REVIEW: Butcher’s Crossing [2023]

Rating: R | Runtime: 105 minutes
Release Date: October 20th, 2023 (USA)
Studio: Saban Films
Director(s): Gabe Polsky
Writer(s): Gabe Polsky & Liam Satre-Meloy / John Edward Williams (novel)

Why fear God?

Will Andrews (Fred Hechinger) leaves his Ivy League life in Boston to go west and find an old boarder who made a name for himself there. He doesn’t know what it is he needs to see, just that he won’t do so back home. The hope is that going on a buffalo hunt under Macdonald’s (Paul Raci) stewardship will get him closer to this amorphous epiphany, but the old man takes one look at the boy and laughs. The only person willing to show Will the brutality of nature is a hunter the rest have stopped trying to tame. For five hundred dollars, Miller (Nicolas Cage) will show the newcomer a sight most never thought could be seen again.

Based on John Williams novel of the same name, Gabe Polsky’s Butcher’s Crossing is a familiarly harsh depiction of men going against nature with nothing but greed, vengeance, and hubris in their hearts. The script (adapted by the director and Liam Satre-Meloy) follows Miller’s hunting party moving through Native American territory north to Colorado where he once saw buffalo roaming in the hundreds—numbers Macdonald and the other locals haven’t seen in decades. With Will’s financial backing, he rounds up a trusted friend (Xander Berkeley’s Charlie) and a hired wildcard (Jeremy Bobb’s skinner Fred) to bring back the biggest bounty in history.

Along with the adventure aspects, gorgeous landscapes, and inevitable descent into madness once a month-long excursion turns sour as winter rolls in comes a welcome social commentary on the waste such capitalistic endeavors create in pursuit of fame. It’s surely the reason why the Blackfeet Nation assisted in the production both to supply the land and animals necessary to bring the narrative to life and the context with which to help illustrate the devastation wrought by this industry. Of all people to give it voice, you might be surprised the uncouth Fred is who ultimately laments the tragic cost of life left in their wake.

The film itself can grow a bit redundant as a result. Miller’s personal vendetta pushing him to kill every buffalo in this valley despite the others warning that they already have enough hides. Fred’s constant undermining and needling, taking his frustrations out on Charlie. And Will watching it all keenly—witnessing the truth that this mythic idea of what it means to be a “man” is a fantasy propped up by small, vindictive, and scared men using muscle and fear to compensate for their lack of humility and humanity. Miller never answers Will’s question about why he does this because it’s not necessary. We know he can’t do anything else.

Solid acting and impressive imagery more than make up for anything lacking as far as plot goes. Butcher’s Crossing being a simple story is intentional and the novel presumably adds a lot more to it via the internal thoughts and motivations of the characters on the page. That’s not to say Polsky doesn’t do well to represent that psychological duress and learning of hard lessons on-screen. He does. It’s just that most of it is hard to miss and therefore present very early on without any real escalation in potency. Karma does eventually come to clean that disparity up, though. Because the land always finds a way to even the scales.