A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST

US, 2014, 116 minutes, Colour.
Seth Mc Farlane, Charlize Theron, Giovanni Ribisi, Sarah Silverman, Liam Neeson.
Directed by Seth Mc Farlane.

Audiences fond of westerns will remember many ways that they have seen people die in the West – but may find it difficult to reach 100 let alone 1,000,000. While there are many and varied ways here, a lot of them unexpected and funny in a brutal kind of way, in this film, we realise it is just an arresting entitled to entice people into see the film.

Older audiences and those with a sense of movie history may be thinking of Mel Brooks’ ground-breaking satire, Blazing Saddles, from 1974. It really broke through expectations, using the familiar conventions and cliches of the Western and overturning them, especially for the black sheriff of the town and jokes on racial prejudice at the time (just over 10 years after the March on Washington and the speeches of Martin Luther King). There was a lot of crude humour which audiences might have been surprised at but laughed at, and might still do when they think of baked beans!

40 years on, the spirit of satire is still alive, but so much of it, especially in stand-up comedy on stage and on television is geared towards the crass, the crude, no limit on bodily function jokes. This is pervasive in this film where some of the jokes are funny (especially about moustaches and Stephen Foster's song) but a number of them are unpleasantly crass.

It is all the work of Seth Mc Farlane, who has had great success on television with his two series, Family Man and American Dad. He was the host of the Oscars in 2013. But, for moviegoers, he is best-known for his very satiric and funny (and crude) story of a boy and his best friend, a teddy bear, who grows up into a character who would be more than at home on Saturday Night Live or in comedy clubs. Mc Farlane voiced the bear, Ted.

Well, here is again, all bright and smiley, as Albert the sheep farmer, a rather laid back fellow, who would seem more at home in the 21st century than in the 19th century. There is a back story, later in the film, when our hero is picked up by Indians and does some initiation ceremonies with them, particularly with their hallucinatory drugs, he thinking that all on the plate being handed round was for him. And so, back he goes into his fantasy past, even to his birth, even to a visit from a surprisingly rough-mouthed Abraham Lincoln to the school, the influence of his father who continually criticises him gruffly…

But all this stemmed from his trying to defend a young woman in a bar brawl. She is played by Charlize Theron who warms to him and his good manners and gallantry, even at the county fair. Here she shows her ability with the gun, intimidating the villain in the town, Foy the pharmacist, (Neal Patrick Harris allowing himself to be the butt, literally, of an extended bodily function joke stolen from the film Bridesmaids). He has stolen Albert’s wife (Amanda Seyfried) who is a vain young thing that he is well rid of.

The pharmacist is not the only villain of the film. We have already seen a vicious gunslinger and his gang in action. And Charlize Theron has been his wife since she was nine. He is played by Liam Neeson, who must also be a good sport to be the literal butt of a flower joke.

This description of the plot action gives, hopefully, an indication of the kind of humour, the kind of treatment, the more 21st century open satire. For those who have seen Blazing Saddles, and enjoyed its anarchic Mel Brooks’ jokes, Million Ways will probably come in as a second-best. Not probably! (Although the Django-getting-revenge ending is something of a classic.)

1. A spoof Western? Memories of Blazing Saddles? A spoof of the 21st century? The range of episodes? Language, crude humour?

2. The striking visuals, the landscapes of the Mesas, the desert, the old-style western town?

3. The score, Stephen Foster songs, the song about the moustache? The echoes of the scores for Westerns by Jerome Moross and Elmer Bernstein?

4. The title, the tone, so many deaths, so many in the film, visual jokes, conventional deaths? Albert and his comments? The references to other westerns?

5. The work of Seth Mc Farlane, his writing, directing, acting? His make-up, his eyes, his hair? Clothes and accent?

6. Albert as hero, not having a gun, hating the West, a sheepman, his relationship to his parents, the old father sitting in the chair and his rough comments, the patient mother? His relationship with Louise, in love, her going to take time for herself? His reaction to Foy, Giovanni and Ruth, the bar, the fights, his saving Anna, the attraction, their talking, taking her to the fair, the deaths at the fair, meeting Louise, the shooting gallery (and the runaway slaves), the shooting, the bets? The challenge of the duel? His practising all week on his shooting, Anna helping him? The ball, Anna, her dress, teaching him to dance? The group dancing? The enjoyment, the kiss? The issue of the moutache? The day, Foy and his diarrhoea, his walking off? The arrival of clinch, the threats in the saloon, clinch killing people, Albert and his escape? With Anna, upset, the pursuit? Surprised that Anna was clinches wife? Hiding in the sheep? The sheep and the urination? The horse, the pursuit, the approaching train, Albert getting across, seen in the carriage? Taken by the Indians, using their language, their surprise, the drugs and his taking the whole lot? The impact of his trip: being born, as a child, his grandfather, school, the visit of Abraham Lincoln and his rough talk, memories of Louise, of Foy, of Anna, the snake? The venom? Dreaming of the Condor and the Indians approving? Tipped off about clinch shooting early, wounding him, the snake venom? Clinch’s death?

7. Anna, her character, seen originally with clinch, the marriage, at age nine? Her travels, tough, coming to the town, standing in the middle of the mayhem, her being saved, the effect? The attraction to Albert, the story of Louise? The fair, the shooting gallery and her success? The ball, dancing? The laxative in Foy’s drink? The revelation of who she was? Albert upset? Helping him escape? The happy ending?

8. Louise, selfish, her clothes, eyes and the joke about them, going off with fully, his moustache? Their love for each other, demonstrative? Foy, his shop, foppish, his twirling moustache, preparing the going out, dandy style, the shooting bets, the ball? The laxative, his diarrhoea in the middle of high noon? Louise and her being rejected by Albert?

9. Giovanni and Ruth, the saloon, the prostitute, her cheerful attitudes, the range of clients, Giovanni and no sex, nice, too genteel and innocent, the dance, their sex night and Anna interrupting it?

10. Lewis, in jail, the escape, the pursuit of Albert?

11. The church, the preacher?

12. The sheriff, his role?

13. Albert’s parents, the brusque father? The patient mother?

14. The men, onlookers?

15. The range of humour, it a miss, witty, parity, coarse language, and references to other movies? And Django finally getting his revenge!