When two men have been riding out together as long as Marshal Virgil Cole (Ed Harris) and his deputy Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen) the words between them get whittled down to almost nothing.

One man knows, just by the tilt of his partner’s hat or an imperceptibly raised eyebrow, which liquor-sodden cowpoke in a bar is the most likely to pick a fight, and who to shoot first should their intervention be required. In their way, the pair are closer than most married couples. Appaloosa, directed by as well as starring Harris, is a square-jawed, old-fashioned western about strong, silent men who know how to rope a steer or track an escaped convict but who are utterly useless when it comes to the ladies.

As a result, the flighty widow Mrs French (Renée Zellweger), perfumed and preening but with the inclinations of an alley cat, runs rings around Cole and threatens to distract both men from the business in hand – enforcing order in the town of Appaloosa.

The screenplay is as laconic as Cole himself, but there’s a wry humour in the few words that are spoken. This is no revisionist western designed to shock life into an unfashionable genre, rather a film that respects the conventions of the traditional western. As such it’s a solid, satisfying piece of story-telling with the confidence to play a scene for laughs now and again.

15, 115 minutes

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