I did think that maybe the lack of a constant mood could be blamed on the jumps in the time period as well as maybe attesting to the Old West spirit that they could persevere and forget about their problems, but ultimately concluded that it was just the style the film was made in.

At the time, it seemed catering to action-and-adventure-hungry audiences was somewhat more important than establishing a good character study, which is what I was hoping this would be.