COWBOYS & ALIENS
DIRECTED BY JON FAVREAU
PRODUCED BY RON HOWARD/STEVEN SPIELBERG
A JON FAVREAU FILM
DREAMWORKS PICTURES
RELIANCE ENTERTAINMENT
UNIVERSAL PICTURES
INFORMATION FROM IMDb
Plot Summary
The Old West.. where a lone cowboy leads an uprising against a terror from beyond our world. 1873. New Mexico Territory. A stranger with no memory of his past stumbles into the hard desert town of Absolution. The only hint to his history is a mysterious shackle that encircles one wrist. What he discovers is that the people of Absolution don't welcome strangers, and nobody makes a move on its streets unless ordered to do so by the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde (Ford). It's a town that lives in fear. But Absolution is about to experience fear it can scarcely comprehend as the desolate city is attacked by marauders from the sky. Screaming down with breathtaking velocity and blinding lights to abduct the helpless one by one, these monsters challenge everything the residents have ever known. Now, the stranger they rejected is their only hope for salvation. As this gunslinger slowly starts to remember who he is and where he's been, he realizes he holds a secret that could give the town a ...
Written by Universal Pictures
Cast
Daniel Craig ... Jake Lonergan
Abigail Spencer ... Alice
Buck Taylor ... Wes Claiborne
Matthew Taylor ... Luke Claiborne (as Matt Taylor)
Cooper Taylor ... Mose Claiborne
Clancy Brown ... Meacham
Paul Dano ... Percy Dolarhyde
Chris Browning ... Jed Parker
Adam Beach ... Nat Colorado
Sam Rockwell ... Doc
Ana de la Reguera ... Maria (as Ana De La Reguera)
Noah Ringer ... Emmett Taggart
Brian Duffy ... Deputy
Olivia Wilde ... Ella Swenson
Keith Carradine ... Sheriff John Taggart
Brendan Wayne ... Charlie Lyle
Gavin Grazer ... Ed
Toby Huss ... Roy Murphy
Wyatt Russell ... Little Mickey
Jimmy Jatho ... Saloon Patron
Harrison Ford ... Woodrow Dolarhyde
Kenny Call ... Greavy
Walton Goggins ... Hunt
Julio Cesar Cedillo ... Bronc
Garret Noël ... Gang Member (as Garret James Noel)
David O'Hara ... Pat Dolan
Troy Gilbert ... Red
Chad Randall ... Bull McCade
Scout Schoenfeld Hendrickson ... Jake's Gang Member (as Scout Hendrickson)
Raoul Max Trujillo ... Black Knife (as Raoul Trujillo)
David Midthunder ... Apache Warrior 1
Mo Brings Plenty ... Apache Warrior 2 (as Moses Brings Plenty)
Phillip Pike ... Apache Singer
Calum Blaylock ... Apache Singer
Paul Ortega ... Medicine Man
Nathaniel Chee ... Apache Dancer
Robyn Simmons ... Apache Dancer
Simon Choneska ... Apache Dancer
David Chee ... Apache Dancer
Vonda Tso ... Apache Dancer
Lariat Geronimo ... Apache Dancer
Freddie Apache ... Apache Dancer
Oliver Enjady ... Apache Dancer
Hoyle Osborne ... Pianist
Rex Rideout ... Fiddler
and many, many more...
Directed
Jon Favreau
Writing Credits
Roberto Orci ... (screenplay) &
Alex Kurtzman ... (screenplay) &
Damon Lindelof ... (screenplay) and
Mark Fergus ... (screenplay) &
Hawk Ostby ... (screenplay)
Mark Fergus ... (screen story) &
Hawk Ostby ... (screen story) and
Steve Oedekerk ... (screen story)
Scott Mitchell Rosenberg ... (Platinum Studios comic book)
Produced
Bobby Cohen ... executive producer
Jon Favreau ... executive producer
Daniel Forcey ... co-producer (as Dan Forcey)
Karen Gilchrist ... co-producer
Brian Grazer ... producer
Randy Greenberg ... executive producer
K.C. Hodenfield ... co-producer
Ron Howard ... producer
Ryan Kavanaugh ... executive producer
Alex Kurtzman ... producer
Roberto Orci ... producer
Scott Mitchell Rosenberg ... producer
Steven Spielberg ... executive producer
Denis L. Stewart ... executive producer
Chris Wade ... co-producer
Music
Harry Gregson-Williams
Cinematography
Matthew Libatique ... director of photography
Trivia
Director Jon Favreau was constantly harassed with demands to shoot/convert the film in 3-D, but he held his ground, claiming Westerns should only be shot on film.
