Johnny Hall's Travels and Travails

We watched this film last night.

It's a modern western, set in Texas, near the border with Mexico.

It's directed by and stars Tommy Lee Jones who plays Pete, a ranch hand who attempts to fulfil a promise to his recently killed friend (the eponymous Melquiades) to return him to his wife and children and bury him in his home town in Mexico.

To do this, Pete kidnaps Mike, played by Barry Pepper - the border patrol guard responsible for shooting Melquiades. Pete forces Mike to disinter the body and then the bulk of the film follows them as they travel across country to find Melquiades' town - with Mike tied to a donkey and the dead body slowly rotting.

It's a pretty funny (surprisingly) and moving film with excellent performances. We wanted to see this at the cinema but it didn't play for too long. I then bought it on DVD a couple of months ago but forgot about it (we had other things going on!).

Anyway, nothing on TV last night (there's a surprise), so we popped it on and we both enjoyed it very much.

If you get the chance, check it out.