The Jack Bull (1999)
a review by Christian Pyle
A jack bull, we're told, is a Jack Russell terrier who sinks his teeth into his prey with such vehemence that his jaw has to be sawed off to remove him. Such tenacity is, of course, suicidal.
The title of "The Jack Bull," a recent western from HBO Pictures, refers to horse rancher Myrl Redding (John Cusack), who proves his tenacity when he comes into conflict with a greedy neighbor, Henry Ballard (L.Q. Jones). In its basic outline, "The Jack Bull" seems like hundreds of other westerns: an honest rancher is victimized by an evil land baron and fights back. But screenwriter Dick Cusack (John's dad) and director John Badham offer a fresh, intelligent perspective on that familiar premise.
After Myrl clashes with him on the issue of whether Wyoming should become a state, Ballard blocks the road Myrl must travel to sell his horses and demands a toll. Unable to pay, Myrl is forced to leave two prize stallions behind as collateral, along with a hand (Rodney A. Grant) to care for them. When he returns with the money, Myrl finds that Ballard's goons have sadistically worked his horses until they are covered with sores and unable to walk and beaten the man he left with the horses.
Myrl attempts to sue for the rehabilitation of his stallions and compensation for the hand, but he finds that the local judge (Ken Pogue) works for Ballard. When his wife (Miranda Otto) dies as a result of the feud, an embittered Myrl declares war on Ballard. He gathers an army of local landowners (they know that Ballard intends to force them all out and gobble up their land) and begins a violent campaign against Ballard and anyone who aids him. In the end, both Myrl and Ballard must stand trial for their actions before an honest judge (John Goodman).
"The Jack Bull" is unremittingly bleak. Badham bleached most of the color out of the movie to give it a gray, overcast look that echoes its themes. Myrl has the same sense of masculine honor that we've seen in the heroes of the many westerns with similar plots, but he is no superman. The casting of boyish John Cusack is key; he doesn't have the hardened exterior of most western heroes. As a result, Myrl is vulnerable, human, fallible. And the world he inhabits is more realistic. Usually the hero is purified by his acts of violence against an evil aggressor, but in "The Jack Bull" we know that every choice Myrl makes has consequences that he will have to face. He won't get any free pass just because he's the "good guy." By placing a simple and familiar plot in a more complex and gray world, the elder Cusack and Badham force us to question the choices Myrl makes and the cultural values that lie behind them.
Grade: B+
© 1999 Christian L. Pyle
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