Evengyny
Thanks for the memories!
ChanBot
i must have seen a different film!!
Kaydan Christian
A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
gahuebshman
I've watched this movie for years. It's great. The director Walter Hill knows how to make a great action movie. The cast was a great pick. To bad they can't still make these movies. Real action and no CGI
videorama-759-859391
Only Mr Hill could bring something so exciting and explosive to the screen, only this wouldn't be well known, as many as it's others, which is the negative, cause it's definitely warrants viewing with an insightful script and very good performances, all around. It's the different and exciting story that makes it, kind of two stories wonderfully colliding together you could say. Once childhood friends, Texas Ranger Jack Benteen (Nolte-dead solid perfect) and drug kingpin, Cash Bailey (Boothe- in one of his performances here) are now warring against each other, especially after Nolte's close friend, and deputy (Rip Torn) is slaughtered. Both enemies vie over old girlfriend (Alonso- never looking hotter, especially near the end in the saloon scene) who had ended up with Nolte. Interfering with the investigation, Nolte has a bigger mess to clean up, where later on, this problem could wonderfully solve his. A elite army of undercover CIA soldiers, lead by their unwavering, hard as steel captain, (Ironside) some seedy, all presumed dead, have popped up, to take down Bailey and company. They are after these documents he has, Cash once one of them, but turned. This is one of those stylishly different action pics, as well as being one of Hills, that only comes along once, one you shouldn't miss. The action shootouts are well staged, especially near the end, with a great cowboy like showdown, it kind of seems weird and puts in a weird disarray, as you don't expect this. Nolte shows what solid character acting is, but it was Boothe, who really impressed me here, speaking such great dialogue, any actor would love to get their hands on. The dialogue seemed meticulously chose, it had me spouting off some lines, after seeing it a few times over twenty five years ago. The title is kind of worrying, when matched it to the movie's story, a better one for something like this could of been applied. All too was the small display of title, etc, over a rising sun. In this R rated version, (the M played cinema wise in Adelaide, more bums on seats) you get what you asked for, heavy squirts of blood and some spillages. You will be humbly satisfied. The whole bloody well made film, is just different you know, and today still stands alone.
dougdoepke
When it comes to steely eyed stares, Clint Eastwood has nothing on Nick Nolte. Except Nolte is a fine actor whose talents are largely wasted in this tiresomely Johnny-one-note performance. Powers Boothe, whose on-screen charisma is a match for Nolte's, expresses a broader range as the villain, but apparently never got the big break his talent deserves. Too bad. The movie itself goes downhill after a promising beginning. Director Walter Hill is simply unable to weave the subplots of a murky script by that avatar of violence for its own sake - John Milius - into anything like an engaging whole. The result is a fatal crash dive into gruesomely nonsensical parody of The Wild Bunch. The upshot provides a lesson for those who have the blood lust of a Peckinpah, without his cinematic stylishness or moral sensibility. In fact, the film probably works better as parody, particularly Nolte's cartoonish Texas Ranger. A waste of fine talent on third-rate bravado. Save your time.
Scott LeBrun
A stoic Nick Nolte and a charismatic Powers Boothe face off in this Peckinpah-style serving of sordid melodrama and intense bloody violence. It's a fun action-Western from director Walter Hill, a filmmaker often at his best when portraying tough male milieus. With story credit going to Fred Rexer and the colourful John Milius, it deliberately makes its way towards an exciting confrontation when bullets fly and countless squibs go off. This will mean that some viewers will be turned off, but others will enjoy the visceral quality of this material. Certainly one of the movie's prime assets is a kick ass cast of cool actors, not just Nolte and Boothe.The two leads play former childhood friends now on opposite sides of the law, a familiar enough premise. Jack Benteen (Nolte) is a Texas Ranger and Cash Bailey (Boothe) is a big time drug dealer, and Jack wants to give Cash every chance to surrender peaceably. While this is going on, they fight over the affections of a saloon singer, Sarita (the very sexy Maria Conchita Alonso) and a team of mercenaries led by Major Paul Hackett (Michael Ironside) has their own plans that involve a bank robbery.You know you'll have a good time when you see that Hackett's comrades are played by (among others) Clancy Brown and William Forsythe. Rip Torn makes the most of his screen time as Jack's colleague Sheriff Hank Pearson. Other familiar faces in the cast include Larry B. Scott, John Dennis Johnston, Luis Contreras, Gary Carlos Cervantes, Tommy 'Tiny' Lister, Marco Rodriguez, Mickey Jones, and a briefly seen Lin Shaye. Forsythe in particular tears up the scenery. The sun baked cinematography (by Matthew F. Leonetti), Texas and California locales, and soaring Jerry Goldsmith music are all credits to the movie.The audience should be able to enjoy the twisty plot, the interplay between the two main characters, and the big finish. All in all, this proves to be a solid outing for Hill and his cast & crew.Seven out of 10.
