Western Drama

THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS (B) - An unnecessary but entertaining melange of western tales, told storybook style and with meticulous imagery by Joel and Ethan Coen. The six stories roam the range -- from ho-hum to highly amusing to suspenseful. With a mixed bag, you're going to have your share of clunkers and gems. For example, no western, no matter how short, should have James Franco in it. But even his story -- about a bank robber rescued from a hanging only to find himself back on the gallows -- delivers a memorable punch line.

Tim Blake Nelson starts things off as the chipper songbird Buster Scruggs, a slick gunslinger who can do no wrong -- until, this being a Coen brothers movie, his luck seems to run out. Tom Waits is fine in a solo scenario as a wise old gold-digger in a bucolic setting, determined to find (and keep) his fortune, no matter what.  Liam Neeson and Harry Melling never gel as, respectively, a carnival huckster and his meal ticket -- a young man with no arms or legs who spins stories and re-creates Abe Lincoln orations -- though, again, the dark Coen twist at the end is beautifully executed.  Zoe Kazan's modern mien is both a distraction and a refreshing change of pace as a newly widowed member of a group of settlers hiking the Oregon trial. She is wooed by Bill Heck but is not immune to the dangers of the wild west, some of which are brought on by her ill-advised devotion to her pet dog.

The final sequence is probably the best. It consists almost entirely of a carriage ride by five strangers. It offers the Coens the chance to knock out some killer dialogue and a group of actors -- including Tyne Daly, Brendon Gleeson and, especially, Chelcie Ross (Conrad Hilton on TV's "Mad Men") -- to show off their chops. It's a highly entertaining conclusion to two-plus hours of storytelling by a couple of masters who make it all look easy.

WRITTEN ON THE WIND (1956) (B) - A blockbuster cast delivers a sordid story, penned by George Zuckerman and directed by Douglas Sirk, about a drunken playboy who steals his best friend's gal. Robert Stack (TV's "The Untouchables") chews scenery as Kyle Hadley, heir to an oil fortune. Rock Hudson is solid as his buddy Mitch, of humble origins. Kyle jumps ahead of Mitch for the affections of Lucy (Lauren Bacall), and Mitch keeps a torch awaiting the inevitable meltdown of the marriage. Meantime, Kyle's loose sister, Marylee (a saucy Dorothy Malone), pines for Mitch, whom she's known since childhood.

Mix these characters well in a Technicolor setting, toss in a pistol at least once in each act, and you build the melodrama to a satisfying conclusion. The dialogue is zippy, if a little cliched. Hudson and Malone are particularly sharp in this classic love quadrangle.