MOVIE REVIEW

Director Tim Hunter has made a traditional western, but it doesn't aspire to be much more than that.

By Mark Olsen, Special to The Times

For all its merits, the genre film, the backbone of the American movie industry, has always suffered from the problem of frequently sliding into being too self-same, repetitive and uninventive — too, well, generic. With its well-worn codes and traditions, the western in particular has long teased contemporary filmmakers in calling out for re-invention, not to mention the way it has seeped into the American consciousness as an all-purpose backdrop for parable and metaphor.

The makers of "The Far Side of Jericho" have apparently set out to make a film purposefully devoid of such higher, meta-inspired aspirations, reminiscent instead of the bottom half of a double bill, a workmanlike effort with simple goals. They have succeeded all too well, creating a film that is unengaging and uninspired and that leaves far too much unexplored.

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Three women (Judith Burnett, Suzanne Andrews and Lissa Negrin) widowed by their husbands, brothers who were also petty criminals, are besieged by a villainous posse out for the loot from the departeds' final hold-up. A map is found, and the race is on for who can survive to find the missing treasure first.

"Jericho" director Tim Hunter will always be well regarded for his work as co-writer of "Over the Edge" and director of "River's Edge," still two of the finest and most sympathetic portraits of the malaise that underlies contemporary suburban teenage hedonism and rebellion.

His work here, however, feels simply like marking time. Trying to make a deliberately traditional western in the post-"Deadwood" era is certainly a tough order.

As "Jericho" isn't a "feminist" western, the filmmakers can't be bothered with any significant attention to the female experience in the Old West, which would seem the most obvious avenue to set their efforts apart.

Without something extra, "The Far Side of Jericho" becomes just another movie with guns and horses, and we already have plenty of those.

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"The Far Side of Jericho." Unrated. Running time: 1 hour, 39 minutes. Exclusively at the Steven Spielberg Theatre at the Egyptian, American Cinematheque, 6712 Hollywood Blvd. (323) 466-3456. Tickets available on Fandango.com.