Gunless
Encyclopedia
Gunless is a 2010 Canadian western comedy film
directed by William Phillips
and released by Alliance Films
.
gunfighter arrives in a small town in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies, a place that doesn't understand or appreciate the brutal code of the American Wild West
.
Gunslinger Sean Rafferty (Paul Gross
), known as the Montana Kid, has a bounty on his head for killing eleven people across the western United States. He arrives in town on his horse, riding backwards, bound, with a noose around his neck, and dragging the broken tree branch over which a group had tried to hang him on the American side of the border. After being helped off his horse by a young Chinese girl named Adell (Melody B. Choi), he begins to explore the town, starting with the town general store. After leaving the store, he finds his horse gone and accuses Jack (Tyler Mane), the blacksmith, of stealing it, even though Jack was simply replacing the horse's damaged shoes. After unsuccessfully trying to intimidate the blacksmith, the Montana Kid decides to call him out. Since the blacksmith has no gun, though, Sean can't shoot him because the Kid lives by a code of ethics that prevents him from killing unarmed men.
When she witnesses this, Jane Taylor (Sienna Guillory
), one of the townsfolk, says the Kid can have her broken gun (to fix and give to Jack) if he builds her a windmill. Sean proceeds to go with her and stays in a hut at her farm, alternately working on the windmill and repairing the gun. After a few days, however, the Kid begins to develop feelings toward Jane while also becoming friends with the townsfolk.
In the meantime, a roaming band of American bounty hunters crosses into Canada and heads for the town to claim the price on Sean's head. They terrorize a camp of Chinese railroad workers to find out his whereabouts.
By now, Sean has finally fixed Jane's pistol. He proceeds to Jack's smithy to demand the duel, gives Jack the gun, and tells him to draw. However, Sean adjusts his aim so that he is pointing his six-shooter slightly to Jack's left (in a way that his shot will miss the blacksmith), providing an indication that he is done running and may want to die. The Kid tells Jack to pull the trigger, but the gun jams. The Kid takes the gun back from Jack to inspect it, but accidentally sets it off instead, with the ricocheting bullet hitting Jack in the left buttock (replicating the wound that the Kid himself had earlier in the film). After Dr. Angus Schiffron (Jay Brazeau
) removes the fragmented bullet from Jack's buttock, the Kid agrees that he and the blacksmith are now even. He then prepares to leave town.
As the Kid is riding out of town at one end, the bounty hunters are riding in behind him at the other end. They threaten the townsfolk in an effort to get them to turn over the Kid. The townsfolk instead train their rifles and shotguns on the bounty hunters with the intent of defending themselves. At this time, the Kid has returned, and, not wanting any more bloodshed, Sean tells bounty hunter leader Ben Cutler (Callum Keith Rennie
) that he will go with them if Ben agrees to leave everyone else alone. Ben accepts, but right then town resident Larry (Michael Eklund
) sets off a pile of dynamite that he has placed under a large tree stump by his farmhouse in an effort to get the stump out of the ground. This sets off confusion and sparks a gunfight between the bounty hunters on one side and Sean and the townsfolk on the other. The battle ultimately ends in the town's favour after the Kid takes out Ben's crew without killing any of them. The bounty hunters end up being escorted out of Canada by the local detachment of the North-West Mounted Police
, and Sean decides to remain in town. He says he's staying because of a bunch of debts he has to pay off, but he really stays to be with Jane.
, on an approximate budget of $10 million .
Database
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
directed by William Phillips
William Phillips (director)
William Phillips is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. After graduating from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Science Degree, William Phillips studied film at Ryerson University. Phillips then ran a film production company entitled Grandview Products and worked on the...
and released by Alliance Films
Alliance Films
Alliance Films is a major Canadian motion picture distribution/production company, which serves Canada, the United Kingdom, and Spain.-History:It was formed in 1984 by Stephen Roth, Denis Heroux, John Kemeny, Robert Lantos and Jay...
.
Plot
A hardened AmericanUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
gunfighter arrives in a small town in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies, a place that doesn't understand or appreciate the brutal code of the American Wild West
American Old West
The American Old West, or the Wild West, comprises the history, geography, people, lore, and cultural expression of life in the Western United States, most often referring to the latter half of the 19th century, between the American Civil War and the end of the century...
.
