Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Merolliv I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Lela The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

jwsanfrancisco ...although I am not a big fan of Sean Penn(he is very politically opinionated);I saw this movie on afternoon KOFY-TV,I did spend 3 yrs.in the Midwest; it absolutely replicates some of the cultural underpinnings of the Midwest(although not as violent as this movie depicts); I thought Sean's flame was Erin Rachel wood(it was actually Millie Perkins, who I am not familiar with); also I did a double take when I thought I saw David Straithern as one of the gang members; altogether, a thoroughly authentic movie about good 'ole boys going to their weekend 'world of outlaws' stock car racing life.(actually challenged by car-crazed teens every day to race in everyday street traffic...)

yajji At Close Range is one of the most underrated American films of the 1980s. How it has become so forgotten is not only a sad reflection on film, but also on audiences. Rarely do people flock to the cinema to see such an unflinching neo-realist tale of depravity and dysfunction and perhaps this is why so many people overlooked this engrossing work of art. Films like At Close Range, released in 1986, tread on those very personal lines that make the viewing experience too close for comfort. We all know people who have fallen through the cracks of society, who are morally corrupt, people who represent a failure of school, of parenting, of discipline, of the law, of art, of the accepted way of life... people who are potentially capable of anything at the right time and place. These very people are at the center of At Close Range, which is based on the true story of a notorious Midwestern crime gang with strong familial ties. The Midwestern United States has become more than a geographic compass, more than a mere region of a nation. It is now representative of a place where change seldom visits and a very outdated, unjust way of life is upheld. Stagnancy seems to be ripe in the region. Prejudicial intolerance and hatred bred out of ignorance has been rampant there. Of course, it is not all like this, but this is how it is commonly depicted in cinema and it makes for some very interesting character studies. History hasn't exactly been kind to the region, tarnishing its reputation with many grisly murder cases. As a result, the 'Midwest' could almost be an epithet of sorts, a setting of a series of similar films that detail the redneck rurality that propels people into nihilistic turpitude and banal evil. A few of these Midwestern films that come to mind are Badlands (1975) and the exceptional Boys Don't Cry (1999). At Close Range is certainly a Midwestern crime drama, just like the aforementioned films. All three of these films are based on harrowing true stories. Of course, the Midwest- crime tale does not just exist in cinema, but also in literature. It harks as far back to Truman Capote's iconic 1960s book 'In Cold Blood', a true crime story about a brutal slaying in a Kansas farmhouse. Thus, the Midwest being painted as a nether-region of sorts where crime seems to be just as familiar to the inhabitants as crop farming is so deeply ingrained in art that At Close Range feels like a tale we have seen or heard about before, yet it is portrayed with such beauty and stark honesty that it takes on a reverence. In At Close Range, Christopher Walken plays Brad Whitewood Senior, the head of a crime gang who have made millions stealing from other people. His estranged and wayward son, Brad Whitewood Junior, (played brilliantly by Sean Penn) has recently reconnected with Brad Senior, and has a taste for the gangster life that his father so ruthlessly pursues. To Brad Jr, this life of crime is not only alluring, it's a denunciation on the American Dream, a life he refuses to live. Things go awry when Brad's girlfriend, the pretty and petite Terry (Mary Stuart Masterson) and half brother Tommy (referred to Brad Senior as the "bastard" child) come into the picture. Before long, Terry is an unwitting pawn in a situation of pursued vs pursuer. It is her restless eye for Brad Jr. that sets this drama in motion. A blood curdling finale ensues, which threatens to change the lives of these small town lives irrevocably.At Close Range is many things. It is a tale of love on the run, of a young man growing up in rural America, the tale of idyllic small town life that very finely treads the line of reckless abandon (the boys and their girls spend summer afternoons at the lake, drinking and making out), the tale of family dysfunction, of lower middle class life, of the corrupt, of vengeance, and ultimately of justice. But I think what is truly at the heart of this film is a son's coming of age - a desperate need for a father, which is what makes the final act so heartbreaking. Brad Junior so desperately needs guidance, love and affection, but the very man who should have given it to him is so hopelessly screwed up and even dangerous, so dangerous in fact that he would murder his own son if he threatened to spill the beans on his crime gang. Very few characters have been as terrifying and evil as Christopher Walken's Brad Senior. When Brad Junior finally finds the love he has sought after for so long in Terry, it is cruelly snatched away from him by his own flesh and blood.Everyone in this film was at their very best here as far as talent goes. The acting is mesmerizing, there isn't a weak link in the entire cast. Walken, Penn and Masterson all deserved Oscar nominations for their deeply effecting performances. The cinematography was another pleasant surprise, every shot unfolds as though it was plucked straight out of a waking dream. The scenes at night evoke so much mood and suspense, while the sun-drenched scenes at the lake and on the farms recall those glory days we all knew and long for. Of course, things move at a languid pace at times, but the direction remains tight and the suspense picks up very rapidly. As the film progresses towards the final moments, it becomes increasingly harder to watch, but it's equally as difficult to look away. I was hooked, thanks to the expertly crafted worked by the cast and crew. At Close Range is truly a diamond in the rough. I highly recommend this film for being an intricately layered, absorbing study on moral abandon and small-town idle that eventually spills into violence. It's unforgettable.

SnoopyStyle It's 1978 in rural Pennsylvania. Brad Whitewood Jr. (Sean Penn) is an angry young man. He lives with his brother Tommy (Chris Penn), his mother, grandma, and her mother's boyfriend for the last few months. They can best be described as white trash. He has an eye for Terry (Mary Stuart Masterson). His absentee father (Christopher Walken) runs a crime family and drops by to give the family money once in awhile. After a fight with his mother's boyfriend, he goes away to his father.The first thing one notices is the great Madonna song. It gives the movie the perfect mood. There is a desolation and a sense of impending doom running all throughout this movie. Its bleak tone fits the based-on-a-true-story movie. The acting is close to perfect. The story doesn't have a good flow but its randomness feels like a true story.

FlashCallahan Based upon the true story of Bruce Johnston Sr., his son, and his brothers.Together, they constituted one of suburban Philadelphia's most notorious crime families during the 1970's.Their criminal activities ranged from burglary, theft... and ultimately, murder.....It's understandable why De Niro turned down the Walken role. It's one of the most darkest characters you may ever meet on screen.Walken is electrifying as the father who knows no bounds when it comes to family and business. At first, he seems like a normal violent criminal.One who would be nice to you, but if you ever crossed him, he wouldn't be happy. But no. This man is a psycho, and knows it, and the fact that he keeps his cool for the majority of the film, and while others are doing his acts of violence for him, makes Walken even more unsettling.The rest of the cast are superb, The brothers Penn, are awesome, and this is the film that really showed the audience that Penn was someone to look out for (after all he'd only just made Shanghai Surprise, so this was a blessing).masterson, puts in her greatest performance, and seeing faces such as Glover, And Sutherland, give the film a very nostalgic feel.It will not be for all tastes, it's a very dark subject matter, and there are some disturbing scenes, and the film never really has a conclusion, which makes it all the more powerful.So all in all, it's a beautifully dark disturbing movie.My only gripe was, at th start of the end credits, we have in the biggest writing possible, Madonna sang a song.Penn, we know you were married to her, we didn't need to hear 'Live to Tell' every ten minutes in the movie...