Big Stakes

Low-key western benefits from Devil Music Ensemble's score

By GERALD PEARY | April 14, 2006

2.5 Stars

BIG STAKES: Devil Music's original score makes this 1922 genial western worth seeing.

In line with the veteran, nationally acclaimed Alloy Orchestra, Boston’s Devil Music Ensemble is a three-person band — Brendon Wood, Jonah Rapino, Tim Nylander — who bring many instruments into play for a modern, percussion-driven score to enliven an antiquated silent movie. The talented, versatile Ensemble segue from rowdy country tunes to sensuous, slowed-down Hispanic rhythms for Big Stakes (1922). This one is a genial, low-key western with a homely range-riding star (J.B. Warner) whom frontier gals go for, both north and south of the Mexican border. His jealous rivals come at him, causing him to fend off guns and Gila monsters, and a secret society of Night Riders who look awfully close to The Birth of a Nation’s KKK. Enjoy the music, dodge the woeful dialogue cards: “A fine oil you are. That toss sure is the snake hips.”

Topics: Reviews , Devil Music Ensemble

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Watch the trailer for Big Stakes (Google Video)

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