Sunset

I don’t talk about movies watched very much and I suppose I should do so more often. The other night I watched Sunset. It features James Garner, Bruce Willis, Malcolm McDowell, Mariel Hemingway and Patricia Hodges. Garner plays an aging Wyatt Earp come to Hollywood to act as consultant on a film featuring Tom Mix. Willis plays a pretty duded up Tom Mix. Having visited the Tom Mix Museum near Bartlesville, Oklahoma, I can vouch that none of Tom’s duds were nearly as pretty as those Willis wore in this film. The story concerns nothing about the film being made. Instead Tom and Wyatt stumble upon a murder, attempt to solve it, while battling corrupt police and McDowell as the owner of the film company and something of a sadist. Patricia Hodges plays McDowell’s wife. She is apparently an old friend of Wyatt’s and can show the bruises as evidence of McDowell’s abuse.

The costumes are very much period, as the cars, those wonderful cars. Mix seems to own at least three different cars, all spotless and shiny. The other cars are just as beautiful, whether pulling up in front of the theater for an opening or chasing each other through the countryside.

This film is pure fantasy from beginning to end, but it’s great fun. If you like period pieces and lots of action, I think you’ll find it in Sunset.