The Mountie

What? You know that something went wrong in marketing a movie if it has 3 titles on an internet search. The Mountie, the Lawman, Way of the West. Perhaps the first is the best.. but there goes any chance of a US audience. Maybe it would have been better to keep that title and market it with subtitles to a world audience.

Comments from others indicate they were expecting an American Western which it is not. Some can't get the mix of cultures. Well, the film is set shortly after Alaska was acquired from Russia; and guess what- the land was sparsely populated. FYI Yukon almost 150 years on still has a total population under 40,000 in a land area approaching that of Texas.

Awful poetry read by a child? Well, the words are those of Robert Service, the unofficial poet of historical Yukon. If I had expected a "Western" I would have been disappointed. But thankfully I had a review from The Toronto Globe and Mail appear thanks to Google which was intriguing. Google it under "The Mountie".

Looking for an "operatic" theme movie more in the tradition of Quebec cinema. This is it.

Not sure why some reviewers are criticizing Andrew Walker for "channeling" Clint Eastwood when he looks like Eastwood, sounds like Eastwood and is playing the type of part that Eastwood would play. Kind of hard to get away from that comparison.

While the movie wasn't perfect, it was more authentic that most Hollywood westerns. Ie. Riders actually walked their horses (and did not run everywhere), people lived in tents, firearms were black powder and sounded like it, the size explosion of a stick of dynamite was reasonable, people and their clothing were dirty and the Mountie's uniforms weren't pristine clean and pressed.

Better to see a movie where the director makes an effort for some authenticity than, big budget Hollywood fluff.

I suppose this movie was made for television. And even for television it is not good enough. It starts okay but the further you get into the story the clearly it becomes that this is a mediocre movie. The last half hour is even disastrous to me. The script is not good at all, the actors are mediocre, their lines are so cheesy you wonder who comes up with something like that. The only good thing about this movie is some nature landscape shots. For the rest I would avoid this as the pest. The good reviews it gets on here are clearly written by people that had something to do with the movie. And those reviewers will fool you. They prefer lying then telling you they failed. Don't waste your time with this one.

My love of westerns, and being Canadian, are likely influencing my opinion of this film. Also known as The Way of the West, The Mountie contains a few flaws and some poor make-up but, overall, I enjoyed it. I found this film refreshing because of the Canadian content and the appearance of the red serge wearing Wade Grayling (Andrew Walker), a Member of the Northwest Mounted Police. I especially loved the unique behaviour of Wade's horse, Halifax, during one scene (I'm trying not to give it away). As westerns go, I found this particular scene new and, as a result, fun. On a negative note, I hate when Wade, knowing he is in danger, doesn't behave as so. After being caught one time without his revolver, you'd think the Mountie would adjust his level of officer safety? Oh well, just let it go. As a matter of fact, if you can let a few things go, you may appreciate this film as well. Especially if you're Canadian.

By Canadian standards I am sure this could be considered a work of art, by the rest of the worlds standards it was "meh". This movie appears to be a feeble Canadian attempt at an American "western" type movie, it even has a quite humorous "Canadian Clint Eastwood". I suppose if you go into the movie knowing this and expecting to be a typical "Canadian movie" with a simplistic plot, predictable storyline and less than average actors you will not feel as if you wasted your time. It is not bad for something to do when bored on a Sunday afternoon. If you are a pretentious Canadian however I would expect you would be very excited to see this "film" and it would be a special event in your life ;) I have seen worse movies but I have most certainly seen BETTER. Give it a shot, as long as you do not spend more than $1.00 to view it then you should be okay with the time you gave to watch this movie.