Main Cast: Nick Nolte, Powers Boothe, Michael Ironside, Maria Conchita Alonso, Rip Torn
Release Year: 1987
Country: US
Run Time: 104 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Modern-day Texas Ranger Jack Benteen (Nick Nolte) was once the best friend of local drug kingpin Cash Bailey (Powers Boothe). At present, however, the only element linking them together is Jack's lover Sarita (Maria Conchita Alonso), Cash's former mistress. When Sarita tires of Jack's Spartan lifestyle, she returns to Cash as a voluntary hostage to make certain that Jack keeps his hands off Cash's operation. The film comes to a head during a meticulously planned drug bust, in which both Jack and Cash butt heads with CIA-funded paramilitary Maj. Paul Hackett (Michael Ironside, who isn't all he seems to be). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Walter Hill's wildly over-the-top Peckinpah-flavored Western often borders on camp, but fans of the genre will enjoy the exaggerated posturing of the leads and the film's carefully stylized violence. Employing the Precambrian-era plot about former friends on different sides of the law who are in love with the same woman, Hill adds nothing new, while painting both the hero and villain as larger-than-life, primed-to-explode kegs of testosterone. For good measure, he also throws in a cadre of CIA contract mercenaries, whose indecipherable mission requires a meticulously executed bank robbery. Is this really where our tax dollars are going? Nolte, as the stalwart Texas Ranger, transforms his face into solid granite in what may be his least expressive role, while Boothe seems to revel in the hard-boiled epigrams favored by two dimensional villains. The final bloody shootout in the Mexican village, a homage which tries to out-Peckinpah Peckinpah, is skillfully executed, but its length may have some viewers checking their watch. As usual with Hill, the woman's role is negligible, leaving Maria Conchita Alonso little to do, but Rip Torn, as Nolte's Ranger buddy, is the film's most lively character, and one is sorry to see him get the deep six so early. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
Clancy Brown - Sgt. Larry McRose; William Forsythe - Sgt. Buck Atwater; Matt Mulhern - Sgt. Declan Patrick Coker; Larry B. Scott - Sgt. Charles Biddle; Dan Tullis, Jr. - Sgt. Luther Fry; Carlos Cervantes - Hector; Luis Contreras - Lupo; Larry Duran - Jesus; Tony Frank - Clarence King; Rick Garcia - Arturo; John Dennis Johnston - Merv, Cash's accountant; Mickey Jones - Chub Luke; James Lashly - Deputy Purvis; Tony Lattanzi - Man In Empoyment Office; Kent Lipham - T.C. Luke; Tom "Tiny" Lister, Jr. - Monday; Ken Medlock - Redneck in Bank; Andrew Robinson; Marco Rodriguez - Deputy Cortez; Michelle Lynn Rosen - Woman In Airport; Lin Shaye - Employment Office Clerk; Erin Bowden - Donna Lee; Humberto de la Torre - Andy; Richard L. Duran - Man With Club; Fred Eisenlohr - Deputy; Christina Garcia - Biddle's Girl; Sam Gauny - Pearly Grips; Anthony Gavan III - Deputy; Frank Lugo - Jalisco Bartender; Jimmy Ortega - Young Mexican Man; Gil Reyes - Rincon Norte Bartender; Charles Lewis - Chicken Champ Kid
Credit
Joseph C. Nemec III - Art Director, Mae Woods - Associate Producer, Judith Holstra - Casting, Marcia Ross - Casting, Dan Moore - Costume Designer, Dirk Petersmann - First Assistant Director, Walter Hill - Director, Bennie E. Dobbins - Second Unit Director, Freeman Davis - Editor, Mario Kassar - Executive Producer, Andrew G. Vajna - Executive Producer, Jerry Goldsmith - Composer (Music Score), Filiberto Benavides - Songwriter, Ernesto Cortazar, Jr. - Songwriter, Manuel Esperon - Songwriter, Jose Lopez Espinoza - Songwriter, Hermanos Martinez Gil - Songwriter, Jose Alfredo Jimenez - Songwriter, Lydia Mendosa - Songwriter, Jesus Monge - Songwriter, Gilbert Parro - Songwriter, Tomas Ponce Reyes - Songwriter, Narciso Ibáñez Serrador - Songwriter, Michael Germain - Makeup, Albert Heschong - Production Designer, Bill Kenney - Production Designer, Matthew Leonetti - Cinematographer, Buzz Feitshans - Producer, Mario Kassar - Producer, Andrew G. Vajna - Producer, Beverli Eagan - Set Designer, Thomas Fisher - Special Effects, Richard Bryce Goodman - Sound/Sound Designer, Jeff O'Haco - Stunts, Jerry Wills - Stunts, Bennie E. Dobbins - Stunts, Allan Graf - Stunts, Grady Walker - Stunts, Bennie E. Dobbins - Stunts Coordinator, Lukas Heller - Screenwriter, Harry Kleiner - Screenwriter, John Milius - Screenwriter, Deric Washburn - Screenwriter, Fred Rexer - Short Story Author
