Tommy Lee Jones’ ‘Homesman’ feels like a classic Western

  • By Robert Horton Herald Movie Critic
  • Tuesday, November 25, 2014 4:38pm
  • LifeGo-See-Do

Tommy Lee Jones, as actor and director, clearly cares a lot about the Western. Is there an audience that cares with him?

The once-dominant Western genre has declined so steeply since the 1970s that each new one is an event, and Jones has become one of the few people still riding herd on the form. (Though dead at the movies, the myth of the West is alive and well in American politics, currently full of gun-totin,’ hog-castratin’ candidates.)

“The Homesman” is so good it makes you wish Jones could somehow make a Western a year, just to keep exploring the pockets of American frontier experience that still need filling in. This one offers a series of new wrinkles, beginning with its route: The story goes from west to east, the opposite of most Westerns.

A Nebraska “spinster” by the name of Mary Bee Cuddy (Hilary Swank, a fine and precise performance) volunteers to lead some strange cargo back to Iowa. Three women in her community have been driven mad by the prairie and their men, or at least they have become no longer socially acceptable.

They must be taken to an institution, a trip of five weeks. Claim-jumper and full-time scalawag George Briggs (Jones) will accompany Mary on her grim job. Because it’s a journey movie the structure is episodic, and we meet a variety of types along the way, played by distinctive actors such as Tim Blake Nelson, James Spader, Hailee Steinfeld, Barry Corbin, and no less than Meryl Streep.

The set-up suggests the potential for showing the West from the female characters’ perspective, which isn’t entirely the case, although the story does depict the unfairness of frontier life for women (Jones co-scripted — with Kieran Fitzgerald and Wesley A. Oliver — from Glendon Swarthout’s 1988 novel). The real subject is the West itself, the brutality of it, and the price paid for settling it.

Jones has made a curious film of all this. There are some strange shifts in tone, and the three mad women (Miranda Otto, Grace Gummer, Sonja Richter) remain unknowable.

But “The Homesman” is haunting. Mary Bee Cuddy and George Briggs — we know all along it’s not his real name — are complicated people. The final sequence is especially mysterious, as George Briggs recedes into the dark, heading back to the West because he might as well keep moving.

His drifter might seem like a familiar character from the myth of the West, a minor figure in a dime novel or a folk ballad, but he’s seen too much to buy into all that. So, it seems, has Tommy Lee Jones.

“The Homesman” (4 stars)

A haunting Western, directed by and starring Tommy Lee Jones. He plays a scalawag enlisted to help a frontier “spinster” (Hilary Swank) guide a trio of madwomen back to the east. An unusual film, but Jones really has a feel for the Western genre.

Rating: R, for violence, nudity, subject matter

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Life

Brandon Hailey of Cytrus, center, plays the saxophone during a headlining show at Madam Lou’s on Friday, Dec. 29, 2023 in Seattle, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lynnwood-based funk octet Cytrus has the juice

Resilience and brotherhood take center stage with ‘friends-first’ band.

FILE - In this April 11, 2014 file photo, Neko Case performs at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. Fire investigators are looking for the cause of a fire on Monday, Sept. 18, 2017, that heavily damaged Case’s 225-year-old Vermont home. There were no injuries, though a barn was destroyed. It took firefighters two hours to extinguish the blaze. (Photo by Scott Roth/Invision/AP, File)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

Singer-songwriter Neko Case, an indie music icon from Tacoma, performs Sunday in Edmonds.

Sarah Jean Muncey-Gordon puts on some BITCHSTIX lip oil at Bandbox Beauty Supply on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, in Langley, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Bandbox Beauty was made for Whidbey Island locals, by an island local

Founder Sarah Muncey-Gordon said Langley is in a renaissance, and she’s proud to be a part of it.

Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli
Tangier’s market boasts piles of fruits, veggies, and olives, countless varieties of bread, and nonperishables, like clothing and electronics.
Rick Steves on the cultural kaleidoscope of Tangier in Morocco

Walking through the city, I think to myself, “How could anyone be in southern Spain — so close — and not hop over to experience this wonderland?”

chris elliott.
Vrbo promised to cover her rental bill in Hawaii, so why won’t it?

When Cheryl Mander’s Vrbo rental in Hawaii is uninhabitable, the rental platform agrees to cover her new accommodations. But then it backs out. What happened?

Byrds co-founder Roger McGuinn, seen here in 2013, will perform April 20 in Edmonds. (Associated Press)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

R0ck ‘n’ Roll Hall of Famer Roger McGuinn, frontman of The Byrds, plans a gig in Edmonds in April.

Mother giving in to the manipulation her daughter fake crying for candy
Can children be bribed into good behavior?

Only in the short term. What we want to do is promote good habits over the course of the child’s life.

Speech Bubble Puzzle and Discussion
When conflict flares, keep calm and stand your ground

Most adults don’t like dissension. They avoid it, try to get around it, under it, or over it.

The colorful Nyhavn neighborhood is the place to moor on a sunny day in Copenhagen. (Cameron Hewitt)
Rick Steves: Embrace hygge and save cash in Copenhagen

Where else would Hans Christian Andersen, a mermaid statue and lovingly decorated open-face sandwiches be the icons of a major capital?

Last Call is a festured artist at the 2024 DeMiero Jazz Festival: in Edmonds. (Photo provided by DeMiero Jazz Festival)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

Jazz ensemble Last Call is one of the featured artists at the DeMiero Jazz Festival on March 7-9 in Edmonds.

Kim Helleren
Local children’s author to read at Edmonds Bookshop

Kim Helleren will read from one of her books for kids at the next monthly Story Time at Edmonds Bookshop on March 29.

Chris Elliott
Lyft surprises traveler with a $150 cleaning charge

Jared Hakimi finds a $150 charge on his credit card after a Lyft ride. Is that allowed? And will the charge stick?

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.