South of Heaven, West of Hell
R, 174 min. Directed by Dwight Yoakam. Starring Warren Zevon, Joe Ely, Scott Wilson, Luke Askew, Bo Hopkins, Michael Jeter, Bud Cort, Paul Reubens, Peter Fonda, Bridget Fonda, Billy Bob Thornton, Vince Vaughn, Dwight Yoakam.
Not reviewed at press time. Dwight Yoakam's elegiac Western -- which he financed, co-wrote, directed, and stars in -- is likely to be a treat for Yoakam's music fans but will satisfy few others. A moody but vaguely scripted story about frontier justice, Yoakam's vanity project is long on dusty Western landscapes but short on storyline and character development -- despite the sterling cast of industry pros who join him for this indulgence. Made in 2000, the film has already been released on DVD and video, although the two-hour-and-54-minute running time listed by the theatre is a good amount longer than than the film's original 130-some-odd-minute theatrical release length or the trimmed for the home market 105-minute-long version.
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Doug Freeman, Oct. 5, 2015
South of Heaven, West of Hell, Dwight Yoakam, Warren Zevon, Joe Ely, Scott Wilson, Luke Askew, Bo Hopkins, Michael Jeter, Bud Cort, Paul Reubens, Peter Fonda, Bridget Fonda, Billy Bob Thornton, Vince Vaughn, Dwight Yoakam