South of Heaven, West of Hell (film)

Summary

The movie follows Valentine Casey (Yoakam), a Marshal in the Arizona territory, who receives a surprise visit from his outlaw adoptive father (Askew) on Christmas Eve 1907.

Cast

Production

Shortly before production began, the financier backed out and Yoakam made the decision to finance the film on his own, partially through the sale of his home in Malibu. His production company (A Cast of Strays) ultimately filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and several crew members registered complaints with unions and filed lawsuits in small claims court against the company. Yoakam said it was "the hardest experience I've ever gone through in my professional life in terms of executing art". To help pay off the debt accrued while making the movie, Yoakam hired a cheaper backing band in 2002, which resulted in a falling out with his longtime producer, bandleader, and guitarist Pete Anderson.

Reception

The film was a critical and box office failure. It grossed $28,140 domestically (on nine screens) on an estimated $4 million budget. The film received a 14% "rotten" rating by Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 3.5 out of 10. The film holds a 4.1 out of 10 rating at the Internet Movie Database. Robert Koehler of Variety said that the film "lacks the critical ingredients of shape, consistent tone, rhythm and economy that would make this truly old-fashioned oater into a lean, compelling adventure". He added that "there's no grace to the interplay of images and emotions. At every step, the filmmakers seem unable to pull off an exaggerated horse opera, and they never know when to pull the plug on scenes that are going nowhere". Writing for Film Threat, Michael Dequina said in his review that "watching Yoakam’s film...is like eating a shit sandwich. The title may be a cutesy joke describing someplace close to hell, but make no mistake—this film is hell."