Devil's Canyon: A dusty, weird little artifact

Is it worth your time?

Honestly, you probably already know if you're the type of person who digs these ancient, low-budget westerns. If you enjoy the scratchy audio and the way actors used to talk like they were shouting from across a football field, you’ll be fine. If you need a movie to actually have a coherent plot, skip it. You will absolutely hate the pacing.

It starts with a lot of walking. There is so much walking in this movie. The characters spend most of their energy just getting from one side of a rock formation to the other. It feels like they were trying to hit a runtime quota just by putting one foot in front of the other.

There's this moment about halfway through where Pat Harmon just stops and stares at a cactus for an uncomfortably long time. It wasn't a dramatic stare, either. It was the look of a man who realized he left his lunch in the other set.

The vibe is... dusty

The whole thing feels a bit like Sailors Beware! if you replaced the ocean with dirt and the comedy with grunting. It lacks that spark of life you see in better films, but it has this weird, hypnotic quality. It’s like watching a screen saver from 1935.

I found myself zoning out during the dialogue scenes. They talk in circles about land and gold and some guy named Fred who doesn't seem to be doing much of anything. It reminded me of the endless chatter in The Mysterious Witness, where people explain the plot at each other instead of actually doing things.

• The rocks look exactly the same in every single shot.
• The horses look bored. I can't blame them.
• There is a fight scene that lasts about three seconds and involves zero actual contact.
• The sound mixing is a disaster, but in a way that feels strangely authentic.

If you're looking for something that hits the same note as the frantic energy in The Active Life of Dolly of the Dailies, you’re going to be disappointed. This isn't that. It’s a slow, plodding affair that exists mostly to fill a gap in a matinee schedule.

Still, there’s something kind of sweet about how simple it all is. No one is trying to reinvent the wheel. They just want to shoot a movie in a canyon and go home. I can respect that, even if I don't necessarily want to watch it twice. 🌵