The one movie Sam Rockwell needs everyone to see: “You’ve got to see that”
Every movie lover will have a film they consider a must-see – one that they urge everyone to watch no matter what. For me, at least, I’ll shout from the rooftops about how everyone needs to watch Paris, Texas if they somehow haven’t already, while actor Sam Rockwell prefers another Ry Cooder-scored film.
The Oscar-winning actor has appeared in his fair share of popular films, spanning popular movies like The Green Mile to critical hits such as Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, with no genre off limits. Seriously, you can find him in superhero movies, rom-coms, westerns, and biopics – he’s truly one of Hollywood’s most versatile stars.
In 2007, he gave a pretty great performance in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Andrew Dominik’s revisionist western, which saw him play a member of James’ gang, Charley Ford. He was excited to get the chance to appear in a retelling of the Jesse James story, because he’s a self-confessed lover of the western genre, with one of his favourites being a tale of the James-Younger gang made a few decades ago.
“I love The Long Riders, the Walter Hill film,” he once told AV Club, to which the interviewer replied that they’d never seen it. “Oh, you’ve got to see that,” the actor then exclaimed. Released back in 1980, the movie was a success with critics, although it didn’t fare so well at the box office. Rockwell doesn’t think enough people have seen the movie, which he believes to be a truly incredible piece of work.
He continued, “The Long Riders is about Jesse James, and it’s all real brothers playing the brothers. It’s Dennis Quaid with his brother, Randy Quaid. James and Stacy Keach play the James brothers. Christopher Guest is in it with his brother. It’s directed by Walter Hill. He’s pre-Tarantino, you know what I mean? Slow-motion violence. You’ve got to see that movie, it’s a great western. Just fantastic.”
Before Quentin Tarantino made a name for himself as the go-to director for stylised violence – with a real flair for reinventing the western – there was Walter Hill, who, in Sam Rockwell’s eyes, is every bit as good. The Long Riders brought real-life brothers together to play the sibling outlaws, adding an extra layer of authenticity to the whole thing.
At its core, this is a story about family, which is emphasised by the cast, reminding us that while this iconic story of battling outlaws and murder can seem like a tale from a bygone era, it was something very real and tragic, with bloodshed tearing people, even siblings, apart.
The Long Riders might not have been a smash hit at the box office – it grossed around $15 million – but the point wasn’t for this to become a huge record-breaking blockbuster. Rather, this was a considered exploration of loyalty and crime, with an incredible original soundtrack courtesy of Cooder to boot. Rockwell doesn’t think the movie got the attention it truly deserved, so if you’re ever in the mood to watch a gritty ‘80s western, you know what to add to your watchlist.
