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(More customer reviews)If the immortal Bard could only have imagined the adaptations that his work would inspire! There have been numerous modernizations of Shakespeare's work. From WEST SIDE STORY to TEN THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU. There have also been various different stagings for practically all of Shakespeare's stories. So why not a Western?
We get just that in KING OF TEXAS, King Lear set in post-Alamo Texas. The story adaptations flows marvelously with Patrick Stewart starring as John Lear, a Texas patriot turned cattle baron. As with the Shakespeare original, Lear here has built an empire, complete with the pride and ego that attend it. He determines to leave his massive ranch to his daughters, Susannah (Academy Award winner, Marcia Gay Harden), Rebecca (Lauren Holly) and Claudia (Julie Cox). In a show of pseudo-love, the two older daughters charm the aging Lear, get the ranch for themselves and set in motion a chain reaction of drama and tragedy that Old William would have heartily approved of.
Some wonderful twists in the story include the part of the fool from the original play becoming a faithful black servant, Rip, played wonderfully by David Alan Grier (JUMANJI, RETURN TO ME). Keeping with the timeframe involved, it's the only natural solution. His playful banter with John Lear is wonderful and warmly draws the audience in.
The movie's depiction of the tense interplay between the Republic of Texas and Mexico is also a terrific twist as, historically, these two opponents continued to spar with each other for decades following the events that led to Texas independence.
One minor disappointment for me was the resolution of the original relationship of the two brothers, Edmund and Edgar, replaced in the Western drama with Emmett (Matt Letscher) and Thomas (Liam Waite) Westover. Just as in the original play, the scheming and corrupt Emmett works to disinherit his brother, Thomas, the rightful heir. When their father, Henry (Roy Scheider) continues his allegiance to Claudia and goes to warn her of pending trouble, he is blinded (just as with Gloucester in the original play). But in the original play the faithful son returns incognito and plays his father's servant, working carefully back into his father's good graces while waiting for the chance to avenge himself on his brother. Still in disguise, he then confronts his brother in a classic Shakespearean standoff. For the sake of not giving the story away here, let's just say it doesn't happen quite that way in this version.
I also very much missed a corresponding character in KING OF TEXAS for King Lear's faithful friend and advisor, Kent.
But, as mentioned, these are very minor issues at the very worst.
This is a classic Western with all the drama of its roots in Shakespeare with the spectacular setting of Texan grandeur. Not one that you will want to miss.
THE HORSEMAN
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An aging cattle baron's plan to divide his vast spread among his three daughters ignites a sibling blood feud in this volatile Wild West retelling of Shakespeare's "King Lear."
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