Western Weekends - The Hateful Eight

Last week, I looked at Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch, describing him as the Quentin Tarantino of his day. This week, I figured I'd take a look at Tarantino's second Western film; The Hateful Eight.

Samuel L. Jackson plays Major Marquis Warren, a former cavalry officer and Civil War veteran working as a bounty hunter in Wyoming. Stranded in the wilderness with three bodies he's taking to Red Rock to claim bounties on, he hitches a lift on board a stagecoach with two other passengers:

• John Ruth, a bounty hunter known as "The Hangman" for his tendency to bring bounties in alive so they can be hanged, played by Kurt Russell; 
• Daisy Domergue, a wanted fugitive whom Ruth is taking to Red Rock, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh; 
• They later pick up Chris Mannix, a former Confederate partisan who's due to take a post as Red Rock's new sheriff, played by Walton Goggins.

With a blizzard bearing down on them, the stagecoach driver O.B., played by James Parks, has the group take shelter at Minnie's Haberdashery. At the lodge, the passengers find that Minnie is apparently away, and there are four other people present:

• Bob, a Mexican man who claims to be acting as custodian while Minnie's away, played by Demián Bichir;
• Oswaldo Mobray, an Englishman travelling to Red Rock to serve as the new hangman, played by Tim Roth;
• Joe Gage, a laconic cowboy travelling to meet his mother, played by Michael Madsen;
• Sanford Smithers, a former Confederate General on his way to his son's funeral, played by Bruce Dern.

As all parties endure the blizzard outside, both Warren and Ruth suspect that something is amiss, and soon everybody is at each other's throats. Mannix has a lot of respect for Smithers, whom his father served under, while Warren holds a grudge against him for his war crimes. Meanwhile, Ruth believes that one or more of the lodgers aren't who they say they are, and may be plotting to rescue Daisy.

This film is very reminiscent of a classic whodunit, with a group of characters confined to one location. It isn't long before the bullets start flying and the blood is spilled. It is a Tarantino movie, after all.

The name does live up to its title. Well, the "hateful" part. There are actually nine people in the lodge, since O.B. the stagecoach driver is present. Oddly enough, it's Daisy who's the most sympathetic character for most of the film. Warren has a rather graphic confession he gives to Smithers, and Ruth constantly beats Daisy (but I get the feeling he probably treats most of his captives this way, regardless of gender). She constantly slings insults and taunts him, and it's never really stated what she's wanted for.

The mystery does develop when someone poisons the coffee, killing O.B. and Ruth when they drink it. Warren becomes more suspicious of everyone, but ends up being able to trust Mannix because he almost drank the poisoned coffee too.

I don't want to spoil anything, but I think the ultimate development was a bit of a cop-out.

All-in-all, the build-up is good, but once the violence ensues, the film goes a little downhill.

On a final note, I'd like to say that this film had an original score composed by Ennio Morricone, who passed away this week.