Sumith Prasad
Craig Zahler’s Western film ‘Bone Tomahawk’ revolves around Sheriff Franklin Hunt, who leads a group of four to find Samantha O’Dwyer and Deputy Nick, who are abducted by a group of cannibals known as the Troglodytes. As an experienced lawman and gunslinger, Franklin guides the group to the deep Wild West to rescue his colleague and close acquaintance. When the group’s existence gets threatened, Franklin steps up and prepares to sacrifice his own life for the survival of the others. The narrative ends with ambiguity concerning the fate of the sheriff, who reminds us of several fictional lawmen who kept order in the American frontier! SPOILERS AHEAD.
Franklin Hunt is a Quintessential Western Character
Franklin Hunt is a fictional character S. Craig Zahler created for ‘Bone Tomahawk.’ When the filmmaker was conceiving the film, he wanted it to be a quintessential Western. Even though the Troglodytes steal the attention with their frightening and intricate existence rooted in lost race fiction, the movie belongs to the Western genre rather than horror, as far as Zahler is concerned. A gunslinging lawman who displays his limitless courage and leads the people around him is an integral part of many of the most iconic Westerns of all time. In that way, Kurt Russell’s sheriff is highly archetypal and arguably the most prominent factor that makes a narrative a standout Western.
When Zahler was developing the film, he wished he could cast the late Randolph Scott, one of the icons in the Western genre. The filmmaker’s favorite film by Scott is ‘The Tall T,’ in which he is a leader who resembles Franklin in a lawless environment. The actor, who was involved in around sixty Westerns, appears as a lawman in many films, including ‘The Stranger Wore a Gun.’ These movies must have inspired Zahler to develop Franklin. Furthermore, the sheriff’s readiness to sacrifice his own life to save others is a frequently used plot point in the genre.
Marshal Will Kane in ‘High Noon,’ widely regarded as one of the greatest lawman characters of all time, takes on a gang of outlaws to protect his town and its residents alone, reminding us of Franklin’s commitment to kill the entire clan of Troglodytes to ensure that they wouldn’t return to his town, Bright Hope. Franklin’s self-sacrificial nature is a common characteristic of Western protagonists, and the same was used to establish the character’s manhood and courage back in the 1950s and 1960s. When it comes to the sheriff, Zahler developed him as an old-school hero who would fit into most of the movies made in the golden age of the genre.
Franklin Hunt’s Ambiguous Fate
‘Bone Tomahawk’ ends with Arthur O’Dwyer arriving at the Troglodytes’ cave to rescue his wife, Samantha, and his friends. However, by then, a cannibal makes a deep cut in Franklin’s abdomen and shoots him. The sheriff believes that he will not make the return home, which convinces him to bid adieu to Arthur, Samantha, and Chicory. Franklin promises to kill the remaining Troglodytes to ensure that no cannibal will return to his town to abduct more people. During the journey, Arthur and the two others hear three gunshot sounds, which indicates that the sheriff succeeds in eliminating the remaining men among the Troglodytes.
Still, it is unlikely that Franklin will survive his severe wounds. The deep cut on the abdomen and the gunshot wound makes it clear that he is slowly dying. Even though the burning opium bottle may stop the overflow of blood for a while, the sheriff is not at all in a condition to escape the cave and go back to the nearest human settlement, which has to be Bright Hope, located several days away. Since he asks his companions to accept his impending death, Arthur, Samantha, and Chicory don’t expect him back. As they continue their journey, Franklin doesn’t have anyone to treat his wounds and nurse him back to health, even if he manages to escape from the cave.
Although Franklin’s death is nearly guaranteed, he may have shut his eyes for good with the relief that his town doesn’t have to fear any more cannibals. There is a possibility of three Troglodytes ganging up on him and shooting him down, explaining the gunshot sounds. However, as an experienced gunslinger with a bit of life still in him, the sheriff may not have given his enemies the opportunity to overpower him. He may have shot them right when they appeared at the opening of the space where he lies wounded.
Read More: Bone Tomahawk: Is the 2015 Film Inspired by Real Horror Events?