Daniel Craig was chosen because of his distinct likeness to Steve McQueen, who starred in the cowboy epic The Magnificent Seven (1960).
Daniel Craig recommended Eva Green for the role of Ella after working with her in Casino Royale (2006). However, Eva turned the role down and Olivia Wilde, who'd auditioned for Eva's Bond role of Vesper Lynd, was cast.
Robert Downey Jr. was set to play Zeke Jackson (a "former Union army gunslinger"), but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. Within the month, the character was then re-named Jake Lonergan, re-written to be an outlaw, and Downey, Jr. was replaced with Daniel Craig.
The filmmakers cite Alien (1979) and Predator (1987) as an influence on the look of aliens in the film.
The fabric used to make Ella's dress had originally been considered for Hailee Steinfeld's wardrobe in True Grit (2010) but had been deemed too feminine for that movie.
Harrison Ford wanted to go bareheaded in the film and not wear a hat (he is most famous for his performance in Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones films, where Jones wore a fedora), but since it was a Western film he was convinced to wear a hat. In American Graffiti (1973), Harrison Ford was asked to cut his hair (to go bareheaded with a period haircut) for the film. He refused, stating that his role was too short, and offered to wear a hat instead.
This is DreamWorks's third comic-book adaptation, after Road to Perdition (2002) and Over the Hedge (2006).
Steven Spielberg screened The Searchers (1956) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) for Roberto Orci and Jon Favreau so that they could get the atmosphere of the film.
As with most films distributed by Universal Pictures, there is a brief promo after the end credits for Universal Studios. However, the promo used at the end of this movie uses the decidedly 1960s era ad to promote the Universal Studios back lot tour in Hollywood, California. This promo was replaced in 1990 when Universal Studios opened a second location in Orlando, Florida and changed its logo.
Cowboys and Aliens director Jon Favreau starred in The Big Empty in 2003. In one of the last lines of the film, Kelsey Grammer dismisses Favreau's account of the events that had occurred as a tale "of Cowboys and Aliens."
Screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman described the film as "Unforgiven (1992) with aliens landing."
With this film Harrison Ford has shared the screen with the first and latest actors who have played the James Bond role: Daniel Craig in this film and Sean Connery in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
An early draft of the screenplay was written by Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer.
Steve Oedekerk was originally set to write and direct the film but dropped out. He does still receive a story credit for the final film.
The film had been in development hell for over a decade, with it's original idea conception dating back to 1997. The film was pushed back for years, and several big named actors were attached to the project at one point, such as Robert Downey Jr, Jackie Chan, Kurt Russell, Bill Paxton, Brendan Fraser, Mr. T, Chuck Norris, and Bruce Willis, before dropping out and being replaced. Directors Steve Oedekerk, Joe Johnston, and Ron Underwood, as well as several others, were also attached to the project at one point in time.
Director Cameo
Jon Favreau: (at around 19 mins) his mugshot can be seen as the sheriff notices and takes off the wanted poster of Jake Lonergan.
Spoilers .
In the final scene of the movie, a "Southland Ice Company" ice wagon is shown. Southland Ice Company is the predecessor company to 7-11 stores.
Body count: 34.
Goofs
Anachronisms
When dynamite is about to be lit they grab a matchbox made of cardboard, up until well into the 20th century (around the 1940s) matchboxes were made of wood.
Dollarhyde gives a knife to young Emmett that he claims he obtained as a boy. The knife is obviously stainless steel. Stainless steel wasn't invented until 1904 and didn't become available to the public until decades after that.
When Jake Lonergan asked Sheriff Taggart what he was being charged with, one of his charges is "hijacking," a word first coined in the 1920s.
When Jake is looking up through the hole in the roof of his house, there are two crossed boards held together by a screw with a recessed head. The square or Phillips headed screws were not invented until the early 1900s.
Bronc (the Mexican in the gang) proposes to travel to Puerto Vallarta. In 1873 Puerto Vallarta was called Las Peñas. The name changed in 1918.
Sheriff John Taggart identifies himself as Emmett Taggart's maternal grandfather ("Your ma's buried here, and you know I don't want to leave my little girl."), and the boy's father is supposedly still alive. If so, then the Sheriff and Emmett should have different last names.
Continuity
When Jake is riding towards his house, the scene is a long shot but it can be seen very obviously that the bracelet is missing from his arm. In the following shot the bracelet is suddenly back on his arm.
The three cowboys Lonergan meets after first waking up appear very dirty and sweaty, and all of their equipment is old and used. The cowboy hat he later takes from one of them is obviously new, as it doesn't appear dirty and doesn't have a sweat salt stain where it would rest on one's head.
After escaping the mine, both Jake and Woodrow are covered in dirt. In the next take, they are clean.
