The Missing (DVD)

New Mexico, late 1800s. A young woman named Maggie Gilkeson makes a subsistent existence providing basic medical care for the local people and tending to a small collection of live stock. Along with her two daughters and friend Brake, she lives a simple life but is relatively content with her lot. Whilst Brake is out patrolling the livestock one day, he spots a strange figure coming through the trees on horseback and as he gets closer, he realises that it is an old man. The man advises that he is looking for the healer but as he is unable to see her until the morning, Brake offers to let the old man sleep in the outbuildings. Later that evening, the old man arrives in ...

The western once such a popular genre for movies has declined in popularity since it’s heyday in the 50’s, it briefly was reinvented in the sixties as the Spaghetti Western and although it maintained a presence in the mainstream in the 70’s it was effectively killed off by the sci-fi movies from Star Wars and beyond. This means that when we get a western made these days it is a rarity. There have been a few fine examples in recent years (The Unforgiven, The Quick and the Dead) and there just might be a slight resurgence. ‘The Missing’ on the surface looks very much in the traditional mould of a classic western even its storyline has echoes of the John Ford’s ...

Director: Ron Howard Starring: Cate Blanchett, Tommy Lee Jones, Evan Rachel Wood, Jenna Boyd Running time: 137 minutes Summed up in a sentence: Single wild-west mum loses daughter to local Native American witch doctor. A bit more detail: I'm in two minds about this film: you'd be justified in your ambivalence if you'd gone to the cinema, but for a night in with a DVD and takeaway, you'll probably veer towards the positive. Cate Blanchett is a feisty single mother in a man's world (that being the pioneering days of the ole Wild West) and, when her daughter is kidnapped by a Native American, she must overlook the issues ...