstein Company

Rated : R

Length: 1 hr 47min

Crime ~ Drama ~ Mystery ~ Neo-Western ~ Thriller

Directed by: Taylor Sheridan

Starring: Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen, Gil Birmingham, Jon Bernthal, and Graham Greene.

Nothing Is Harder To Track Than The Truth

Wind River is set in the frozen expanses of Wyoming’s Wind River Indian Reservation, where a local U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service tracker named Cory Lambert (Jeremy Renner) discovers the body of a young Native American woman in the snow. Cory instantly recognizes the girl as his best friend Martin Hanson’s (Gil Birmingham) daughter Natalie (Kelsey Asbille). She had run barefoot in the snow for quite a distance as there is nothing around for miles. The cold air finally froze her lungs and she collapsed where Cory found her. The scene sparks a federal investigation led by Jane Banner (Elizabeth Olsen), a rookie FBI agent flown in from Las Vegas, who was the closest available agent. Far from her comfort zone being originally from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida she is completely out of her element. Sensing Cory’s familiarity with the case and the terrain, she asks him to help her with her investigation. He agrees and the two start looking for the truth about what happened to Natalie.

Natalie had apparently been raped and they order the medical examiner to order a rape kit for testing. Signs of foul play and trauma quickly turn their attention to the young victim’s relationships. They search out her brother Chip who tells them, after a shootout with a drug addict in the drug filled mobile home, that Natalie had been hanging around a security guard named Matt Rayburn (Jon Bernthal) at a remote oil drilling camp. Outside the mobile home Cory notices a snowmobile trail leading up into the mountain. Cory and Jane head up on a snowmobile to investigate and discover the murdered, mutilated body of Natalie’s boyfriend. Cory and Jane recruit the local Tribe police led by Officer Ben Shoyo (Graham Greene) to accompany them out to the remote oil drilling camp to investigate. And it is there that things take a more sinister turn and we see flashbacks of what happened to Natalie and her boyfriend Matt.

Wind River was written and directed by Taylor Sheridan who also wrote Hell Or High Water and Sicario. All three are excellent movies and three of my favorites. Wind River was inspired by the thousands of stories of American Indian women raped, murdered or missing that he discovered in doing research for the story. Although it isn’t based on one specific story, it is the true story of all the missing women from the reservation. I have seen this movie a number of times and when I saw it was on Netflix last night, I had to watch it again. I love everything about this movie. Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen are fantastic in this as well as Gil Birmingham, Jon Bernthal, and Graham Greene. A couple of stand out scenes for me are outside the mobile home at the remote oil drilling camp where all hell breaks loose, Cory and Pete at the top of the mountain when he tells Pete that he is going to give him the same chances he gave Natalie, and when Cory goes to see Martin at the end and Martin is sitting out back with his “Death Face” on.

You could feel the heartfelt connection these two old friends have for each other, having each other’s backs in life. We all need friends like that. It is an adrenaline filled snowmobile ride chasing down the truth, filled with unexpected dangers and freezing temps, as Cory and Jane search for the truth, battle the elements, bad actors and the general culture of “looking the other way” on the reservation. As I said, I have seen this numerous times and still enjoy watching it. It is one of my favorites……hmmm, maybe I need a top ten favorite movie list. I’ll have to work on that. So, if you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it. It is a great movie, you should watch it.

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Broke

2025 Sony Pictures

Rated: R

Length: 1 hr 43min

Drama ~ Romance ~ Western

Directed by: Carlyle Eubank

Starring: Wyatt Russell, Dennis Quaid, Auden Thornton, Mary McDonnell, Johnny Berchtold, and Tom Skerritt.

Eight seconds of glory, one lifetime to get back up.

