MovieChat Forums > The Hi-Lo Country (1999) Discussion > So Underrated...

So Underrated...

posted 19 years ago by coop032
10 replies | jump to latest

This movie is so good and its shocking to how few people have seen it. I encourage anyone who hasn't seen this to seek it out. Especially for those who love cowboy movies. This is one of Woody Harrelson's best performances ever. What a good movie. Can't say enough about it. Luckily I saw it in theaters when it was release, because I never hear anything about it anywhere. I had to buy it as soon as it came out.

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[–] LatigoMeans 17 years ago

I like this film and I also think Harrelson's performance is spot on. The problem I think as far as it's audience perception is not that it bites off more than it can chew, it just doesn't seem to want to chew on as much as it had to bite.
There's so much happening within this film yet only the triangle of Big Boy-Pete-Mona is explored with any degree of satisfaction. The story should have been more fleshed out as it pertains to the changing times. Jim Ed's real situation of progressive management versus old school ranching is portrayed as evil yet it probably kept food on many folks tables. Folks who would have otherwise failed in small time operations.
The tension of Big Boy's want of the old ways against the modernizing world was a better story, but the film was given over to the love triangle story and missed the mark.
Great cinematography and music, and supporting cast.

~LjM
Step on it! And don't spare the atoms!

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] 17 years ago

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[–] Boromir (10120) a month ago

The same as you, I considered both options, but unlike you, I believe that focusing on the relationship between the two friends is the right choice for this particular film. The tension between tradition and modernity is a far more prevalent theme in Western cinema than it might initially seem.

Although I tend to agree that there is some truth to the idea that the film's narrative is dispersed across several plot lines, it does so without fully exploring or exhausting some of them.

[–] ZBfiveonetwo 16 years ago

definitely underrated

[–] Clyburn 14 years ago

4 out of 10 for me so I disagree that it is underrated.

[–] denise1234 13 years ago

I was pretty impressed by Woody Harrelson's performance in this.

I am not his biggest fan and I like Billy C. much better overall, but Woody stole the show in this movie.

"I can't stand a naked light bulb, any more than..a rude remark or a vulgar action" Blanche DuBois

[–] shadycady 12 years ago

I really loved this film. I saw it about the time it came out.

The Divine Genealogy Goddess

[–] davidwile 11 years ago

Hey folks,

I agree with Coop and others. While I think all of the acting was good, this may have been Woody Harrelson's best effort ever. I would have preferred a different ending for Harrelson, but it was still a good story.

Best wishes,
Dave Wile

[–] molypocho 9 years ago

Agreed. I can see why it's been forgotten though. It's a very low-key film that never stands up to demand the viewer's attention. Everything about it, from the heavy scoring to the voice-over narration to the subdued aesthetic, keeps the film at a distance, kinda like we're watching the events unfold from a safe vantage point in the clouds. I can see why critics wrote it off as average. I was ready to do the same. But after finishing it, and coming away sufficiently impressed, I popped it back in and started back at the beginning again. Wow! Suddenly all the qualities that initially made it feel 'average' had a purpose: It's a film built on nostalgia. Pete is telling a bittersweet story about his past. Everything is soft, distant and mild because memories do not offer raw experience.

A masterfully subtle piece of cinema in my opinion. Watch it twice or don't watch it at all.

My rating: 10