*** This review contains some spoilers. I encourage you to watch this movie first and then come back to read the review! ***
Butchers Crossing didn’t seem to get much marketing, but I was glad that a theater nearby offered a few showtimes. I went into this as a blind watch, and while I had some issues with this film, the ending stuck with me and I’m still thinking about it.
The movie is based on the novel of the same name by John Edward Williams. Set in the 1870s, we find a young-man by the name of Will Andrews, played by Fred Hechinger, who has an interest in exploring the “Wild West” and drops out of Harvard to head to Butcher’s Crossing, a small frontier town built on the buffalo hide trail in Kansas.
Andrews first meets McDonald (Paul Racing), a local businessman who buys and sells buffalo hides. McDonald is quick to dismiss Andrews telling him he’s not in the tour business and warns him of the dangers of the buffalo trail. This doesn’t derail Andrews much as he sets out on his own to find a hunter who will let him tag along with a party to get the experience he is aching for.
This then brings Andrews to a formal meeting with Miller (Nicolas Cage). Miller speaks of knowing where one of the remaining massive herds is found and delivers a confidence that entices Andrews to put up all of his money to fund this expedition.
With the funding, Miller is able to get the supplies needed and hire on a party. He brings in Charlie (Xander Berkeley), a one-armed, God-fearing, drunk to tend to their wagon driving and meal prepping as well as Fred (Jeremy Bobb) a skinner that has complete doubts in Miller’s stories who only agrees to go if he is paid a salary.
The journey is difficult for the four. With the lack of water they all quickly being to dismiss Miller and his confidence that he knows where this herd is. As their sanity beings to falter, they eventually reach the destination to see thousands upon thousands of buffalo. Andrews is in complete awe now believing that the nature surrounding him is “God”.
The hunt begins. Andrews stays close to Millers side to learn of his methods of taking down such a large herd. What starts as an adventure becomes an obsessive onslaught of endless slaughter. Miller is determined to take down this entire herd and his obsession starts to wear on the rest of the crew. Fred seems to be the one that stays most aware of the mission and consistently brings up that they have met their goal and are overstaying their welcome. But due to Miller’s greed he takes a stand that he wants to bring in this entire herd and uses the money they’ll make from this as a crutch to keep everyone in line.
As expected, the crew’s overstay brings them to winter where they are trapped by a blizzard. With limited food and being trapped in mountains, they all begin to descend into paranoia. Miller stays in a state of obsession to bring this haul into town while Fred continuously lashes out at everyone for not listening to him. Charlie, being a God fearing man, takes offense to Fred’s sinful nature and starts to slowly poison him through the course of the winter months. By Spring time this is discovered and Fred kills Charlie.
These are the moments I began to question the films direction. I was expecting more of a man vs. nature approach here and it was hard for me to process these four surviving such a harsh blizzard on limited food. Fred himself breaks earlier on being tired of only eating the Buffalo meat they have gathered that hasn’t begun to spoil.
Now in Spring, the remaining three are ready to make it back to town to showcase their collection and collect their money. Fred knows the wagon won’t be able to carry everything so they agree to break it into portions and make multiple trips to get it all back. Even in doing so, the treacherous trail is still too much for the wagon with the added wait of the buffalo hides. The wagon begins to break & rolls off a cliff with both the hides and Fred.
Will and Miller make their way back to town in hopes to get another wagon but discover much has changed. Now abandoned they are able to find McDonald to learn that the bottom has fallen out in the buffalo hide market while they were trapped in the winter. Had they returned in the fall they would have been able to sale what they had and enjoyed their new wealth.
Robbed of his victory and still absorbed in his obsession Miller completely loses it and sets the buffalo exchange building ablaze. He has one last moment with Andrews and takes off.
In our last moments with Andrews, he is asked if his experience was worth it. He replies “I’ve seen what I needed to see” and we see him ride into the wilderness, alone.
These last few minutes of the movie completely captured me as the final message is something I’ve lived and experienced in my own career over the past decade.
Whether Andrews decides to live off the land and make his own set of skills or go back to university and gain his skillset there hopefully he’ll retain from this experience that the only thing that matters is the market is the market.
Rating: 4/5