This Christian Bale Western Drama Flopped In Theaters But Is Worth Revisiting

For a long time it seemed as though audiences might see Clint Eastwood and John Wayne team up in what could have been the greatest Western ever made. That long-gestating, never-realized project was set to be called "Hostiles" and was supposed to be based on a script by Larry Cohen. Alas, the Duke remained entirely against collaborating with a spiritual successor so opposed to his traditionalist roots, and the film was never made. In 2017, however, we did get a movie called "Hostiles" which had similarly languished as a semi-finished script for years. This film had nothing to do with the planned Eastwood/Wayne vehicle, but it did focus on two seemingly opposed parties who find common ground as their harrowing story plays out on the plains of the Old West.

"Hostiles" stars Christian Bale as a United States Army cavalry officer forced to escort a Cheyenne war chief across the dangerous terrain of 1892 America. It's written and directed by Scott Cooper who most recently oversaw Jeremy Allen White's haunted performance in "Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere." Prior to that, Cooper worked with Bale on the 2013 crime drama "Out of the Furnace" and in 2015 he directed "Black Mass," the Johnny Depp-led crime drama based on real life mobster Whitey Bulger.

"Hostiles" came directly after "Black Mass" in Cooper's filmography, and saw him re-team with Bale for a film that was well received by critics despite being a box office disappointment. Today, the film barely gets a mention. But it should, as Cooper and Bale managed to deliver a taut Western drama that was worthy of far more attention than it got from mass audiences.

In 2017, Christian Bale led the weary and grim "Hostiles," a film that very nearly made our best dark Westerns list. Set in 1892, it follows Bale's Army Captain Joseph Blocker, who's nearing retirement and looking forward to leaving his military years behind him. But President Benjamin Harrison has one more job for Blocker. Before he's allowed to retire, he must escort a cancer-stricken Cheyenne war chief named Yellow Hawk (Wes Studi) and his family from Fort Berringer, New Mexico to his tribal lands in Montana. Bale's Army Captain initially refuses on the grounds that he and Yellow Hawk are old enemies. But he's coerced into accepting the job and sets out on the perilous journey.

Along the way he meets widow Rosalee Quaid (Rosamund Pike), who joins the group on a trek that becomes increasingly dangerous. As such, despite their differences, Blocker, Yellow Hawk, and their cohorts must come together to survive a harsh and unforgiving landscape.

As Deadline noted in 2018, "Hostiles" is based on an old manuscript from Donald E. Stewart. The screenwriter, who passed away in 1999, penned the Oscar-Winning 1982 biographical thriller "Missing" and the 1990s Jack Ryan films: "The Hunt for Red October," "Patriot Games," and "Clear and Present Danger." During the '80s, Stewart also wrote a version of what became "Hostiles," which came to Cooper by way of Stewart's widow. It seems she came across the manuscript while packing to move house, and having been impressed by "Out of the Furnace," sent it to Scott Cooper in the hope he could finally realize her late husband's vision.

Upon reading Donald E. Stewart's "Hostiles" manuscript, Scott Cooper decided to expand upon what he called the "kernel of an idea about a man who, in Christian Bale's character, has been indoctrinated by the United States government from a very young age essentially to fight and to kill." Thus began the process of finally bringing "Hostiles" to the big screen. Sadly, when it finally did hit theaters, the movie grossed just $35.7 million on what Deadline claims was a $39 million budget (The Hollywood Reporter put the budget at $50 million).

On the plus side, "Hostiles" did earn a respectable 71% Rotten Tomatoes score. It isn't the finest score, but not only did the film make /Film's best Westerns of the 21st Century list, RT isn't the most nuanced indicator of how critics actually feel about the movies they review. In other words, whether "Hostiles" is, in fact, one of the best Westerns of this century depends on who you ask. Richard Whittaker of the Austin Chronicle, for instance, found "Hostiles" to be "timeless yet contemporary," and praised the film for "diving headlong into the ongoing and often horrific impact of the United States' policies and attitudes to indigenous culture." Dan Jolin of Empire, meanwhile, called Christian Bale's performance "astounding." On the other hand, the San Francisco Chronicle's Mick LaSalle was unimpressed with the film's "dull characters," an "almost-endless tedium" and its "nihilistic violence."

The only way to know for sure where you stand on this mostly overlooked Bale-led Western is to check it out for yourself. Unfortunately, the film isn't streaming anywhere at the time of writing, but can be rented for a reasonable price from the usual digital platforms.