Parents' Guide to Frontier Crucible

This gory tale was clearly made by people who love the Western genre, and it's beautiful to look at, but it's unfortunately missing that certain something that would have made it memorable. Based on a 1961 dime novel by prolific pulp author Harry Whittington and adapted by S. Craig Zahler (Bone Tomahawk), Frontier Crucible is, for one thing, too long. At 125 minutes, it feels a touch too slow, especially since the characters are rarely moving. Many classic Westerns, both blue-ribbon specials and low-budget oaters, have used minimal casts and locations to brilliant effect, but a snappy pace and a compactness are an asset. And the cast, especially the two leads, don't quite have the weight to carry a movie, especially a long one. More veteran actors like Jane and Hammer are stuck in fairly typical villain roles. At least Macy, who probably filmed his scene in one day, gives his expositional dialogue a nice homey spin.

The movie was filmed in Prescott, Arizona, and Monument Valley (a favorite location of John Ford's), which always provides an awe-inspiring backdrop. And there are a handful of wistful songs by composer Sean Rowe that, despite everything, go rather well with the movie. Frontier Crucible was directed by Travis Mills, whose claim to fame is that he made 12 Westerns in 12 months during the COVID-19 pandemic; this is probably his biggest movie to date, and, despite its shortcomings, it shows promise.