Silverado

Silverado is one of the first, if not the first, in the new wave of westerns that washed up from the end of the eighties into the nineties. Several of these westerns have had a revisionist touch, but not Silverado. It is still in the innocent western style. What distinguishes it is the gusto with which it is made, and the story is of course also worth following, even though there is not much new under the sun.

Paden, Emmett, Jake and Mal are four cowboys who meet and take a liking to one another. Together they ride into the town of Silverado, where the brothers Emmett and Jake have family. Things are in a bad way in the town, however, for one of Paden's old cronies, Cobb, has become sheriff of the town, which he rules with an iron fist with the help of the other members of the gang Paden once belonged to. Cobb is secretly the long arm of the greedy rancher McKendrick, who is trying to drive Mal's father off his farm by heavy-handed means. In the end the situation becomes so desperate for the four friends that it comes to open war between them and Cobb's and McKendrick's men. Justice is done.