AppaloosaMovie Reviews

Poster Art for "Appaloosa."

Gifts + Promos

The Vow Free Gift

Buy tickets & receive a FREE 3-Month Love Forecast from Astrology.com!

Fandango Bucks

Send your sweetheart the gift of movies this Valentine’s Day!

Journey Sweeps

Enter for a chance to win a trip for 2 to Nicaragua!

Interactive Oscar Ballot

Who's taking home the Oscar? Cast your vote & challenge your friends on Facebook!

Need Help?
Go
Avg. Critic Score: 64 out of 100 Generally favorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
15 Iffy for 15+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 88
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    Appaloosa is gripping entertainment that keeps springing surprises. Read full review

  • 80
    The Hollywood Reporter | Kirk Honeycutt

    A fine dramatic comedy with fresh characters, witty dialogue and a keen interest in how relationships must have developed among frontier folks, tyrannical ranchers, no-nonsense lawmen and -- oh, yes -- the complicated women on that frontier. Read full review

  • 75
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    What makes the movie absorbing is the way it harmonizes all the character strands and traits and weaves them into something more engaging than a mere 1-2-3 plot. I felt like I did in "Lonesome Dove" -- that there was a chair for me on the porch. Read full review

  • 75
    San Francisco Chronicle | Peter Hartlaub

    Most of the time, the movie is appropriately gritty and plenty engaging. Read full review

  • 70
    Washington Post |

    Harris and Mortensen may not have the combined star power to push Appaloosa to the level of popularity of last year's "3:10," but the film is every bit as enjoyable, and, for traditionalists, more measured. Read full review

  • 67
    Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

    A throwback to the age when Westerns were quaint. Read full review

  • 63
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    Harris is a major asset in a film that is entertaining but somewhat unfocused and occasionally badly cast. Read full review

  • 60
    Los Angeles Times | Kenneth Turan

    The two men collaborate so well, in fact, that the real love match of Appaloosa is between the two of them and no one else. Read full review

  • 60
    The New York Times | A.O. Scott

    The movie's tolerant, good-humored view of its characters drains it of some dramatic intensity, but Mr. Harris seems more interested in piquant, offhand moments than in big, straining confrontations. Read full review

  • 50
    Variety | Todd McCarthy

    Harris' first directorial outing since his impressive and entirely different "Pollock" biopic bears echoes of many genre predecessors, especially Howard Hawks' "Rio Bravo" -- but echoes they remain. Read full review

View more reviews for Appaloosa on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 15+ Old-fashioned Western features great performances.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this film is a classic Western -- full of gunfights, close-quarters shootings, and other violent acts. Although the violence is mostly bloodless, it's quite realistic: You clearly see its consequences in every action scene. There's also a complex depiction of the choices that a female character makes regarding her lovers that at least partially depicts the limited choices available to women in 1882. Characters also smoke, drink, swear, and talk about "whoring," and there's brief rear female nudity.
  • Families can talk about the film's central idea: What happens when lawbreakers become lawmakers? Is there a difference between state-sanctioned killing in the name of order and murder in the name of greed and expediency? Families can also discuss the enduring popularity of the Western genre. Are these movies a chance to re-discover America's past, or a chance to re-invent it through fiction?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Extensive discussion of the battle between the rule of law and lawbreakers, the settling of the West (including "dealing" with Native American populations), and the nature of violence and the cost it exacts.
What to watch for
  • violence false4 Violence: Fairly extensive, including discussions of rape and murder; many on-screen deaths from firearms (including several seen up close); fighting; scuffles; discussion of "gun work" as a profession; discussion of hanging as a punishment for capital crimes; characters being bound and threatened.
  • sex false3 Sex: Discussions of whoring; scenes of lovers in bed talking; some female rear nudity (briefly and at a distance). Some kissing.
  • language false4 Language: Occasional strong language includes "damn," "hell," "f--k," "s--t," "piss," and "goddamn." Some discussion of sexual conduct as being "whorish." Native Americans are referred to as Indians.
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Some period firearms are mentioned by name.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Characters drink wine, beer, and hard liquor, occasionally to excess; cigars, cigarettes, and pipes are smoked.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

Looking for more reviews? Movies.com Critics Say:

Dave White

4.5

Dave White Profile See Dave White's Profile

...part High Noon, part Lethal Weapon with some post-Brokeback Mountain... Read full review See Dave White's on MOVIENAME on Movies.com

Read more movie reviews at Movies.com

Facebook Movie Fans

Fan Fandango on Facebook