To me, Tom Hanks is a very modern, 20th/21st century persona. I even had a bit of a stretch seeing him as a 1940s man in Saving Private Ryan. He's about the last guy I would ever pick to carry a Western movie.
shareAgreed. I felt the same about Road to Perdition. Gary Cooper never looked right in period pieces, also IMO.
shareHe was absolutely amazing in SPR and perhaps the most believable character in the whole movie due to his attitude alone.
Also had no issues with him in News of the World.
You basically type-casted him in your head.
Sounds like a you-problem.
I thought he delivered a fine performance in this film. He wasn't as good as, say, Christian Bale in Hostiles, but he fit the film well and carried the film admirably.
sharewe'll all think different 20 years from now. remember when people hated Tombstone?
I'm glad he DOES'T fit the stereotypical cowboy/western type. Maybe that was the point. Every western ever made has the same, rather one-note depiction of a cowboy-type during that period. Sure, Tom Hanks didn't do the squinty thing, chew on a blade of grass and speak in colloquialisms.
He was a simple man. An educated man. And gunfighting wasn't his thing, at all. He didn't even *own* a gun.
So if he came across as a little out of place when traveling from town to town to deliver the news of the world, it's because he was a simple man trying to bring some civility and even some sophistication to areas that may not be very used to that kind of thing. Hence, I thought he did a fantastic job.
I mean, are we saying it's impossible that there was a guy who carried himself the way Hanks' character does during those times? That would be silly. It's just that movies in general (and especially westerns) tend to like leaning on exaggerated stereotypes...because the filmmakers feel those same tropes continue to be interesting.
I found the different approach in THIS movie to be interesting. A fish out of water, caring unexpectedly for a vulnerable young girl in a sometimes savage land, and reclaiming some humanity.