Gunslinger Sean Rafferty (Paul Gross
Paul Gross
Paul Michael Gross is a Canadian actor, producer, director, singer and writer born in Calgary, Alberta. He is known for his lead role as Constable Benton Fraser in the television series Due South as well as his 2008 war film Passchendaele, which he wrote, produced, directed, and starred in...
), known as the Montana Kid, has a bounty on his head for killing eleven people across the western United States. He arrives in town on his horse, riding backwards, bound, with a noose around his neck, and dragging the broken tree branch over which a group had tried to hang him on the American side of the border. After being helped off his horse by a young Chinese girl named Adell (Melody B. Choi), he begins to explore the town, starting with the town general store. After leaving the store, he finds his horse gone and accuses Jack (Tyler Mane), the blacksmith, of stealing it, even though Jack was simply replacing the horse's damaged shoes. After unsuccessfully trying to intimidate the blacksmith, the Montana Kid decides to call him out. Since the blacksmith has no gun, though, Sean can't shoot him because the Kid lives by a code of ethics that prevents him from killing unarmed men.
When she witnesses this, Jane Taylor (Sienna Guillory
Sienna Guillory
Sienna Tiggy Guillory is an English actress, and former model. She is known for playing the title role in the TV miniseries, Helen of Troy, her portrayal of Jill Valentine in the science fiction action horror film Resident Evil: Apocalypse, and as elf princess Arya Dröttningu in fantasy-adventure...
), one of the townsfolk, says the Kid can have her broken gun (to fix and give to Jack) if he builds her a windmill. Sean proceeds to go with her and stays in a hut at her farm, alternately working on the windmill and repairing the gun. After a few days, however, the Kid begins to develop feelings toward Jane while also becoming friends with the townsfolk.
In the meantime, a roaming band of American bounty hunters crosses into Canada and heads for the town to claim the price on Sean's head. They terrorize a camp of Chinese railroad workers to find out his whereabouts.
By now, Sean has finally fixed Jane's pistol. He proceeds to Jack's smithy to demand the duel, gives Jack the gun, and tells him to draw. However, Sean adjusts his aim so that he is pointing his six-shooter slightly to Jack's left (in a way that his shot will miss the blacksmith), providing an indication that he is done running and may want to die. The Kid tells Jack to pull the trigger, but the gun jams. The Kid takes the gun back from Jack to inspect it, but accidentally sets it off instead, with the ricocheting bullet hitting Jack in the left buttock (replicating the wound that the Kid himself had earlier in the film). After Dr. Angus Schiffron (Jay Brazeau
Jay Brazeau
Jay Brazeau is a notable Canadian actor and voice actor. He was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.-Career:His credits include voicing Richard Condie's Oscar-nominated animated short La Salla. He also appeared in two of the first season episodes of Highlander: The Series in 1992...
) removes the fragmented bullet from Jack's buttock, the Kid agrees that he and the blacksmith are now even. He then prepares to leave town.
As the Kid is riding out of town at one end, the bounty hunters are riding in behind him at the other end. They threaten the townsfolk in an effort to get them to turn over the Kid. The townsfolk instead train their rifles and shotguns on the bounty hunters with the intent of defending themselves. At this time, the Kid has returned, and, not wanting any more bloodshed, Sean tells bounty hunter leader Ben Cutler (Callum Keith Rennie
Callum Keith Rennie
Callum Keith Rennie is a British-born Canadian television and film actor. He started his career in Canadian film and television projects, where his portrayal of Stanley Raymond Kowalski in the TV series Due South was his first international success...
) that he will go with them if Ben agrees to leave everyone else alone. Ben accepts, but right then town resident Larry (Michael Eklund
Michael Eklund
Michael Eklund is a Canadian actor, who has made numerous appearances in both television and film roles.-Acting career:Since 2006, Eklund has appeared as Vancouver Narcotics detective, Rene Dejardins, in CBC's drama, Intelligence....
) sets off a pile of dynamite that he has placed under a large tree stump by his farmhouse in an effort to get the stump out of the ground. This sets off confusion and sparks a gunfight between the bounty hunters on one side and Sean and the townsfolk on the other. The battle ultimately ends in the town's favour after the Kid takes out Ben's crew without killing any of them. The bounty hunters end up being escorted out of Canada by the local detachment of the North-West Mounted Police
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
, and Sean decides to remain in town. He says he's staying because of a bunch of debts he has to pay off, but he really stays to be with Jane.
