Bottom line, there's something a little minimalist about this dramatically promising story, and it grows harder to deny that the more sentimentality, dry spells and excessive dragging slow momentum, to the point of holding the final product shy of a rewarding state, flirted with enough by lovely scoring and
visual style, some worthy story
elements, strong performances - particularly that of Gene Hackman - and inspired direction to make «Bite the Bullet» a
decent and sometimes gripping western drama, despite lost potential.
While there is an overarching emphasis on design
elements for
visual impact, enough substance remains to indicate a
decent level of professionalism in the writing.