MOVIE REVIEW

Veteran Tommy Lee Jones directs, acts and outdoes himself in a classic, stylish western.

By Kevin Thomas, Times Staff Writer

For 35 years, Tommy Lee Jones has been a strong and witty presence in the movies, and in directing himself he has reached the pinnacle of his career with "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada," which at Cannes this year earned him the best actor prize and best screenplay award for Guillermo Arriaga, who wrote the explosive Oscar-nominated Mexican film "Amores Perros."

This gratifying classic trek western, full of grit and dark humor and a stubborn belief in the importance of honor, is so sly, stylish and full-bodied that the late Budd Boetticher and the late Burt Kennedy would not mind it being compared with the fabled westerns Boetticher directed and Kennedy wrote for Randolph Scott.

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Jones plays Pete Perkins, a laconic, weathered cattle ranch foreman in the border community of Van Horn, Texas. He has formed a close friendship with Melquiades Estrada (Julio César Cedillo), a cowboy from Mexico. Meanwhile, Mike Norton (Barry Pepper) and his beautiful if vapid blond wife Lou Ann (January Jones) have just come from Cincinnati to Van Horn, where Mike has a taken a job as a border patrolman. He reports to Dwight Yoakam's hard-nosed Capt. Frank Belmont, who refers to undocumented workers with a racial slur.

Mike and Lou Ann's lives peaked in high school, and the swiftly bored Lou Ann has little to sustain her. Mike is a mindless macho type who pores over Hustler magazine on the job and immediately displays a propensity for excessive violence in capturing illegal immigrants. When Melquiades spots a fox menacing a herd of sheep he takes aim, and trigger-happy Mike, on duty nearby, returns fire, killing the cowboy.

Pete promised Mel that should Mel die he would see that his body was buried in his village in Mexico. With Pete, a man's word is taken seriously, and acting on a tip, he kidnaps Mike into accompanying him.

Arriaga backs into his story, alternating among its various strands, moving between past and present without warning; it's his way of plunging the audience into the lives of the various people who will soon interact in convoluted and unexpected ways.

The trek south of the border, which holds a climactic surprise revealing the depth of Melquiades' yearning for family ties and a life in an idyllic setting close to nature, is crucial in that it forces a reevaluation of Mike, heretofore easily dismissed as a lethal jerk. The adventures and hardships become a transforming experience for him and reveal Pepper as a young actor of range and depth.

Jones is unpretentious, economical and confident on both sides of the camera. He and Arriaga subtly move from the socially critical and observant into more mystical territory once in Mexico, with "The Three Burials" becoming fable-like. Yet the film remains all of a piece, with a strong assist from the legendary cinematographer Chris Menges' seductively graceful and clear-hued images with their inspired use of light. Equally seductive is Marco Beltrami's evocative, Latin-themed score.

The film's supporting characters are as deftly drawn as those of its stars, and Melissa Leo has a pivotal role as a sultry, seen-it-all motel waitress with a yen for Pete. Incisive yet supple, wrenching yet deeply pleasurable, "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" easily ranks among the year's best pictures.

'The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada'

MPAA rating: R for language, violence and sexuality

Times guidelines: Adult themes, situations

A Sony Pictures Classics release. Director Tommy Lee Jones. Producers Michael Fitzgerald, Luc Besson, Pierre-Ange Le Pogam, Tommy Lee Jones. Screenplay by Guillermo Arriaga. Cinematographer Chris Menges. Editor Roberto Silvi. Music Marco Beltrami. Costumes Kathy Kiatta. Production designer Merideth Boswell. Art director Jeff Knipp. Set decorator Phil Shirey.

Running time: 2 hours.