Wyatt Russell stars as True Brandywine, a Bareback Bronc Rider clinging to a fading Rodeo career. Age and injuries are catching up to him before he can achieve the level of success he is striving for. In between travelling the rodeo circuit he lives with his Father George Brandywine (Dennis Quaid), his Mother Kathy Brandywine (Mary McDonnell), and his younger brother Caleb (Johnny Berchtold). They live on a farm in Montana and True works alongside his father and brother on the family farm when he is home. True’s father George used to be a Bareback Bronc Rider when he was younger and is trying to convince True that he needs to think about his future and join the Marines, telling him he can’t make a lifelong career out of the rodeo. But that is all True knows and wants to do with his life. There is a lot of tension between True and his father over his persistence that True give up the rodeo life. One of the things that George nags True about is the alternator in his truck, telling him constantly that if he doesn’t fix it he is going to end up stranded somewhere.

Out on the road in between Rodeo gigs, True stops at a Napa Auto Parts store in a small town and attempts to fix the alternator in the parking lot. It is still hot from the road and True accidently leans his forearm on the hot Radiator cap and gets branded with the circle of the cap and the word “Hot”. Ali (Auden Thornton) is a young Nurse living in town and just happens by and sees True is in distress. She asks True if he is alright and he says “Yes, I’m fine.” Then she tells him that she is a nurse and can help if he would like. He agrees and she attends to the burn going across the street to the pharmacy, for burn ointment and bandages, and patches him up. He asks if he can repay her with a drink and she tells him that she is on her way to meet friends for a drink and invites him along. They end up getting close and become romantically involved. Ali notices True’s drawing talent and tells him that he could make money with his art. True dismisses it as just a hobby as his father doesn’t think much of his artwork.

True has a bad fall after a Bronc Ride and suffers serious brain damage and is advised by the Doctor that he will never ride again. He becomes addicted to pain pills and that, coupled with not being able to ride and his father’s constant nagging to “do something with his life” bring a lot of tension in between True and Ali. True eventually snaps and, not wanting to do anything but Ride Broncs in the Rodeo circuit, packs up his gear in the truck with his horse and tells Ali that he needs to go without her back to the Rodeo circuit. It is not going good for True out on the circuit as he is broke and addicted to pain killers. He pulls into a remote ranch looking for work to help him along his way and meets Cliff (Tom Skerritt), the owner of the ranch who lives alone. Cliif tells him he could use some help on the ranch for a little while and takes True in. The next day True heads out on the remote southern pasture of the farm looking for a stray calf. He finds him and ropes him in but has a seizure, collapses and passes out. When he comes to he is covered in snow and suffering frostbite on one foot.

And that’s where the movie starts, with True lost in a snowy wilderness, trying to survive a freak spring blizzard, with flashbacks revealing the events leading up to his precarious situation. True’s identity and passion are deeply tied to rodeo riding, but injuries and family pressures complicate his path, forcing him to confront harsh realities. True is forced to rely on his resilience and confront his life choices amidst a fight for survival in the freak blizzard. The experience prompts a profound personal reckoning about what truly matters beyond his rodeo ambitions. True is a man caught between his love for the adrenaline-filled rodeo life and the dangerous physical toll it has taken on his body. His strained relationship with his father, who insists on a military path for him and his brother, adds to the tension. Despite his talent for drawing, True dismisses art as a viable escape, clinging instead to the diminishing hope of returning to the rodeo. As True battle injuries, illness, and the bitter cold, he is also forced to face his choices and the circumstances that led him to his tenuous situation.

Filmed in Anaconda, Deer Lodge, Butte, Drummond & Three Forks Montana it features some beautiful scenery. I noticed that Wyatt Russell and Vince Vaughan co-produced the movie. I think that even though it is classified as a Contemporary Western (meaning it is set in current times and not the 1800’s) it could be classified as a Romance. The relationship between True and Ali is pretty central to the story and figures pretty prominently in True’s thinking as he battles for survival and reflects on his past. Wyatt Russell I am not familiar with so I did a little research on him. He is the son of Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn. I really liked him in this and will look out for him in future movies. He did star in Thunderbolts which I have not seen yet, so I’ll add that to the list. Dennis Quaid was good as always, nice to see him again, as well as Tom Skerritt who is 91 years old by the way and still working! Go Tom! Auden Thornton is also new to me, she has been acting in a lot of TV series and a couple of movies I have not seen. I really liked her in this as Ali, she might be one of my new favorites.

