Bone Tomahawk

_**Slow-burn Indie Western with a quality cast builds to a potent climax**_ In the 1890s, four men in the Southwest -- a sheriff (Kurt Russell), his aged deputy (Richard Jenkins), a gunslinger (Matthew Fox) and a wounded cowboy foreman (Patrick Wilson) -- set out to bring back captives kidnapped by a mysterious nameless tribe that lives several days ride away. Lili Simmons plays the cattleman’s wife while David Arquette plays a trashy outlaw. Sid Haig has a small role in the opening. “Bone Tomahawk” (2015) has a surprisingly good cast for an Indie Western that only cost $1.8 million and shot in 21 days. It was the first film written/directed by S. Craig Zahler and reveals a master filmmaker in that he was able to make a quality movie on such a low-budget. The film has the confidence to take its time with interesting characters and entertaining mundane dialogues, which is reminiscent of Tarantino. There are flashes of violence, but this is a slow-burn Western that builds to a rewarding climax. It’s a unique Western that meshes the Tarantino-style with realistically mundane Westerns like “The Homesman” (2014) and horrific gritty Indies like “Cry Blood, Apache” (1970). It’s superior to the latter two, especially “Cry Blood,” but it’s not quite in the ballpark of Tarantino due to lack of funds. Yet it ain’t far off either. The movie runs 2 hours, 12 minutes, and was shot at Paramount Ranch, Agoura, California. GRADE: B+/A-