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Red Rock West (1994)


Commentaries on this disc:

Commentary 1: Director John Dahl Rating:8.0/10 (1 vote) [graph]Login to vote or review
Reviewed by frankasu03 on August 21st, 2014:Find all reviews by frankasu03
This commentary actually pairs Director Dahl with his brother (and co-writer) Rick Dahl. The pair is genial with a discussion about growing up in Montana and how John fell in love with the visual art of storytelling at an early age. There is also a 3rd commentator, in the form of the film's editor. Editor Scott Chestnut pipes in from time to time, it's just a shame he's not included with the brothers Dahl, as Scott had some disagreements about certain editing choices made by the Director. It might have made for a more invigorating listen. That said, the duo's track really picks up steam in the second half. A very insightful look into the filmmaking landscape in the early '90s; Before Independent Cinema became a brand phenomenon all its' own, and after the VHS Boom guaranteed financing through pre-sales and ready made distribution models. It placed "Red Rock West" in the odd position of airing on Pay Cable before its' theatrical debut. It was a hit in the sporadic markets and film festivals in played in, but never met with mainstream success. The requisite "war stories" about working with Nic Cage and Dennis Hopper are present, and they do not disappoint. The track, although never thrilling, provides some nice anecdotes about low-budget film-making and the obstacles to telling a seemingly simple story in a commercial world. 8/10