Paperback Hero (?)

I didn't get to watch the whole film, but will make sure I get 'round to it. Norton brings a tragic sensitivity to this role - he really gives you a character you can understand. I am impressed with his acting skill. The film suffered from a few editorial blunders though. I digress...

What I did see of it created a memory of a film from many years ago, called Paperback Hero. It was a Canadian film and as I recall it featured Keir Dullea (sp?) and dealt with the theme of alienation within a culture and the protagonist's creation of a persona as outlaw/cowboy. On some level this identification becomes pathological and brings the outlaw in to deeper sociopathic conflict with society.

I think it's suggesting that the myth of the cowboy/outlaw has outlived its usefulness as a cultural archetype. The rugged individualism we mythologize is revealed to be a kind of overweening narcissism... it's a delusional trap and both films end in the death of the 'hero'. It's time to find a new model for American masculinity... something like that.