Dead Man's Burden

Released May 3, 2013

1h 33m

Western

List

78%

18 Reviews

Tomatometer

49%

250+ Ratings

Audience Score

Tension and distrust rise to the surface when a man (Barlow Jacobs) who was presumed killed in the Civil War returns to New Mexico and opposes his sister's (Clare Bowen) plan to sell the family homestead to a mining company.

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Audience Member

Looks great, and the actors give a valiant go, but the script and direction are melodramatic and cliche. This film can't decide if it wants to be a Western genre romp, or a serious drama about family and betrayal on the 19th Century American frontier. So seldom do we get the marriage of good art direction with good writing. This film is nice to look at, but nothing more.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/16/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Some fine performances all-around, in particular Jacobs and Bowen; I'm talking award nomination material here. Moshe does a great job in his directorial/writing debut in presenting a compelling story.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/17/23

Full Review

walter m

In "Dead Man's Burden," Wade McCurry(Barlow Jacobs) has survived the Civil War only to find that he is not entirely done with violence just yet. And then once he gets to his family homestead in Texas, he has to prove to his younger sister Martha(Clare Bowen) and her husband Heck(David Call) that he is who he says he is and that his death was greatly exaggerated. That's only to discover that he is too late to attend his father's funeral. "Dead Man's Burden" is a great looking western that has some deep thoughts on the nature of frontier justice. But as far as any kind of story or characterization goes, the movie is sadly paper thin, with acting on the amateurish level of historical reconstructions.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

141008: For a movie with such a slow pace it sure keeps you enthralled. Wow is all I can say. Quite the little western sneaking past the mainstream theatres. A great fix.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A simple story and one that is well played out by a cast of unknowns. Well worth a viewing.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/21/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Criminally overlooked, Dead Man's Burden is a stark poetic western that takes you through a gritty world of deception. The dialogue has a poetic, almost Cormac McCarthy, approach and the most intriguing aspects are the conversations between the characters rather than big action scenes. It speaks to both the mind and the heart, slow, minimalist, and with the rare quality to meet its ambition. The director obviously has a keen sense for detail and the actors disappear into the world. It is not perfect by any means (some specific things come to mind) but definitely worth a look.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/28/23

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Jared Moshe

Director

Barlow Jacobs

Wade McCurry

Clare Bowen

Martha Kirkland

David Call

Heck Kirkland

Joseph Lyle Taylor

E.J. Lane

Richard Riehle

Three Penny Hank

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Bill Goodykoontz

Arizona Republic

It's a strong debut for Moshe, who, with the exception of some of the oater dialogue, shows both a reverence for and a knowledge of the genre that's intriguing.

Rated: 3.5/5

May 23, 2013

Full Review

Laremy Legel

Film.com

Ponderous but lovely, simple but elegant, it should appeal to fans of Westerns.

Rated: 7/10

May 3, 2013

Full Review

Jeannette Catsoulis

New York Times

Small in scale but with a grand visual ambition, "Dead Man's Burden" draws nourishment from its burned-out desert setting and ambling pace.

Rated: 3.5/5

May 2, 2013

Full Review

Debbie Lynn Elias

Behind The Lens

There's nothing like some good old fashioned gunfire, family squabbles, horse riding, spurs, miners and homesteaders to get the juices flowing and that's just what first time feature writer/director Jared Moshe does.

Nov 26, 2019

Full Review

Nicholas Bell

IONCINEMA.com

While it doesn't reach the height of exuberance seen in many of the films it invokes, Dead Man's Burden is an intriguing effort.

Jul 25, 2019

Full Review

Curtis Woloschuk

Paste Magazine

Mosh immediately establishes an unforgiving milieu for his moody, minimalist Western.

Rated: 7.4/10

May 23, 2013

Full Review

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Synopsis

Tension and distrust rise to the surface when a man (Barlow Jacobs) who was presumed killed in the Civil War returns to New Mexico and opposes his sister's (Clare Bowen) plan to sell the family homestead to a mining company.

Director: Jared Moshe
Producer: Jennifer Chikes, Ruth Mutch, Nick Quested
Screenwriter: Jared Moshe
Distributor: Cinedigm
Production Co: Illuminaria Productions
Genre: Western
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): May 3, 2013, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 12, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA): $29.6K
Runtime: 1h 33m

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