Frontier Crucible is a new Western that fancies itself a violent riff on the old Randolph Scott style of cowboy saga where a simple man of upstanding moral fiber has his courage tested by murderous varmints and marauding Apache. It’s another chapter in the endless story of how the West was won, although in this telling the West was won very slowly and with little tension or sense of urgency.
The script is credited to Harry Whittington, who wrote Desert Stake-Out, the 1961 novel upon which Frontier Crucible is based, even though Whittington died in 1989. However, much of the script features the hallmarks of uncredited screenwriter S. Craig Zahler, a fact that suitably raises one’s expectations. Zahler works hard to bend Whittington’s source material to accommodate his signature style, but the results lack the cross-genre genius of Bone Tomahawk or the grindhouse artistry of Brawl in Cell Block 99. It seems that working off existing material has put Zahler in a box that he can’t quite write his way out of, leading to a film that fails to stand out amongst an endless horizon of Westerns.
The film could almost be described as a drawing room Western, as it features a small cast and unfolds mostly in a small patch of Arizona Territory in 1874. As Merrick Beckford, the most righteous cowboy in the West, star Myles Clohessy seems to be basing his performance on a photo of Clint Eastwood in High Plains Drifter. He’s a squinty-eyed man of few words, most of them pushed out of his cigarillo-chomping mouth at the speed of molasses. There’s not much of a character for Clohessy, or any of the cast, to latch onto; director Travis Mills purposely over-amps much of what we see and hear, from the superheroic Beckford standing in silhouette against a purple sunset, to the various “thunderations!” of its dialogue and the blunt lyricism of Sean Rowe’s sub-Frankie Laine songs. It’s less a tip of the 10-gallon hat to old-fashioned cowboy filmmaking than a performative Western inspired by a dog-eared collection of Budd Boetticher storyboards.
In a better reading, Frontier Crucible would have been a morally tasty chess game between a virtuous Western archetype and the forces aligned to corrupt him, all leading to an explosive climax. Hints of this possibility are planted during a gorgeous opening scene shot in director John Ford’s favorite location, Monument Valley, in which Beckford is asked (by William H. Macy in a cameo) to deliver medical supplies to a town suffering from an outbreak of fever. Although the idea “doesn’t make me mirthful,” Beckford agrees, setting off all by his lonesome on a covered wagon.
Before long, Beckford runs into a group that includes the injured Jeff (Eli Brown), his worried wife, Valerie (Mary Stickley, having a tough time selling the stylized dialogue), and a trio of men who are obviously up to no good. Their leader is the mustachioed wife-beater Mule, played by Thomas Jane on the right side of the line between enjoyably broad and downright hammy. The others are Mule’s son, Billy (Ryan Masson), and Edmund, played by Armie Hammer. In his first film role in three years, Hammer shows a welcome lack of interest in dialogue chewing, although the moment where he tries to sexually molest Valerie reminds us of his much-deserved exile from Hollywood following allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct.
Mills draws out scenes to lengthy extremes without necessarily drawing out the drama. In the film’s middle goings, Beckford refuses to leave the area until Jeff is well enough to travel, much to the consternation of Mule and his cohorts, who fear an Apache attack and are increasingly willing to commandeer Beckford’s wagon whether he likes it or not. It’s little surprise that Beckford sticks to his guns – that’s his defining character trait, one that renders him a bit one-dimensional. Even some mild shading introduced by his status as a widower and the fact he’s holed up in the same area where his brother was murdered two years earlier barely complicate his actions or dent his principles. But the noose eventually tightens when Billy commits the ill-advised killing of an Indian scout, which, according to Beckford, is guaranteed to unleash “the merciless black wrath of the Apache.”
With the Apache circling and Mule’s gang so intent on killing Beckford that he barely sleeps at night, one would be justified in thinking he should just toss Jeff a bottle of iodine and vamoose. But according to Western philosopher Beckford, “a man’s gotta be able to live with the choices he makes.” So the standoff continues with Jane, allowing us the fun of wondering whether his role as peacekeeper is expediently genuine or hides a more sinister purpose. When the Apache finally arrive, Mills indulges in the violent, torture-filled finale we’ve been expecting. It punishes the right characters, but we’ve long stopped caring enough for it to feel satisfying.
Frontier Crucible is a cleanly shot, masculine Western that works best when exploring how two opposing moral codes, far removed from any legal consequence, can work together when faced with the same obstacle. The answer, of course, is not for very long, especially when one is such an immovable exemplar of integrity that he fails to be interesting. Those who argue that Will Kane is also defined by his integrity should remember that High Noon meticulously ratchets up the stakes in a way that makes us mourn for Will’s descent towards a lonely and likely death. Neither Beckford nor anyone in Frontier Crucible inspires that level of character investment. Instead, we’re merely asked to watch a litany of Western archetypes mosey along a dusty, well-trod trail towards the same sunset we’ve seen for decades.
Frontier Crucible, from Well Go USA Entertainment, opens in theaters December 5.
- Release Date
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December 5, 2025
- Runtime
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125 Minutes
- Director
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Travis Mills
- Writers
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Harry Whittington
- Producers
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Murdoch MacNeil, David Guglielmo, Lillian Campbell, Travis Mills