My somewhat hazy recollection of Howard Zieff‘s Hearts of the West (’75) is that (a) it was overly broad, obviously an attempt to engage the rubes, (b) its reliance on crude, on-the-nose behavior diminished the realism and dignity of the characters, and (c) I didn’t believe for one second that Jeff Bridges was any kind of writer — he struck me as an actor with insufficient verbal skills and not much education.
I’m mentioning this because Hearts of the West is playing at a currently running Film Comment film series, which is profiled in a 2.17 piece by N.Y. Times critic Manohla Dargis.
