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'Appaloosa'

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BY RAFER GUZMÁN | rafer.guzman@newsday.com

September 19, 2008

Ed Harris plays the taciturn, unruffled lawman Virgil Cole in "Appaloosa," an old-fashioned Western that's also taciturn and unruffled. Whether it's a volley of bullets, a band of bloodthirsty Indians or an exceptionally difficult woman, nothing ever gets Cole, or the movie, too riled.

Cole and his right-hand man, Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen), are traveling peacekeepers-for-hire whose latest assignment is to bring law and order to Appaloosa, a knock-kneed New Mexico boomtown dominated by villainous ranch owner Randall Bragg ( Jeremy Irons, modulating his English accent into a near-drawl). Bragg is nothing Cole can't handle, but pretty newcomer Allison French (Renée Zellweger) is another matter. "Are you a whore?" Cole teasingly asks upon their first meeting, and it turns out he's not wide of the mark.

The clipped dialogue, small details and wide vistas of dusty New Mexico (photographed by Dean Semler) make "Appaloosa" a well-crafted if somewhat anonymous Western. It's the first directing effort from Harris - who also co-wrote the script from the novel by Robert B. Parker - since his critically acclaimed "Pollock" in 2000. But where that movie focused on a rule-breaking artist, this film diligently colors within the lines. Only Allison, with her dubious morality, marks a break from convention, and Zellweger turns her into an amusing wild card. In the end, "Appaloosa" satisfies all its requirements but never breaks a sweat.

'Appaloosa' (R)

PLOT A traveling peacekeeper meets a slippery villain and an even more slippery woman.

CAST Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen, Renée Zellweger, Jeremy Irons.

LENGTH 1:47

PLAYING AT AMC Loews Raceway 10, Westbury; Regal E-Walk, AMC Lincoln Square and AMC Village 7, Manhattan.

BOTTOM LINE An old-fashioned Western that's enjoyable if not exactly memorable.