Sam Elliott Slams Benedict Cumberbatch's Cowboy Film 'The Power Of The Dog' For Exploring 'Homosexuality'

The Academy Award contender focuses on a traditional cowboy, played by Cumberbatch, who is confused and resistant when someone joins his family who doesn't fit in with the rest of the "men."

Elliott takes issue specifically with the wardrobe, comparing the cowboys to Chippendales dancers "who wear bowties and not much else" when they perform.

"That's what all these f---ing cowboys in that movie looked like. They're all running around in chaps and no shirts, there's all these allusions to homosexuality throughout the f---ing movie," the actor states.

Elliott appears to insinuate that Campion's not qualified to make a western movie.

"She's a brilliant director, I love her previous work, but what the f--- does this woman from down there, New Zealand, know about the American West?" he asks. "And why the f--- did she shoot this movie in New Zealand and call it Montana and say 'this is the way it was?' That rubbed me the wrong way, pal."

To Elliott, the theme of homosexuality in the film got beat to a pulp.

"Where are we in this world today? It's not the biggest issue at hand, but for me it was the only issue because there was so much of it. I mean, Cumberbatch never got out of his f---ing chaps," he claims, turning his focus on Cumberbatch.

"He had two pairs of chaps, a wooly pair and a leather pair. Every time he'd walk in from somewhere, he never was on a horse, maybe once, he'd walk into the f---ing house, storm up the f---ing stairs, go lay on his bed in his chaps and play his banjo. It was like, what the f---? Where's the Western in this Western?"