The Ballad of Lefty Brown (Review)

The Ballad of Lefty Brown (2017)

The Ballad of Lefty Brown is one of the better films I've seen in recent memory. An unexpectedly moving and emotionally powerful movie, shot through with pathos and humor, Bill Pullman gives an extraordinary performance as the dimwitted titular protagonist, who is more resourceful than anyone gives him credit for. The traditional western would keep Lefty in the role of bumbling sidekick, while Peter Fonda's commanding presence as traditional cowboy figure and newly-elected senator Edward Johnson takes the lead. Suffice to say, Lefty ain't dripping in finesse. And that's okay with him, because he's simple and has a good friend in Edward, and that's all he really cares about in this life. But early in the film, Edward is murdered, prompting Lefty to take it upon himself to hunt down the killers and avenge his longtime friend. The only problem is that Lefty is seen as a bit of a nuisance and all-around miserable person by pretty much everyone. Even Johnson's widow, Laura (Kathy Baker), believes that Lefty only stuck by her husband's side to pick up the scraps that Edward dropped, a kind of muncher too lazy to carve out a life of his own. The truth is that Edward was the only person to have ever given Lefty a chance, someone who, despite Lefty's slow demeanor and somewhat cowardly ways, saw him not as a bottom-feeder, but as an honest man who didn't ask for much, and therefore a true friend.

Lefty is remarkably self-aware, and knows that he isn't the sharpest tool in the shed. At one point, when resolving to avenge his friend, he says, "My word, it ain't worth much. But on this it is." And this pretty much becomes the film's thesis. Lefty is an underdog in the truest sense of the word. Everyone has counted him out before the story even begins. But through sheer willpower alone, Lefty rises above his baser nature to ensure that justice for Edward is carried out. It isn't pretty, and he makes just as many mistakes as he gets things right, but this is a film that reminds viewers that there is something to be said for bravery and tenacity and doggedness when the right thing is at stake. Where everyone else in the film falters, Lefty stays the course, because he believes in something that is good and right and true. I imagine that the friend spoken of in Proverbs 18:24, the one who sticks closer than a brother, probably looks a lot like Lefty Brown. This is a film about friendship and loss and the underdog. But more than anything, this is a film about the relentless pursuit of justice. It would be a mistake to characterize it as a revenge tale. Lefty doesn't go hunting the bad guys because they killed his best friend. He goes after them because what they did was wrong, plain and simple, and a good man was killed who didn't deserve it, and nobody else wants to see anything done about it.

The truth is that every one of us probably knows a Lefty Brown. That simple person who's a bit slower than we are, who, whether we want to admit it or not, is good to have around if only to give us the boost of ego we need in the moments we're lacking self-confidence. Any guy who managed to survive high school has learned the locker room lesson that there's always going to be somebody bigger. So some of the more average guys decide to pick on the smaller guy to pack on that extra inch of confidence—it is my firm conviction that these are the guys who become the assholes of the world. Lefty is clearly the smaller guy in this scenario, and this is how everyone seems to think of him. The guy who is easy to make the butt of many a joke because he seems just a little too dumb to realize when he's being made fun of. But Lefty isn't to be underestimated; on the contrary, it isn't that he doesn't know when he's being made fun of, it's actually that he's just a little too kind-hearted to try and think up a comeback. The reason he keeps silent is probably because he's wondering why someone doesn't have anything better to do than take jabs at him. And though those locker room experiences follow us well beyond high school, at some point the normal person drops the jokes because—surprise, surprise—no one really cares, and because you know that if you keep picking on the smaller guy, one day the smaller guy's liable to snap and beat you. The Ballad of Lefty Brown is what happens when the smaller guy snaps. Again, it isn't pretty. But it's cathartic. And it's glorious.

At film's end, the villain ultimately responsible for Edward's death, James Bierce (a devilishly good heel-turn by none other than Jim Caviezel), is still bragging, even while the noose is being slipped around his neck. "Years from now," he says, "there'll be statues of me everywhere in Montana. It's not easy, but I did my job. Years from now, they'll be thanking me for it." The less eloquent Lefty thinks for a second, then responds plainly, "Think so? I reckon all these folks'll remember's seeing you hang."

There was a point or two in the film I was pretty close to tears, if only because I can think back to the Lefty Browns I've encountered in my own life. The people who were probably never as dumb as I wrote them off to be, who were genuine and honest people, whose ambitions were never to move and shake—clichéd and overrated motivations, anyway—but simply to help others and to be good friends, who talk plainly and call it as they see it, for better or for worse. People who were probably more than willing to, in Flannery O'Connor's words, shoot me everyday of my life out of love and genuine affection, to make sure that I never grew too big for my britches. Because they saw the bigger picture, and would have cared more about my spirit and my character than about making sure I got to see my own personal statues built in my own personal Montana.

Chances are, we all know somebody like Lefty Brown. If, by the time the credits roll, you step outside of yourself for just a moment and see those quiet, unassuming people in your life colored just a hue or two brighter, then that's two hours of time well spent.