Very nearby, as in At close range, the rock band was unbearably loud. Derived from shooting--range denotes the distance that missile or projectile can be made to travel--this expression soon came to mean anything in close proximity.

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• Rating:
• Genre: Drama
• Movie Type: Crime Drama, Family Drama
• Themes: Kids in Trouble, Fathers and Sons
• Director: James Foley
• Main Cast: Sean Penn, Christopher Walken, Mary Stuart Masterson, Chris Penn, Millie Perkins
• Release Year: 1986
• Country: US
• Run Time: 115 minutes
• MPAA Rating: R

Plot

Amazingly, At Close Range was based on a true story. Bored teenager Sean Penn meets his prodigal father (Christopher Walken) for the first time in years. Though Penn is vaguely aware that his father is a criminal, he is nonetheless impressed by his dad's high life style and creature comforts. But Walken's veneer of charm is fragile indeed, and it becomes clear that he is willing to kill anyone--even his family--if they get in his way. When Walken rapes Penn's girl friend (Mary Stuart Masterson) to keep the boy from cooperating with the DA, it is only a warm-up for the horrors to come. The screenplay for At Close Range was written by Nicholas Kazan, the son of prominent film director Elia Kazan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Review

A superbly written and acted film based loosely on real-life events, this intense crime drama is a major artistic success for all concerned, especially stars Christopher Walken and Sean Penn in two of their best roles, as well as screenwriter Nicholas Kazan and director James Foley. The latter's style might strike some viewers as too cool, remote, or austere, but this nearly documentary-like approach allows the cast room to stretch and improvise while slyly emphasizing the picture's similarity to the classic In Cold Blood (1967). However, the film is definitely not a docudrama, the director reminding viewers of the emotionally potent subtext with subtle, symbolic transitions in which such incongruous, attention-getting images as bound chicken talons or singing lips suddenly appear. His is the art of transcending the establishing shot by going for something a little more penetrating. Walken and Penn are marvels of nuance employed in the arts of linguistic inflection and the physicality of inhabiting a character with one's entire body, from the way they laugh to how they walk. (Just watch Penn as he shifts from a cocky swagger that emanates down from his shoulders, moving like nothing so much as a suit buoyed by a massive hanger, to a defeated, slump-shouldered shuffle by the finale). Kazan goes light on dialogue but what's there is charged with unspoken meaning, while visual cues and arresting images tell the story. All of this shows the mark of a great screenwriter enjoying a meeting of the minds with a director who gets it. At Close Range (1986) is one of the best examples of its genre from the 1980s. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Cast

• Sean Penn - Brad Whitewood, Jr.
• Christopher Walken - Brad Whitewood, Sr.
• Mary Stuart Masterson - Terry
• Chris Penn - Tommy Whitewood
• Millie Perkins - Julie Whitewood

Candy Clark - Mary Sue; Eileen Ryan - Grandmother; Alan Autry - Ernie; R.D. Call - Dickie Whitewood; Tracey Walter - Patch; J.C. Quinn - Boyd; David Strathairn - Tony Pine; Jake Dengel - Lester; Crispin Glover - Lucas; Kiefer Sutherland - Tim; Noelle Parker - Jill; Stephen Geoffreys - Aggie; Paul Herman - Salesman; Anna Levine - Barroom Dancer; Myke R. Mueller - 2nd Car Salesman; James Foley - Assistant District Attorney; Doug Anderson - Marshall; Terry Baker - Customer; Terri Coulter - Barroom Dancer; E.R. Davies - Detective Mosker; Janie Draper - Stripper; Marshall Fallwell, Jr. - Bartender; Gary Gober - District Attorney; bonita Hall - Buxom Woman; Charles Tatoo Jensen - Older Guy; Bob McDivitt - Farmer with Shotgun; Nancy Sherburne - Waitress; Michael Edwards - 1st Car Slaesman

Credit

Juan Ruiz-Anchia - Cinematographer; Richard Arrington - Makeup; Adams Calvert - Special Effects; Burt Dalton - Special Effects; John Daly - Executive Producer; James Foley - Director; Derek Gibson - Executive Producer; Don Guest - Producer; Peter Jamison - Production Designer; Nicholas Kazan - Screenwriter; Patrick Leonard - Composer (Music Score); Patrick Leonard - Songwriter; Elliott Lewitt - Producer; Mark Ragland - Set Designer; Hilary M. Rosenfeld - Costume Designer; Howard Smith - Editor; Chuck Waters - Stunts; R. Chris Westlund - Set Designer; Billy Hopkins - Casting; Risa Bramon - Casting

Similar Movies

The Executioner's Song; In Cold Blood; The Indian Runner; American Heart; Blood Brothers; The Crossing Guard; The Yards; Panic; Shot in the Heart; City by the Sea; Grachi; Mystic River; Chrystal; A History of Violence; Ethan Mao; Crisscross

Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The adverb has one meaning:

Meaning #1: very close
  Synonym: close up

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