Diablo (2015)

Scott Eastwood plays Jackson, a former Union solider whose hopes for a quiet post-Civil War life are interrupted when four Mexican bandits burn his ranch and kidnap his young wife.

So Jackson retrieves his six-guns from the embers and sets out to their trail. He quickly dispatches of one of the kidnappers.

Gunshot during the gunfire at the ranch, that man tries futilely to ambush Jackson so his companions can get away.

But a second ambush is more successful, leaving Jackson on foot and wounded himelf. A young Indian boy, spared by Jackson earlier in the film, comes to his aide, taking him back to his camp to heal.

The boy’s elders sense something wrong with Jackson. They know this: It’s been seven years since the great white man’s war. And every year, a woman is kidnapped, and there’s death along the trail.

Seems Jackson is haunted by his Civil War past, which includes accidentally killing his younger brother and so many Rebels that he becomes known as Sherman’s greatest killer — and by the nickname Diablo.

Review:

Yep, Scott Eastwood is Clint’s son, cast in a film something like the Spaghetti Westerns that made his dad famous. And it’s an intriguing film, with an even more intriguing ending.

Walter Goggins has the best role, that of Ezra, the demon Jackson can’t shake. And Danny Glover has a small, but memorable part as a former Civil War colleague Jackson calls on for help.

Alas, there are problems too. Like so many pointless overhead shots that a film fan on IMDb wonders jokingly if director Lawrence Roeck got a drone for Christmas.

More problematic is that Jackson spends days nursing his wound at the Indian camp. Yet the “kidnappers” and his “wife” gain no ground in their race to get away from their pursuer.

The film is billed as the first Western about post-Civil War PSTD. Probably not — I mean, there was “Valerie” way, way back in 1957. And don’t expect anything nearly as stylish as Clint’s best Westerns. But his son’s Western debut has its moments.

Directed by:
Lawrence Roeck

Cast:
Scott Eastwood … Jackson
Walton Goggins … Ezra
Camilla Belle … Alexsandra
Adam Beach … Nakoma
Samuel Marty … Ishani
William Belleau … Muskwa
Morris Birdyellowhead … Pitikwa
Tzi Ma … Quok Mi
Jose Zuniga … Guillermo
Joaquim de Almeida … Artuo
Danny Glover … Benjamin Carver
Nesta Cooper … Rebecca Carver

Runtime: 94 min.

Memorable lines:

Erza: “Just to keep you informed, this is my road. And as such, I collect a toll from all travelers for safe passage.”
Jackson: “What kind of toll?”
Erza: “Well, everything you got. Maybe even your soul.”

Jackson: “You like killing unarmed men.”
Erza: “I just like killing men. Especially when their conversation bores me so.”

Erza: “Only one thing I enjoy more than killing a man – watching a man die all by himself. Death might be a favor to you.”

Erza: “ You know what I find most sad about you? You are all alone. In a world that don’t celebrate being alone.”

Benjamin Carver to his granddaughter: “He’s killed more men than you’ve known in your lifetime.”

Jackson: “I just can’t seem to lose you.”
Erza: “What can I say? I’ve become attached.”