Taylor Sheridan Fans Should Watch His 2017 Neo-Western Crime Thriller

According to most historians, the Wild West ended around the turn of the 20th Century, coinciding with the rise of a new medium that would enshrine its mythos in our popular imagination: Cinema. If the movies of Taylor Sheridan are anything to go by, however, it never truly came to a close; just the frontiers and the protagonists have changed. Few modern filmmakers are as committed to telling gritty new Western stories than Sheridan, and he certainly has the credentials. He grew up on a Texas ranch, loves wearing his big old cowboy hat in photoshoots, and he was inducted into the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2021. He’s as good as anybody who regularly works in the genre today at matching intense showdowns and sudden bursts of violence with an authentic touch of social commentary.

Although Sheridan is perhaps best-known for his TV series “Yellowstone” and its historical spin-offs “1883” and “1923,” he has also produced some of his strongest work in three films that have become known as the “American Frontier Trilogy.” He wrote acclaimed screenplays for “Sicario” and “Hell or High Water” (receiving an Oscar nomination for the latter) and additionally stepped behind the camera to direct his script for “Wind River.” The latter movie is one of Sheridan’s best, although it is a little underrated. While “Sicario” got plenty of attention on the awards circuit (including a Palme d’Or nod) and “Hell or High Water” was up for the Academy Award for Best Picture, the success of “Wind River” was overshadowed when news of producer Harvey Weinstein’s sexual misconduct allegations broke two months after its release.

Sheridan was compelled to write “Wind River” by the shockingly high rate of Indigenous American women who fall victim to sexual assault and/or murder and the lack of statistics charting such crimes. Originally distributed by the Weinstein Company, having a story about the sexual assault and murder of a young woman under a banner associated with an alleged predator was untenable for the filmmaker. Spurred into action, he fought to return control of the movie and its profits to the Tunica-Biloxi tribe, and he also sought to secure future profits for the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center. Sheridan’s cause is admirable, as is the way he handled a tough subject responsibly in the film while also delivering an involving mystery thriller story.

“Wind River” opens with a title card stating that the film was “inspired by actual events,” but it is not based specifically on any one true story. Taylor Sheridan has stated that he made the film to bring the “explosion” of sexual assault on reservations to greater public attention. Then we’re literally off and running with Natalie Hanson (Kelsey Asbille), a young Indigenous woman, fleeing barefooted through the snow against the stark backdrop of forests and mountains.

Next, we meet Cory Lambert (Jeremy Renner), a taciturn U.S. Fish and Wildlife Officer working on the Wind River Indian Reservation in a remote part of Wyoming. In more simple terms, his job is to serve as a tracker and a hunter, chiefly protecting livestock from predators. He’s out tracking mountain lions who killed a steer when he stumbles upon Natalie’s frozen body, face down, bloodied and frostbitten.

Lambert reports the find and callow FBI Agent Jane Banner (Elizabeth Olsen) is quickly dispatched from sunnier climes to determine whether foul play has occurred. She’s ill-equipped and under-prepared, and she initially rubs people the wrong way, including the dead girl’s grieving father, Martin Hanson (Gil Birmingham). The autopsy on Natalie’s body reveals that she died from a pulmonary hemorrhage caused by gulping sub-zero air while she was running away, and there is also evidence that she may have been sexually assaulted by one or more assailants.

Matters are complicated because the coroner is unable to record the cause of death as homicide, which means Banner won’t receive any further back-up from the FBI. Meanwhile, Natalie’s tragic end has brought back painful memories for Lambert, whose daughter died under similar circumstances. All this leaves it up to Banner to investigate the case with the help of tribal police chief Ben Shoyo (Graham Greene) and Lambert (who, as we were told earlier, is very good at tracking down predators). Chief on the list of suspects is Natalie’s older boyfriend Matt (Jon Bernthal) and the friends of her brother Chip (Martin Sensmeier), who has fallen in with a bad crowd. Yet, while Banner represents the federal government, she comes to realize that the law only has a tenuous hold on the reservation and mortal danger awaits.

“Wind River” is a serious-minded crime thriller in the mold of Sean Penn’s “The Pledge” or Denis Villeneuve’s “Prisoners,” focusing on the very real pain and suffering felt by a victim’s family and their wider community in the wake of a violent crime. This respectful approach from Taylor Sheridan, coupled with starkly beautiful cinematography from Ben Richardson, prevents the film turning into one of those throwaway murder shows that are 10-a-penny on Netflix. The thriller aspect suffers a little as a result of the emphasis on human drama, which is far more compelling than the mystery itself. That said, viewers with itchy trigger fingers will no doubt find the tense and exciting finale a suitable reward for their patience, and it’s a showdown that highlights Sheridan’s thesis that the new Wild West isn’t all that different from the old one.

The film’s drama is brought home by a uniformly excellent cast. Jeremy Renner puts in one of his finest performances as the stoic hunter, conveying so much buried emotion beneath his rugged exterior. Elizabeth Olsen initially seems miscast as the FBI agent, but she wins through and convinces with her character’s strength and resolve. Elsewhere, there are solid supporting turns from Graham Greene as the inscrutable tribal police chief and Jon Bernthal as Natalie’s boyfriend. Best of all is Gil Birmingham as her dad, a proud man stricken with grief but fighting his way through it.

Sheridan has cited authors like Cormac McCarthy (“No Country for Old Men”) and Larry McMurtry (“The Last Picture Show”) as influences, and that really shows in his writing for his “American Frontier Trilogy.” The dialogue in “Wind River” is terse and economical with the occasional nugget of hard-won wisdom or lyricism, reflecting the no-nonsense nature of people who make their living on the fringes of the wilderness. Sheridan also lists the Coen Brothers as another inspiration, and the circumstances of Natalie’s death evoke memories of “Fargo.” Unlike the Coens, however, who treat a similar murder as a darkly comic punchline, Natalie’s demise is a tragedy that will scar her family’s every waking thought for the rest of their lives. That is ultimately the strength of “Wind River,” as it is a film that provides some satisfying action while also giving an honest portrayal of trauma and bereavement.