Shrimp on the Barbie Western?

In 1964 a film directed by the Italian Sergio Leone was released that reinvisioned the Hollywood genre of the Western. A Fistful Of Dollars was more violent and bloody than had previously been seen. I'm not going to say that The Proposition (2005) is going to revolutionize westerns, in fact it doesn't do anything groundbreaking. But it does fall into the Sergio Leone tradition of violence and it does offer a unique look at a frontier that I would like to see more of.

The film starts with the capture of two brothers, Charlie and Mike. Captain Stanley, the local peace officer offers Charlie a proposition. If he will kill his older brother, Arthur, a practically insane more dangerous man then Charlie and his younger brother will be pardoned for their crimes. From there the film moves on and actually pretty much loses sight of its premise rather quickly. Of course there are some wonderful performances by the likes of John Hurt and Danny Huston, but the film falls flat as it meanders back and forth between following Stanley and Charlie.

At first as Charlie set out I couldn't help but think of Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) in Apocalypse Now (1979). I thought that this would turn into a similar soul searching journey as he struggled with the idea of killing one truly wicked brother to save one innocent brother. But that isn't what happened, instead the film came to a climax in an orgy of violence and death.

In the end this movie failed to put forth something that is worth a trip to the theater, it might be worth renting though. But it did offer up potential for someone else to exploit. Australia and its history, in particular for Americans, could be fascinating areas to explore for the western.