Cowboys & Aliens is a 2011 American science fiction Western film directed by Jon Favreau and starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, and Olivia Wilde. The film is based on the 2006 graphic novel of the same name created by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg. The main plot revolves around an amnesiac outlaw (Craig), a wealthy cattleman (Ford), and a mysterious traveler (Wilde) who must ally to save a group of townspeople abducted by aliens. The screenplay was written by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof, Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, based on a screen story by the latter two along with Steve Oedekerk. The film was produced by Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Kurtzman, Orci and Rosenberg, with Steven Spielberg and Favreau serving as executive producers.
The project began development in April 1997, when Universal Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures bought film rights to a concept pitched by Rosenberg, former president at Malibu Comics, which he described as a graphic novel in development. After the graphic novel was published in 2006, development on the film was begun again, and Favreau signed on as director in September 2009. On a budget of $163 million, filming for Cowboys & Aliens began in June 2010, in New Mexico and California. Despite studio pressure to release the film in 3-D, Favreau chose to film traditionally and in anamorphic format (widescreen picture on standard 35 mm film) to further a "classic movie feel". Measures were taken to maintain a serious Western element despite the film's "inherently comic" title and premise. The film's aliens were designed to be "cool and captivating", with some details, such as a fungus that grows on their wounds, created to depict the creatures as frontiersmen facing adversity in an unfamiliar place.
Cowboys & Aliens premiered at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con and was released theatrically in the United States and Canada on July 29, 2011. The film, though having grossed its budget back, is considered to be a financial disappointment, taking $174.8 million in box office receipts on a $163 million budget. Cowboys & Aliens received mixed reviews, with critics generally praising its acting but criticizing its blend of the Western and science fiction genres.
After its release, a lawsuit was filed against those involved in the development of the film by Steven John Busti, who claimed that the film infringed the copyright of his own similarly themed work written in 1994.
Plot[]
In 1873 New Mexico Territory, a man awakens injured in the desert with a strange metal bracelet attached to his left wrist and no memory. He wanders into the town of Absolution, where preacher Meacham treats his wound. Sheriff John Taggart recognizes the stranger as an amnesiac outlaw man named Jake Lonergan and attempts to arrest him. Jake nearly escapes, but a mysterious traveler named Ella Swenson interferes. Taggart and his men prepare to transport both Jake and petulant young drunkard Percy Dolarhyde to Santa Fe for trial.
Percy's father, Colonel Woodrow Dolarhyde, a wealthy powerful cattleman, arrives with armed men and demands Percy be released. He also wants Jake, who has stolen gold from him. During the standoff, alien ships begin attacking the town. Percy, Taggart, and other townsfolk are abducted by grappling cables fired from the bottom of the ships. Jake's bracelet inexplicably activates and transforms, becoming a weapon; he shoots down a ship, ending the attack.
Dolarhyde, Ella, and other townsfolk form a posse to track an injured alien that escaped from the downed ship. Meanwhile, Jake travels to an abandoned cabin and, in a flashback, recalls returning to it with stolen gold and then being abducted, along with a woman named Alice, by the aliens. His memories returning, Jake joins the posse. During the evening, they come upon a capsized paddle wheel steamboat that the aliens apparently dumped far from any large river. They camp inside it; during the night, the alien kills Meacham, who sacrifices himself to save Emmett, Taggart's grandson.
By morning, most of the posse has deserted, and Jake's former gang attacks the rest. Jake, who stole the gang's loot after their last heist, attempts to retake control but is foiled. The aliens attack again and abduct Ella. Jake jumps aboard the ship and attacks the alien pilot, causing the ship to crash in a river. The pilot survives the crash and attacks Ella, fatally wounding her, before Jake kills it with his wrist-blaster.
The remaining posse is captured by Chiricahua Apache Native Americans, who blame them for the alien attacks. After Ella's corpse is dumped on a fire by a Chiricahua warrior, she is resurrected and emerges from the fire. Ella reveals herself to be from another alien race, who had traveled to Earth to help resist the invaders after they destroyed her home world. The aliens – who are mining gold and abducting people to conduct experiments on them – have superior weaponry and are far stronger and more durable than humans; only Jake's wrist weapon or a well-aimed round from a rifle can kill them with a single shot. Ella tells them that the previous attackers were just scouts.
She also claims Jake holds the secret to the aliens' whereabouts and argues that they must defeat the aliens before the invaders exterminate all life on Earth. After taking medicine offered by the Apaches' medicine man, Jake's memory returns. He recalls watching Alice get vivisected and euthanized; he escaped by stealing the bracelet encasing his wrist. He also remembers the location of the aliens' base of operations: their landed mother ship.
With this knowledge, they plan to attack the alien base. Jake leaves to persuade his old gang to join the fight while Dolarhyde takes command of the original group and the Apaches. After the combined groups maneuver the aliens into a ground battle, Jake and Ella board the ship and free the captives, but Jake is captured. Dolarhyde rescues him, and both men escape from the ship after killing the alien responsible for Alice's death (identified as Jake left a distinctive scar on its eye in his original escape). The ship takes off as the remaining aliens flee Earth, but Ella stays on board to end the threat: she sacrifices herself by entering the ship's core and turning Jake's wrist weapon into a bomb; it detonates, obliterating the ship.
With the aliens gone, the rescued townsfolk begin remembering their pasts. Still a wanted man, Jake chooses to leave; the sheriff and Dolarhyde decide to claim he was killed in the invasion. The citizens intend to rebuild their town with the gold taken from the aliens.
==Cast==*Daniel Craig as Jake Lonergan, an amnesiac outlaw.
- Harrison Ford as Colonel Woodrow Dolarhyde, a wealthy powerful cattleman.
- Olivia Wilde as Ella Swenson, a mysterious traveler who aids Lonergan.
- Sam Rockwell as Doc, the town's doctor and owner of Absolution's saloon.
- Noah Ringer as Emmett Taggart, John Taggart's grandson.
- Paul Dano as Percy Dolarhyde, Woodrow's trouble-making son.
- Clancy Brown as Meacham, Absolution's preacher.
- Keith Carradine as Sheriff John Taggart, Absolution's sheriff.
- Adam Beach as Nat Colorado, Dolarhyde's Native American right-hand man.
- Abigail Spencer as Alice, Jake's lost love.
- Ana de la Reguera as María, Absolution's saloon maid and Doc's wife.
- Buck Taylor as Wes Clairbourne, a bandit who threatens Jake.
- Walton Goggins as Hunt, a bandit and friend of Lonergan.
- Julio Cedillo as Bronc, a Mexican bandit.
- David O'Hara as Pat Dolan, Lonergan's former gang-member.
- Raoul Trujillo as Black Knife, the Chiricahua Apache chief.
- Toby Huss as Roy Murphy.
- Wyatt Russell as Little Mickey.
- Paul Ortega as Apache Medicine Man.