I loved this movie….I loved the story, the characters, the scenery, the drama between True and his father, the romance and chemistry between True and Ali, True’s battle to find himself amidst all the things life does to shake your tree. It is a contemporary Western in that it is a modern day Cowboy in the rodeo business, but the story, the relationship themes and the search and struggle of self are universal themes that could apply to any story and backdrop. Yes, this is a good one…….

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Killers Of The Flower Moon

2023 Paramount Pictures

Rated: R

Length: 3 hr 26min

Action ~ Crime ~ Drama ~ Epic ~ Mystery ~ Romance ~ True Story ~ Western

Directed by: Martin Scorsese

Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons, Tantoo Cardinal, John Lithgow, Scott Shepherd and Brendan Fraser.

“With it’s great black wings of spray, arcing above the rigging, it rose before them like an angel of death.”

In 1821 the Osage Indians were removed from their homes and land they had lived on for generations alongside the Osage river. They were relocated west to the US Government designated “Indian Territories” in Oklahoma. Their former home and lands were sold to white immigrant settlers while the Osage tried to survive on the unhospitable barren Oklahoma land that was foreign to them. It was given to them because none of the white people wanted to live there, being too barren and not much good for farming. They were the poorest people in the United States.

75 years later a group of Osage Indians were walking through the fields of flower blooms in the valley during the annual Flower Moon. The Flower Moon is a name given to the full moon in May by the Osage people because of the flower blooms that take place every year. During May in the Oklahoma hills and valleys of the Indian Reservation, the fields of blooming flowers die out when taller plants crowd them out. The Osage refer to the month of May as “The time of the Flower Killing Moon”. As they were walking they came to a clearing and a patch of mud. Suddenly out of the middle came a geyser of black oil.

The Osage people were sitting on a vast underground oil reserve and almost overnight became the richest people in America. Because nobody wanted the land in the beginning, they had been given and retained all the mineral rights to the land. Almost overnight, the oil companies and oil prospectors invaded the once undesirable Oklahoma land, driven by greed and the temptation of riches beyond the imagination. The money flowed quick and in great volume. Suddenly it became fashionable for a white man to marry into an Indian family and acquire the rights by marriage, or by murder if necessary. It is against this backdrop that KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOONtakes place.

Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Ernest Burkhart who has just returned home to Oklahoma having been discharged from the army due to a health issue. He returns to his Uncle William Hale’s (Robert De Niro) farmhouse where he is reunited with his brother Byron Burkhart (Scott Shepherd). Uncle William informs him of the current climate amid the oil rush in the county. He tells Ernest that it would serve a fellow well if he were to wed into an Indian family with “Headrights”, he and his family would do very well for themselves. Ernest soon falls for an Indian woman named Mollie (Lily Gladstone), who’s mother and sisters own a very large chunk of “Headrights”. William tells Ernest that Mollie’s mother Lizzie is on her deathbed and soon Mollie would follow.

The Osage People were becoming victim to the white man’s diet and sugary confections. Diabetes was becoming very common and many died from lack of care. And Mollie had diabetes like her dying mother. They were also falling victim to the white man’s greed as Osage people were suddenly becoming victims of violent murders and poisonings referred to as “The Wasting Deaths”. Being Indian deaths there was not much concern for how they were dying, nor any inquiries into why. The foul play and deception led to a string of murders that was brought to the attention of Calvin Coolidge by Mollie. The President brought together a group of highly skilled detectives and law men to investigate. They were the unofficial beginnings of The FBI.

When the FBI arrived and started to investigate, they discovered a plot hatched by William and his family to deceive the Osage people and acquire mineral rights for his family at any cost, even if it meant poisoning and killing. This is unfortunately a True Story, based on the book by David Grann, Killers Of The Flower Moon. It is a long movie coming in at 3 hours and 28 minutes, but it is a good one. A fascinating tale of greed, betrayal and deception. I really liked Lily Gladstone in this, thought she did an excellent job. Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro were great as always. It is well shot, great cast, great director, great story…..what’s not to like? Well, maybe the length…….