Magisterial, tough-hearted 1967 western from writer/director Tom Gries. Charlton Heston is a revelation as the eponymous ageing cowhand, a lonesome, unemployed illiterate, bushwhacked by deranged preacher Donald Pleasence and his boys. While recovering, he encounters Joan Hackett, who, although travelling through the wilderness to join her husband, offers the chance of a life he's never known.
Whichever way you slice it, this is a banker. Langford's recent rollicksome rip-'em-ups with The Waco Brothers are among his most inspired, while Toronto's largely unheralded Sadies, led by brothers Travis and Dallas Good, are modern roots-rock's best kept secret, tripping all switches from surf and chicken-scratch country to garage, psychedelia and Morricone twang.
Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth hold a party in their home studio
