Producers: Simon Fields, Nathan Fields, Ryan Hawke, Jonas Katzenstein and Maximilian Leo   Director: Padraic McKinley   Screenplay: Matthew Booi and Shelby Gaines   Cast: Ethan Hawke, Russell Crowe, Julia Jones, Austin Amelio, Avi Nash, Alec Newman, Sam Hazeldine, Lucas Lynggaard Tonnesen, George Burgess, Avy Berry and Cameron Brady   Distributor: Vertical

Grade: B

Ethan Hawke is one of the busiest actors in the business, and he’s been unusually astute in his choice of vehicles.  “The Weight” might not be one of his very best films, but it’s still quite good. 

It might be thought of as a combination of “Cool Hand Luke” and “The Wages of Fear” (or “Sorcerer,” if you prefer).  Hawke plays Samuel Murphy, introduced in 1933 Oregon as a World War I veteran and single dad to angelic tyke Penny (Avy Berry).  Returning from church one morning, they find an eviction notice on their apartment door and their belongings stacked up in the stairwell.  When the new renters arrive, Samuel sells them a radio, along with Penny’s cherished teddy bear, though he vows to get it back eventually.     

Searching for a new apartment, Samuel is accosted by three men in an alley, gets in an altercation and is arrested and sent to prison; Penny is taken into foster care, and is due to come up for adoption.  Meanwhile her father is sent to a work camp presided over by crusty warden Clancy (Russell Crowe).  Clancy, tasked with building a road, is impressed by Murphy’s skill in using leverage to move a boulder obstructing the path, and even more by the convict’s ability to fix his car.

And as it happens, he’s on the lookout for a talented man.  He’s in cahoots with Taggert (Alec Newman), overseer at a nearby goldmine; together they’re anxious to move the bullion stored there before it’s confiscated by the federal government in accordance with FDR’s Executive Order 6102 prohibiting private hoarding of gold.  They plan to use a contingent of convicts to carry the bars into the forest, and to Clancy, Murphy seems to be the ideal man to lead the team.  In exchange he offers to commute Murphy’s sentence to time served, freeing him to reunite with Penny before she’s adopted. 

Murphy selects his three roomies to fill out the smuggling crew—sneering racist Rankin (Austin Amelio), socialist immigrant Singh (Avi Nash) and even-tempered lug Olson (Lucas Lynggaad Tonnesen), and they set out with their heavy baggage under the watchful gaze of Taggert’s two brutal enforcers Amis (Sam Hazeldine) and Letender (George Burgess).  To the group is soon added Anna (Julia Jones), a runaway from the mine who escapes and follows them, eventually becoming an important member of the team.

The journey is an eventful one, spelled out for us with captions counting down its five days, which are marked by squabbles among the men (Rankin and Singh are constantly arguing), and tension with the guards.  But what changes the situation most seriously is the arrival of a stranger (Cameron Brady), who approaches the group with a request for food and. Murphy surmises, will return with friends, and guns. 

Murphy is convinced they must take evasive action, which in turn leads to some unexpected dangers, including a life-threatening crush of logs coming downriver at a most inopportune moment, and a threadbare rope-and-slats bridge that requires Murphy to improvise a way to transport each gold brick from one cliff to the other by stationing himself to catch it midway and then fling it to a waiting comrade the rest of the way. 

In the end there’s a major betrayal, of course, requiring some fast thinking, gunplay, a car chase and a bit of mechanical ingenuity to save the day.  Most of Murphy’s squad survive to return to Clancy’s camp with demands that the corrupt warden is in no position to deny.  But even then Murphy acts as a voice of reason rather than revenge, and the compromises dictated by the times are worked out to everyone’s acceptance, if not total satisfaction.

This is the first feature directed by editor Padraic McKinley, who also continues in his more familiar role alongside Matthew Woolley, and in truth the end result is a mite lumpy and halting, with some abrupt transitions and shifts of perspective; moreover, a couple of the subplots, like the hint of romance between Samuel and Anna, are too ephemeral to leave much of an impression.  The action sequences, moreover, are sometimes too murkily photographed and choppily cut. 

But oddly the very roughness adds to the grit of the depression-era setting.  So does the gloomy look of the film, which was shot in Bavaria by cinematographer Matteo Cocco; somehow production designer Cora Pratz and costumer Esther Walz manage a convincing sense of place in the town sequences, and the dark German forests bring a sense of grim ruggedness to the outdoor scenes that dominate.  The atmospheric score by Latham and Shelby Gaines also helps in engendering a somber mood.

But it’s the cast that ultimately sells the film.  Crowe adds another telling turn to his recent streak of perceptive performances as the smoothly scheming warden, and the rest of the supporting cast are solid down the line, though Berry does not seem a natural child actor.

Hawke, however, is really the indispensable element.  His quiet determination encapsulates a man literally weighed down not only by the heavy burden he must carry across the wild, but by the experiences he’s endured both in the European trenches and back in an economically ravaged America.  Murphy is a physically challenging role, and Hawke carries off those demands without exaggeration.  But it’s the emotional truth he brings to a character beaten down but not broken by circumstances that’s so powerful.

“The Weight” is in many respects an old-fashioned film reflective of an earlier era of filmmaking.  One could say it fits the description of the kind of movie they don’t make anymore. It’s satisfying enough to make you wish they did more often.