In a small town in the Southwest, 3 lawmen come to the home of Randall Bragg to arrest two men.  In a second, Randall Bragg ( Jeremy Irons ) draws and cuts the three men down.  The Town leaders of Appaloosa want law and order and make what looks like a deal with the devil himself , in giving control of the town to Virgil Cole ( Ed Harris) and  his deputy Everett Hutch (Viggio Mortenson).

Now in a long line of "realistic" Westerns, I believe starting with the modern movie Unforgiven, comes another tale of Good Vs Evil in the lawless west of the late 1800's.  The good aren't really all that good, but they do have principals and morals.  We can identify with the good intentions and pragmatic justice of Sheriff Virgil Cole on one hand, but might might bot be thrilled with his methods, certainly not in today's society, sometimes I think we're worse off for it. 

Vigil and Everett at first bring law and order to the town, even to the likes of Bragg's men.  Soon a young worker comes forward to testify against Bragg and  now the justice system and real law and order are to have their day, or will they ?

 In the midst of this a young widow, played by Renee Zellweger comes to town.  Penniless, with no means of support she has a method of finding and sticking to man withe power.  At this time it is Virgil Cole.  Her appearance on the screen in this part hearkens to the plight of a lot of women in that era.  What precise options did a widow have in the west ?  Uneducated or even if they were, unappreciated and certainly not equal in this society the role gives a good cause to take time and understand the quest of emancipation and suffrage of women in general throughout time.  We are challenged again to think that women are still considered second class citizens and chattel in many societies today.  A cruel reminder that we have a lot of work to be done still.  Zellwegers  performance was challenging at best, I hope audiences and critics can see through some of the obvious buffoonery and humiliations of her part to see the brilliance in it. 

There is to be showdown of several sorts, all well thought of and shot in what looks like a realistic time frame.  No long drawn out gun plays and battles rather short to the point death matches, they are almost over before they begin.  Life can be precarious in the West.

If you like Westerns you'll like this one. 

This is Ed Harris's second foray into directing and producing, his first was Pollack, where he garnered an Academy award nomination for best actor.