After the first Alien attack at roughly 45:20 into the movie when Jake Lonergan rides after the Aliens on his own, his bracelet is seen missing for a few seconds until a close shot where the bracelet is back.
The morning after the first alien attack, the posse follows the trail left by the alien which, according to the dialog, headed North. However, the early morning shadows cast by the sun on the the riders and their horses are on their right, which indicates that they're riding Southward.
When Jake and the newly-formed posse run into Jake's old gang, he punches one of the members in the mouth, breaking one of his front teeth. Later in the movie this gang member has all his teeth.
When Jake is hit by a member of his old gang, the lower half of his face is quite bloody in one shot but remains perfectly clean in every other.
The Apache chief needs a translator to communicate with the cowboys,
except in the scene where Ella tells them all who she is.
In this scene, there are a few times when the Apaches appear to understand English.
When Jake walks away from Percy his holster is empty despite the fact that he picked up a gun off the guy he killed, his gun reappears when he enters the bar.
When Jake encounters his old gang, he punches in the mouth the first guy that comes close and who had recognize him. He has blood on his finger in the next shot. A few shots later the blood vanishes and after several shots it reappears.
When Jake is riding his horse to rescue Ella who has been picked up by an alien ship, his horse changes three times. He starts on a light bay with a star. Then he is riding a bay without a star. Finally, when he is leaping from the horse onto the ship, he is riding yet a third horse, a very dark bay.
When meeting up with Jake's old gang in the valley, they are told to put their hands in the air. In one of the shots Ella is seen getting off her horse. In the next shot, immediately after the previous, she is standing beside her horse, but there is no way she could have gotten off her horse so quickly.
When Jake is at the bar pouring numerous shots of whiskey, his last one was poured without him drinking the previous shot therefore pouring it twice without drinking.
Crew or equipment visible
At the first scene when the father gets off his horse, a piece of bright blue equipment (possibly paper) with some tape on it is seen right at the saddle.
Miscellaneous
The numbers of shots needed to disable or kill the aliens changes throughout the film.
Plot holes
The energy used to travel the stars could have powered a machine to atomically create gold from other elements. Dr. Glenn Seaborg lead a team in 1980 which created gold from bismuth. Unfortunately the power and equipment costs far exceeded the value of the gold created.
Gold has been discovered by scientists in the composition of objects in outer space and most astronomers and astrophysicists believe that gold on Earth came to Earth via meteors. That means the aliens could have easily harvested gold while in space without having to use additional energy to extract it on Earth and then boost it into orbit.
Revealing mistakes
When Woodrow and the rest of the men on the trail of the aliens arrive on horseback at the upturned boat, it is raining heavily. However, no rainwater appears to be dripping off the brims of the men's hats.
The boot Jake takes from the dead cowboy has a suspiciously clean sole.
When Jake is looking up through the round hole in the roof of his house, the carpenter's pencil line outlining the circle is visible on one of the "damaged" boards.
After the first alien attack it is stated that they will leave at first light, but the next morning from the length of the shadows on the ground it can be seen that the sun is up and it is well into the morning.
Spoilers
Continuity
When Jake Lonergan and Colonel Woodrow Dolarhyde are escaping the alien stronghold, Jake is hit by a blast of dust as they emerge from the cave opening. In this shot, Jake is clearly covered by dust, however in the next shot, he is again clean.
When Jake and the outlaws climb the aliens' tower to place the dynamite, the cigar disappears and reappears from the Mexican bandit's mouth when he catches the bag of dynamite.
Wrongly regarded as Continuity Error - It was stated that at the end of the movie Jake and Dolarhyde are talking when a horse and colt walk by in the background...a wagon passes by and the colt mysteriously disappears. This is not a Continuity Error, although it looks like it. In reality, the colt is trotting at a faster pace than the horse. Just before the wagon passes the camera, one can see that the colt is quickly passing the horse on the left, in an arc. By the time the wagon clears the scene, the colt is now directly in front of the horse, out of view from the camera's angle. But the viewer can (barely) make out the colt's legs moving in front of (and viewed through) the horse's legs. The colt did not disappear due to film editing.
Plot holes
Although Ella explicitly states that the aliens are blinded by bright light and avoid it, they later appear to have no problem fighting in full daylight nor do they appear to be inconvenienced in any way by it.
Revealing mistakes
Meacham is breathing after he has been killed by the alien.
Filming Locations
Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
Abiquiu, New Mexico, USA
Randsburg, California, USA
Universal Studios Hollywood - 1000 Universal Studios Blvd, Universal City, California, USA (Town)
Bonanza Creek Ranch - 15 Bonanza Creek Lane, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA