Butcher’s Crossing (2022) is an American Western drama directed by Gabe Polsky and based on the 1960 novel by John Edward Williams. The film stars Nicolas Cage, Fred Hechinger, Xander Berkeley, Rachel Keller, and Jeremy Bobb. It offers a raw, haunting look at obsession, survival, and the destructive pull of nature.
Set in 1874, the story follows Will Andrews (Fred Hechinger), a young man who leaves Harvard in search of meaning in the untamed American frontier. He arrives in Butcher’s Crossing, a rough town built on the booming buffalo hide trade. There, he meets Miller (Nicolas Cage), an experienced but volatile hunter with a singular goal: to find and destroy a massive, untouched buffalo herd deep in a remote Colorado valley.
Driven by greed and a near-spiritual fixation, Miller leads the team on a journey that quickly spirals out of control. As the hunting escalates, so does the madness. When winter traps them in the mountains, the group must battle starvation, isolation, and the unraveling of their own sanity. The expedition becomes less about the hunt and more about the devastating toll of unchecked ambition.
Cage delivers a powerful performance, channeling the instability and intensity of a man overtaken by purpose. The cinematography is stark and immersive, capturing both the grandeur and the brutality of the landscape. Though deliberately paced, the film’s psychological tension lingers, offering a bleak meditation on man’s need to conquer — and the emptiness it often leaves behind.
Premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2022 and released in the U.S. in 2023, Butcher’s Crossing received mixed reviews. Critics praised its visual realism and performances, particularly Cage’s, though some noted its slow narrative. Still, it stands as a somber, thought-provoking entry into the modern Western genre.