Ed Harris Movie:

		List Price: $28.99		Label: New Line Home Video Salesrank: 2179 Released: January 13, 2009
		Our Price: $9.49
		Used Price: $9.22
		MPAA Rating: R (Restricted) Media: Blu-ray

Editorial Review:
Paired as rivals in A History of Violence, Ed Harris (who also directs, produces and co-scripts) and Viggo Mortensen stand together as friends and for-hire peacekeepers Cole and Hitch in a character-driven, bullet-hard Western based on Robert B. Parkers novel. As the woman who arrives in town with only a dollar and a keen sense of survival, Renée Zellweger adds feelings--things that can get you killed--to a quest to bring murderer Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons) to justice. Blood will spill in the town called Appaloosa.

Description of Appaloosa [Blu-ray]:
The Western has been an endangered species, on and off, for something like 40 years now. Welcome to Appaloosa, Ed Harris's film of the Robert B. Parker novel--first because it exists at all, but even more because Harris as star, director, and co-screenwriter (with Robert Knott) has managed to bring it to the screen with no hint of fuss or strain, as if the making of no-nonsense, copiously pleasurable Westerns were still something Hollywood did with regularity. Harris plays Virgil Cole, one of those ace gunfighter-lawmen whose name need only be mentioned to make a saloon go still. Cole and his shotgun-toting partner Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen) accept a commission to enforce law and order in the New Mexico town of Appaloosa. That basically means protect it from rapacious rancher Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons, looking right at home on the range), who murdered the previous town marshal like swatting a fly. Life becomes complicated when, about the time Bragg has been jailed to await trial, a fancy-dressing piano player calling herself Mrs. French (Renée Zellweger) steps down off the train. Cole commences to have feelings, and as he ruefully reminds Hitch, "Feelin's can get ya killed."

In his second directorial effort (following the 2000 biopic Pollock), Harris takes his cue from novelist Parker's often deadpan-comic touch, allowing action and character to accumulate in accordance with an overall eccentric rhythm. (The film's main disappointment is that it would benefit from more running time to allow things to stew a bit longer, especially in the second half.) The character work is choice, from the moment Tom Bower, James Gammon, and Timothy Spall step into view as Appaloosa's civic leaders; the director's father Bob Harris contributes a cameo as a mellifluous-tongued circuit judge, and an age-thickened Lance Henriksen turns up midfilm as gunman Ring Shelton, trailing affability and menace. In collaboration with Dances With Wolves cameraman Dean Semler, Harris sets up shots and scenes in such a way that we often see into and out of Appaloosa's various buildings simultaneously, to excellent dramatic and atmospheric effect, and there's a thrillingly vertical dynamics to a scene involving a train at an isolated water stop. The action is lethal when it needs to be, but never dwelt upon. "That was over quick," Hitch observes after one gun battle. Cole's response says it all: "Everybody could shoot." --Richard T. Jameson

Appaloosa [Blu-ray] Reviews:
Westerns
2009-12-30 - I like all the actors in this film and was surprise to learn that Ed Harris had more then just acting parts in the film. If you like; Westerns this film worth rental fee, not enough gun fightening to fit my personal needs.

old fashioned western
2009-12-28 - It's fun to see the cast--Ed Harris and Vito Mortgenson and Renee Zellweger--but I'd give the movie a C- .

Appaloosa, not a horse.
2009-12-28 - This film is as good a western as the highly rated "Unforgiven". It has it all, from cast to storyline.
The cast fits so well together, I forgot the praised actors in the caracters they portrayed. Kudos to Ed Harris, for this entry to film history; Vigo for his "tightly held, close to the vest" western hero--so different from his other western caracter in "Hildalgo". And, Miss Renee, has no limits apparently in acting heights.

Appaloosa
2009-12-25 - Appaloosa This movie was a great movie. The area where it was filmed, in northern New Mexico is real scenic. The action was great, the actors did a great job, all of them. Especially Ed Harris, and Viggo Mortensen, two of my favorite actors. I would recomend it to anyone. The delivery time was short as usual.

Solid acting doesn't really save the sluggish, often boring story
2009-12-19 - First I am a fan of Harris, Mortensen, Zellweger, and even Irons. I am also a fan of westerns which have faded from the mainstream quite a bit. I was really excited about Appaloosa but after a watch I found myself personally very disatisfied. The acting is great, the scenery and setting are perfect, but the story! It is extremely sluggish and dry and often times confusing. I found myself often asking "why are they doing this?" and "wait, what?" There is a total of 1 major fight scene that lasts all of 20 seconds despite the films promise of "Thunderous Action and Nail-Biting Suspense." The majority of the movie seemed to center around Ed and Viggo sitting around drinking coffee talking to each other. Maybe I just need to watch it again but first impressions are everything and to be honest, mine wasn't a good one.