Tinsel & Tine’s Look at

THE HERO

By Le Anne Lindsay, Editor

THE HERO was written especially for 72 year-old Sam Elliott by Brett Haley & Marc Basch, who also wrote the movie starring Blyth Danner (Gwyneth Paltrow’s mom) I’ll See You in my Dreams which I saw in 2015 and liked, but never got around to writing a post. Elliott has a small part as Danner’s lover in that movie and working with the actor inspired this movie The Hero, in which Elliott plays an aging actor, named Lee Hayden who is coming to terms with his mortality and a career as a typecast cowboy. His marriage is long sense over (played by real life wife of 33 years Katherine Ross), he’s on the outs with his daughter played by Krysten Ritter and he’s been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. It’s definitely a drama, but there’s moments of humor, particularly the scenes with Nick Offerman, Hayden’s weed connection and friend from a long ago Western TV series they did together. I’m not a fan of the show Parks and Recreation, but learned Elliott has done guests appearances on the show playing against Offerman.

Laura Prepon (That’s 70’s Show and Orange is the New Black) plays Lee Hayden’s love interest. You’d think that would be icky, with the age difference, instead you really get the sense that they’re responding as two people who recognize a bit of themselves in the other. And Prepon has that sarcastic bad girl with a heart of gold thing down pat, which allows her to give the audience the impression that she’s just having fun with whatever life experience is in front of her. So their romance actually does work.

“The Hero” mainly deals with Hayden making peace with knowing he sacrificed his marriage and relationship with his daughter to pursue an acting career that’s only made him synonymous with one role and genre. This is where art imitates life, as Sam Elliott is well-known for being a mustachioed, mysterious cowboy type. This is why he was cast in The Big Lebowski and The Golden Compass – he said doing those roles helped him be more thankful for his western background. He’s also come to appreciate those commercial voice-overs, you know the one, with his gravelly draw extolling the virtues of beef — “It’s what’s for dinner”.

Note: The below NPR sound embedded interview with Sam Elliott will not be visible to those receiving T&T via RSS feed. Click HERE to listen

Bottom Line: The Hero is a quiet movie, kinda dreamy a lot of times, but with a narrative you can follow. It’s the kinda movie I feel Terrence Malick should have made instead of his last two self-indulgent, overly artsy flicks : THE KNIGHT OF CUPS & SONG TO SONG.

T & T’s LAMB (movie bloggers association) Score: 3 outta 5

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