“Gone Are the Days” turned out to be an entertaining western, about one outlaw’s final mission in life before he passes away. Featuring a wonderful performance by Lance Henriksen and Tom Berenger, “Gone Are the Days” is a western worth checking out!
© 2018 Lions Gate. All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: Gone Are the Days
DATE OF FILM RELEASE: 2018
DURATION: 100 Minutes
BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p (2:40:1), English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, Subtitles: English SDH and Spanish
COMPANY: Lions Gate
RATED: R (Violence, Language, Some Drug Material and Nude Images)
RELEASE DATE: April 10, 2018
Directed by Mark Landre Gould
Written by Gregory M. Tucker
Produced by Richard J. Cook, Mark Landre Gould, Richard Hocutt, Nicole Rodan
Associate Producer: James Khanlarian, Aileen Talamantes
Executive Producer: Lawrence Mortorff, Gregory M. Tucker, Stacie M. Tucker
Music by Kubilay Uner
Cinematographer: Andrew Russo
Edited by Mark Landre Gould, Richard Hocutt, Jeff Pierce
Casting by Mary Jo Slater
Production Design by Burns Burns
Set Decoration by Eric Liebrecht
Costume Design by Shelley Caudill
Starring:
Lance Henriksen as Taylon
Tom Berenger as Will
Danny Trejo as River Man
Billy Lush as Virgil
Lulu Wilson as Sally Anne
Meg Steedle as Heidi
Jamie McShane as Doctor Jenkins
Steve Railsback as Jaden
With his days winding down, an aging gunman sets out on an epic quest to perform one last good deed, hoping to save his soul.
Featuring the directorial debut of Mark Landre Gould and writer Gregory M. Tucker comes the 2018 western film “Gone Are the Days”.
Starring Lance Henriksen (“The Terminator”, “Aliens”, “Hard Target”, “AVP: Alien vs. Predator”), Tom Berenger (“Platoon”, “Inception”, “Major League”, “Faster”), Danny Trejo (“Machete”, “Machete Kills”, “Heat”, “Predator”), Billy Lush (“Straw Dogs”, “The Black Donnellys”), Meg Steedle (“Boardwalk Empire”, “The Mysteries of Laura”, “Code Black”) and more.
The film revolves around an older outlaw named Taylon (portrayed by Lance Henriksen). Sick and often has nightmares of a woman being hanged and a baby (which appears to be his family), he has been living in a ranch house, often drunk. His health is bad that he is given heroin by his doctor to control his coughing.
One day he is visited by Virgil (portrayed by Billy Lush) to join him on a final adventure. Virgil thinks they are going to rob a bank but in truth, Taylon wants to see Heidi, who he lost long nearly 20-years-ago and probably doesn’t know he even exists. He plans to tell her that he is her father and give her his entire savings.
As he and Virgil are about to leave, Taylon burns down his ranch. He wakes up in the middle of the field and meets with River Man (portrayed by Danny Trejo) that if he intends to cross the river to go into the city, he must pay him.
When Taylon pays him and leaves, he looks back and the man is not there. He wakes up in the middle of the night on his horse to see Virgil waking for him.
As the two make it into town, Taylon sees Jaden (portrayed by Steve Railsback) who owns establishments in town, including the hotel and bar where he hopes his daughter Heidi is staying.  He finds out that Sam, the previous owner was shot dead.
When Taylon goes into the bar looking for Heidi, he finds out that Heidi is now a prostitute. Angered, he starts to see experience vertigo and his illness catches up to him and he collapses.
He wakes up in the hotel room with Virgil waiting for him and Virgil tells him, he’ll look around town.
Meanwhile, we are introduced to Sheriff Will (portrayed by Tom Berenger), a Texas Ranger who is now protecting the city. When two miners come in the restaurant causing trouble, one of the men confronts Sheriff Will and Sheriff easily stops him by nearly breaking his fingers. The Sheriff warns the other miner that if they talk about his past ever again, he will kill them both.
When Taylon wakes up Heidi (portrayed by Meg Steedle) waiting nude in the bath for him. He tells her to put her clothes on and enjoys her company and will pay her for her time. Because she is getting paid, she tries to take care of him and his bad health and trying to make him better. But we see that Heidi is being forced by Jaden to be a whore and making sure she works and does his job.
Meanwhile, Sheriff Will is told that by the doctor that the old man he was giving medicine to was not at the ranch and the ranch has burned down and the man and his horse has disappeared.
He begins to become concerned about the man (Taylon) but what is the connection between Taylon and Sheriff Will? And will Taylon be able to tell Heidi the truth that he is her father?
VIDEO:
“Gone Are the Days” is presented in 1080p High Definition (2:40:1). The film shows great detail on closeups and for the most part, the film looks great. Good use of natural lighting and the set design of giving that old-fashioned western feel, was well-done and the film looks great in HD.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Gone Are the Days” is presented in English Dolby Digital 5.1. The film is dialogue and music-driven. But surround channels are well-utilized for action sequences. Subtitles are in English SDH and in Spanish.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Gone Are the Days” comes with the following special features:
- Behind the Scenes of Gone Are the Days – (22:02) Featuring behind-the-sceens filming of “Gone Are the Days”.
- Cast and Crew Interviews – (2:24) A short featurette with interviews
- Gone Are the Days Trailer
EXTRAS:
“Gone Are the Days” comes with both the Blu-ray and DVD and UltraViolet code.
“Gone Are the Days” is a low-budget western film that turned out to be entertaining and manages to maintain the feel of an authentic western thanks to wonderful set design but also performances by both Lance Henriksen and Tom Berenger.
A story of an old outlaw named Taylon who doesn’t have much time left in this world that he wants to do one thing and that is to meet with his daughter, who was taken away from him when she was a baby.
He has not had the guts to meet her but now that he is suffering from bath health, he wants to give her his personal savings and go on one last adventure with a young outlaw named Virgil.
Meanwhile, we are introduced to Sheriff Will who runs the town with an iron fist and tries to protect it from hoodlums.
But with both men, all things are not what they appear to be.
Taylon is sick and throughout the film, we are given snippets of his past, not knowing what they are until the end of the film. Sheriff Will is concerned about Taylon, but why would a Sheriff be concerned for an outlaw?
Meanwhile, what happens when Taylon meets his daughter, to find out that she is now a prostitute. What got her into this position? Why is she working as a whore?
As the majority of the film showcases these characters in different settings and we start to piece things together about Taylon’s life, his connection with Will and such, as a low-budget film that realize on limited locations, the film is well-planned for shots of Taylon and Heidi in a hotel room, while many scenes are shot outdoors.
Filmmaker Mark Landre Gould managed to keep the storyline simple, it’s locations simple and let the story build up to the final reveal which may or may not surprise people watching the film.
Everything comes full circle thanks to Gregory M. Tucker’s screenplay but the film relies on the performances by Lance Henriksen, Tom Berenger and Meg Steedle. And all three did a great job, including Danny Trejo, who has a short but yet important part of the film.
Picture quality is fantastic in HD and lossless audio is also crystal clear through the front, center and surround channels. You also get almost a half hour’s worth of special features.
Overall, “Gone Are the Days” turned out to be an entertaining western, about one outlaw’s final mission in life before he passes away. Featuring a wonderful performance by Lance Henriksen and Tom Berenger, “Gone Are the Days” is a western worth checking out!
