In The Saddle Again

Now those of you with a certain penchant for leather chaps, a liking for ponchos and a secret fondness for chewing on a cheroot as per your hero Clint, will simply rejoice at this news. The Western is back. After the false new dawn of Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven, a good old cowboy movie has proved far too hard to come by these past few years but A Beautiful Mind director, Ron Howard, is planning to put this sad situation well and truly straight. Production will start in March on Howard's as yet untitled Western based on Thomas Eidson's novel 'The Last Ride,' which should provide you with enough gun showdowns and cacti to fill your tired cowboy hearts with glee. The unlikely pairing of Tommy Lee Jones and Cate Blanchett will people this particular dusty tale which is set in 1886 New Mexico and tells the story of a dying father who returns home to make peace with his estranged daughter, whom he has not seen since she was a little girl. More psychological suspense drama than brutal shoot-out, Howard's film gets an action injection when the daughter's child is kidnapped by that staple of Western movies, the villainous and assuredly greasy band of outcasts, and the two generations must unite to rescue the poor little mite. Empire Online can see it now…lusciously shot sunsets, a couple of silhouetted horsemen on the horizon and a Morricone-like score swooping away in the background. Bliss.