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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. The Mild West remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Should you watch The Mild West? Honestly, only if you’re the kind of person who likes watching old film stock struggle to hold a story together. If you want a tight script or a movie that remembers what happened in its own first act, you’re going to hate this. It’s for the curious, the bored, and the fans of unintentional comedy.
The whole thing starts in a dusty saloon, and for a few minutes, you think you’re watching a standard western. Then Gentleman Joe wins the saloon in a card game, marries the owner, and suddenly, we are in a time-jump montage that feels like it was edited with a pair of rusty garden shears. It’s jarring.
Then Baby Doll shows up after years away, and she hasn’t aged a single day. The movie calls it a "face lift." I call it a total lack of makeup continuity. It’s so absurd you can’t help but laugh when she says it with a straight face.
The middle section drags a bit while everyone moves to New York. It feels like the movie forgot it was supposed to have a conflict for a solid twenty minutes. There’s a lot of walking around and looking confused, which, to be fair, is probably how I looked watching it.
Eventually, Lulu ends up at this "beauty salon" that feels like something out of a fever dream. It’s supposed to be high-tech for the time, I guess? It mostly looks like a collection of random electrical cords and bright lights. The transformation sequence is… well, let’s just say it’s a choice.
It’s funny to compare this to something like Man with a Movie Camera, which actually knew how to use film to show change. The Mild West just hopes you don't notice that the actors playing the "young" versions of themselves are clearly struggling to stay in character while wearing heavy, itchy-looking prosthetics.
There is a scene in a nightclub that goes on for way too long. The band, The Vikings, shows up, and the music feels completely disconnected from the actual tension on screen. It’s like the editor just slapped a music track over the footage and went home for lunch.
Is it a good movie? Not really. But it’s got this weird, charming desperation to it. It really, really wants you to buy into the idea that you can just wash away decades of life with a trip to a salon. It’s silly, it’s dated, and honestly, I kinda respected the audacity of it all. Just don't go in expecting anything close to realism. 🤠
IMDb —
1916
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