Wild Horses

Everything about “Wild Horses” points to a great queer western film. Unfortunately, I was utterly disappointed – and even James Franco couldn’t save this train wreck. For one, the script needs work. The film’s synopsis portrays a detective murder investigation; one that would involve exciting action scenes, perhaps gun fights, and solving a potential murder cover-up. Yet that storyline gets lost amid the story of an old man trying to repair a broken family – except he was the one who broke it all up. To top it off, “Wild Horses” is not only stars Robert Duvall as this old coot, but the film is directed AND written by Duvall as well. That almost never works out, and by the end of the film he tries to make us feel sorry for his character in hopes that everyone will be happy as a family now that all the secrets are revealed. Yeah, I hate Scott Briggs even more simply because even in the end it was only about him. Cinematically, the film is surprisingly good. But a decent films core and beautiful scenery cannot overlook the horrible acting of Luciana Pedraza as Samantha Payne – or should I use her married name, Luciana Duvall. Yup, Robert Duvall cast his wife opposite himself. In the film that he wrote and directed. Unfortunately, she cannot act if her life depended on it – which ironically is shown because at one point in the film, her life is endangered. Personally, I would skip this queer western film. It’s a waste of your time – unless you’re an avid fan of Franco; but even then, you’re better off watching his other films!