Silverado

In 1985 I went to a movie called Silverado. It was a Western and I saw it in a Des Moines theatre called the River Hills. It had a 90-foot, curved screen. (Try to find one of those any more in one of those 16-plex movie theatres.)



I was never so transfixed by a movie in my life. Kevin Costner, Danny Glover, Kevin Kline, Brian Dennehy, Rosanna Arquette and Linda Hunt all had good roles. And the music was brilliant, big and alive.



Growing up with Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Rifleman and other westerns, Silverado was a breath of fresh air. It was fun and filled with action scenes that did not need computerized special effects.



It portrayed the West as we like to imagine it. Big country, strong people, hard living, fast paced life where people could still take time to sit around a fire in the middle of no where and talk.



But when the fighting was done and the dust had settled, you could step in the saloon and be with people who had fought the good fight - and won.



If you have a couple of minutes, watch the trailer for Silverado. This is a real movie among a lot of not-so-real movies.