The Thicket (2024)

Plot of The Thicket: It is about 1900 in an icy North America and at a river crossing a couple of groups accidentally meet. One group is led by Cutthroat Bill a female outlaw, who shoots a number of people and escapes, grabbing and abducting a young woman, Lulu. Jack, the girl’s brother, is determined to rescue her and manages to employ former Annie Oakley sharpshooter, Reginald Jones, who is a successful bounty hunter despite his short stature. Jones in turn picks up a former grave digger, Eustice, and Jack collects a prostitute who wishes to escape from her situation. They follow the trail of the gang into the boondocks. In addition, a local boss who has been bested by Jones, sets two gunmen after them.  Cutthroat Bill and her followers are heading for a wilderness called The Thicket making their apprehension even less likely.

Content:  No sex or nudity although we might think that Bill has designs on Lulu. Some drinking. It is early days of the motor car. A man is seen speeding on a motor cycle. Jones and Eustice are seen riding on a horseless carriage. Also a couple of cars, but mainly people ride horses. Jones uses his skill as a sharpshooter with a period sniper rifle more than once. Cutthroat Bill kills people more or less randomly. She has a price of $10,000 on her head if brought back alive. Everybody treks on in the snow. There are occasional shoot-outs.

A View: This film seems to have had an extremely limited release more or less guaranteeing its financial failure. But it has quite a lot going for it, particularly the actors. Juliette Lewis is suitably threatening and Peter Dinklage pulls of the role of Reginald Jones admirably. On the downside, there is the idea that the Thicket is a difficult wilderness to access, but actually it all seems very difficult as they trudge through the snow. And if I dare voice a bit of a spoiler, the final confrontation is a bit of a let down, but if you go for revisionist westerns it could be for you.

Fun Fact: The film was originally announced in 2014 with Petr Dinklage set to star.