Thursday, February 01, 2018

The HAFist Hostility Over "Hostiles"

February 1, 2018
   For the record, I am a Historical Accuracy Fanatic—a HAFist. I have cleared more than one movie theater by yelling out, "They didn't have saddles like that in 1876!"

My hatred of roll back saddles



   Not really. That's just a joke.


   What I actually yelled out is, "They didn't have that model Winchester in 1876!"







Groovy little rifle unless you are portraying events before 1892.

   So here, in a nutshell, are the main, ahem, hostile dings against the new movie "Hostiles" by members of my tribe:


• By 1892 the Comanches were on a reservation and didn't raid anymore, especially in New Mexico ("The PC joker who wrote 'Hostiles' actually has a Comanche raid on a homestead happening in the 1890s. What an imbecile!")


• A black trooper would not have been assigned to a white platoon in this period.


• The Captain would have shaved his beard when he got to civilization (although Crook never shaved off his beard). 


   All true, but I still liked the movie. I gave my reasons the other day. Here are two people, who I think have nailed the essence of the reason the movie works in spite of some of the historical innaccuracy:



"Hostiles is, like all great westerns, a quest story--but this time the journey is both physical and spiritual. The film is action packed, but the greatest impact is emotional. Beautifully filmed, brilliantly acted by all involved, and insightfully written, Scott Cooper's film is the best western of the last twenty years. That is was not nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award is a shame."
—Paul Andrew Hutton

   And, to put a final point on everything:


"There are no good guys or bad guys in the West, everyone was a victim, everyone was guilty. It's a movie about transformation and the power of forgiveness!"
—Amy Wilmoth Watts


6 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:49 PM

    Thanks for your fine comments about this movie.My wife and I enjoyed it.

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  2. Anonymous11:32 AM

    Paul..it was a good movie...why dissect it? do you think everything in history books is accurate?

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  3. Also, they didn't have movie cameras in 1892. Dan

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  4. Actually they did, the first moving picture was made in 1878 and showed a race horse!

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  5. Anonymous5:30 AM

    Bob,Bob,Bob.You must have gone temporarily insane when you saw"Cowboys and aliens"! No documented alien attacks in the old west! 😁

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous7:45 PM

    Just saw the movie today, loved it! I thought to my self that the Indian wars were over by that time, but figured there could be some hold outs by 1892.

    ReplyDelete

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