Film Review: 'The Legend of God’s Gun'

Soundtrack is key to psychedelic western

By Anne Marie DiStefano

The Portland Tribune, Jul 18, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Courtesy of Indican Pictures

Life is cheap and strange in "The Legend of God's Gun"

Mike Bruce, formerly of the band the Low Flying Owls, and Kirpatrick Thomas, who used to play with the Brian Johnstown Massacre, have teamed up to create what they call a “rock-n-roll-spaghetti-style-western." Their film, “The Legend of God’s Gun,” is a gritty, druggy tale with a bare-bones yet confusing plot and an overdose of psychedelic effects.

There’s something about a preacher man, a series of interconnected revenge killings, and a gang of desperadoes led by a dude called El Sobero, who drinks scorpion venon to make himself invincible. The various characters converge on the wild west town of Playa Diablo, which is full of bad guys and prostitutes, and the bullets fly.

The filmmakers obviously know “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” and “The Wild Bunch” backwards and forwards, and they toss in many pitch-perfect ’60s-style visual effects, including split screens and garish starbursts of color. They’ve even distressed the film so it looks scratchy, with bad splices and squiggling bits of fuzz.

It’s a cool concept, but after about half an hour, it begins to wear thin. The acting isn’t very good and the narrative doesn’t have much momentum, but chances are, just as your mind starts to wander, you’ll notice the soundtrack.

Actually, music was the jumping-off point for “God’s Gun.” Thomas had already written the soundtrack for his band, Spindrift, before teaming up with Bruce. It’s a gorgeous tribute to the work of Ennio Morricone. Like the film, Spindrift nails the sweaty, dusty, Technicolor epic style, but unlike the film, it never becomes tiresome.

“The Legend of God’s Gun” has ties to Portland, including receiving promotional help from Portland band the Dandy Warhols. The film’s engagement here, at the Hollywood Theatre, is its official world premiere, with Bruce and Thomas in attendance at the screening on Friday, July 18.

9:15 p.m. Friday-Thursday, July 18-24, Hollywood Theatre, 4122 N.E. Sandy Blvd., 503-281-4215, http://www.hollywoodtheatre.org/engaging/index.html, $6.50

annemariedistefano@portlandtribune.com

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