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5.4/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 5.4/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Somewhere in Sonora remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you have a soft spot for grainy, old-school Westerns where the heroes are impossibly stoic and the villains are laughably obvious, you’ll probably get a kick out of this. If you need a movie that doesn't feel like it was shot on a shoestring budget in someone's backyard, maybe skip it. It's essentially a John Wayne vehicle that knows exactly what it is.
John Bishop—played by a young, hungry-looking John Wayne—spends a lot of the movie pretending to be a bad guy to get the inside scoop on a robbery plot. It’s the classic 'infiltrate the gang' trope. It works, I guess, but there’s not much tension here.
There is this one scene where Bishop is just standing around looking concerned, and the camera lingers on him for a solid five seconds too long. It starts to feel like he forgot his next line. He just blinks, shifts his weight, and tries to look tough again. It’s kind of endearing in a weird way.
Compared to something like Lightning Hutch, the pacing here feels like a brisk walk. It doesn't drag, but it doesn't exactly race either. It just kind of moseys along.
The villains are all growling and squinting so hard you’d think the sun was twice as bright as it actually is.
The whole thing feels like a prototype for every Western that came after it. You can see the bones of the genre just sticking out everywhere. It isn't trying to be deep or artsy. It’s just trying to get the job done before the film stock runs out. I respect that.
The ending is a bit abrupt. One minute they are bickering about silver, and the next, someone is getting punched, and the credits roll. It’s like the editor just gave up. Honestly, it’s refreshing. No long, drawn-out goodbyes. Just roll the film and go home. 🤠