Cast
- Paul GrossPaul GrossPaul Michael Gross is a Canadian actor, producer, director, singer and writer born in Calgary, Alberta. He is known for his lead role as Constable Benton Fraser in the television series Due South as well as his 2008 war film Passchendaele, which he wrote, produced, directed, and starred in...
as Sean Rafferty, the Montana Kid - Sienna GuillorySienna GuillorySienna Tiggy Guillory is an English actress, and former model. She is known for playing the title role in the TV miniseries, Helen of Troy, her portrayal of Jill Valentine in the science fiction action horror film Resident Evil: Apocalypse, and as elf princess Arya Dröttningu in fantasy-adventure...
as Jane - Dustin MilliganDustin MilliganDustin Wallace Milligan is a Canadian film and television actor known for his role as Ethan Ward on 90210.-Life and career:...
as Corporal Jonathan Kent - Callum Keith RennieCallum Keith RennieCallum Keith Rennie is a British-born Canadian television and film actor. He started his career in Canadian film and television projects, where his portrayal of Stanley Raymond Kowalski in the TV series Due South was his first international success...
as Ben Cutler - Tyler Mane as Jack Smith
Production
The production was filmed at Osoyoos, British ColumbiaOsoyoos, British Columbia
Osoyoos is a town in the southern part of the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia near the border with Washington state. The town is also adjacent to the Indian Reserve of the Osoyoos Indian Band. The origin of the name Osoyoos was the word suius meaning "narrowing of the waters" in the local...
, on an approximate budget of $10 million .
Reception
the film has received mostly mixed to slightly positive reviews.- CitytvCitytvCitytv is a Canadian English language television system owned and operated by Rogers Communications under its Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. division...
- "... it looked like a production that should be airing on the CBCCanadian Broadcasting CorporationThe Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
rather than in the theatre." - Fast Forward Weekly (mixed) - "Yes, it’s a comedy and a fun one at that, but the lack of depth and substance leaves you with all the satisfaction and aftertaste of a Tim HortonsTim HortonsTim Hortons Inc. is a Canadian fast casual restaurant known for its coffee and doughnuts. It is also Canada's largest fast food service with over 3000 stores nationwide. It was founded in 1964 in Hamilton, Ontario, by Canadian hockey player Tim Horton and Jim Charade, after an initial venture in...
doughnut." - The Globe and MailThe Globe and MailThe Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...
- "Gunless is harmless, the sort of pop entertainment that sets its sights low and doesn’t underachieve." - National PostNational PostThe National Post is a Canadian English-language national newspaper based in Don Mills, a district of Toronto. The paper is owned by Postmedia Network Inc. and is published Mondays through Saturdays...
- "As funny as necessary, but not necessarily funny." - Toronto StarToronto StarThe Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
- "The humour in Gunless is more sitcom than scathing, playing like something that could have been called Corner GasCorner GasCorner Gas is a Canadian television sitcom created by Brent Butt. The series ran for six seasons from 2004 to 2009. Re-runs still air on CTV and The Comedy Network in Canada; it formerly aired on WGN America in the United States....
1882." - Toronto SunToronto SunThe Toronto Sun is an English-language daily tabloid newspaper published in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is known for its daily Sunshine Girl feature and for what it sees as a populist conservative editorial stance.-History:...
(positive) - "... it’ll probably be the least depressing Canadian film this year. A feel-good experience, in fact." - Winnipeg Free PressWinnipeg Free PressThe Winnipeg Free Press is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Founded in 1872, as the Manitoba Free Press, it is the oldest newspaper in western Canada. It is the newspaper with the largest readership in the province....
- "The movie is sporadically amusing, but it works against itself in a couple of ways, most notably in casting affable Canuck Paul Gross as a violent Yank." - Vancouver Sun - "It's a genial enough comedy that's a combination of love story, cultural critique, farce and revenge yarn, which means it's none of them."
External links
Official- Gunless at Alliance FilmsAlliance FilmsAlliance Films is a major Canadian motion picture distribution/production company, which serves Canada, the United Kingdom, and Spain.-History:It was formed in 1984 by Stephen Roth, Denis Heroux, John Kemeny, Robert Lantos and Jay...
- The Search for Barclay's Brush
Database