The Hi-Lo Country

Authentic dying Old Southwest
What critics can't understand is that this is the way these ranch people were and still are. I was partly brought up on a ranch in West Texas, near the Hi Lo country in New Mexico. Ranch People really do have names like big boy and little boy and often speak in a slow taciturn way like Billy's character. And there are a few wild ones like the Woody Harrelson character. What the film portrays is the genuine hardness of life and human relationships in this lonely stark ranching environment, which was even more so in the time portrayed. I have met all these characters many times in real life and this film touched my heart for a way of life which is still painfully dying. The film is a great slice of American life. I will be interested in seeing what the same critics make of the soon to be released All the Pretty Horses, similar in many ways and also filmed in New Mexico. Critics, how about some respect for new Westerns that do not star Clint Eastwood and lots of violence or...

Harrelson's Best Performance
This character study, set in New Mexico in the early `40s, begins with an enigmatic narrative that infuses "The Hi-Lo Country," directed by Stephen Frears, with a tension that ultimately runs high throughout the entire film. The story focuses on the friendship between a couple of cowboys, Pete Calder (Billy Crudup) and Big Boy Matson (Woody Harrelson), who upon returning from the war are trying to make a go of the cattle business, while bucking some stiff competition from the local cattle baron, Jim Ed Love (Sam Elliott). At the same time, Pete becomes aware that he is not alone in his obsession with a married woman, Mona (Patricia Arquette); Big Boy has it bad for her, too, and she just happens to be the wife of Jim Ed's foreman, Les Birk (John Diehl). And, as usually happens with a situation involving obsession, things quickly begin to get sticky for all concerned. Big Boy, it seems, is the one headed for trouble; he's hot-tempered, stubborn, and fearless to a point bordering on...

SUNRISES AND SUNSETS
Set in the late 40's in New Mexico, HI-LO COUNTRY has the nostalgic beauty of things passed. Pete and Big boy live in the traditional cow-boy way ; hard days in the company of cows and horses in the tough new mexican climate, heavy drinking in the bars of the towns at night and the usual women & rodeos cocktail on week-ends. But this life cannot last for ever. Progress, lawmen and fast money are killing little by little one of the most enduring american dream.

Director Stephen Frears opposes in HI-LO COUNTRY these two different ways of life that can't live together. Curiously enough, the new generation is prompter to use guns in order to solve problems and young senoritas are far more rational than the sons of John Wayne. But one thing doesn't change in the turmoil of time : nature and its breath-taking beauty.

HI-LO COUNTRY is a beautiful movie, an out of time movie which can reconcile you with true cinema. Note the wonderful musical score which explores with...

Click to Editorial Reviews