Movie Type: Crime Thriller, Post-Noir (Modern Noir)
Themes: Cons and Scams, Flight of the Innocent, Hired Killers
Main Cast: Nicolas Cage, Dennis Hopper, Lara Flynn Boyle, J.T. Walsh, Timothy Carhart, Dwight Yoakam
Release Year: 1993
Country: US
Run Time: 97 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
John Dahl directed and co-wrote (along with his brother Rick Dahl) this quirky and energetic film noir that, after a well-received screening at the Toronto Film Festival, was consigned to oblivion before resurfacing on cable television. When the owner of a San Francisco movie theater, who was a big fan of the film, arranged for a theatrical release, the film clicked and toured the country as an art house hit. The film concerns eternal loser Michael (Nicolas Cage), down to his last five dollars and looking for work. He finds himself at a bar in the town of Red Rock. The bartender, Wayne (J.T. Walsh) eyes him suspiciously and asks him, "You must be Lyle, from Dallas." Michael, eager to earn some cash, agrees. It seems Wayne has a job for Michael, but what Michael doesn't realize until too late is that the job is to kill Wayne's wife for $10,000. Michael heads out to Wayne's farm with the cash to warn Wayne's wife, Suzanne (Lara Flynn Boyle). Suzanne responds by offering to double Michael's fee if he will kill her husband instead. Michael takes the money and tries to leave town, but when a thunderstorm comes up, he runs over a man who was trying to flag him down. The sheriff arrives on the scene to attend to matters -- who turns out to be Wayne. Wayne proceeds to drive Michael out of town for an execution, but Michael manages to elude him. Flagging down a driver on the road who is driving back into Red Rock, they return to the bar, where the driver offers to buy Michael a drink. As Michael accepts the offer of a drink, he realizes that he is drinking with the real "Lyle from Dallas" (Dennis Hopper) who is awaiting Wayne's return. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Review
One of the best neo-noirs of the 1990s, Red Rock West -- though razor-sharp and cast to perfection -- cannot fully escape its familiarity in a genre that had by this point been done to death. But thanks to taut and absorbing direction, the film offers much entertainment value to viewers who are willing to let it take them on its strange but irresistible journey. Nicolas Cage is sympathetic and well cast in the lead role, and Dennis Hopper creates yet another of his indelible onscreen weirdos, imbuing the characterization with his standard intensity. The movie gets the booze-soaked, dusty-outback feel just right, and though it's hardly the most endearing picture ever made, it is a notable throwback to films of the 1970s that managed to be clever and calculated without the smarmy pretension of today's imitators. Like John Dahl's even better 1994 follow-up The Last Seduction, Red Rock West premiered on cable, building up a considerable following that led to its successful release in arthouses all over the country, where many audiences discovered it for the first time. ~ Jason Clark, All Movie Guide
Dan Shor - Deputy Bowman; Robert Beecher - Caretaker; Jeff Levine - Country Girl Bartender; Michael Rudd - Red Rock Bartender
Credit
Don Diers - Art Director, Terry Dresbach - Costume Designer, Mike Topoozian - First Assistant Director, John Dahl - Director, Scott Chestnut - Editor, Michael Kuhn - Executive Producer, William Olvis - Composer (Music Score), Patty York - Makeup, Robert Pearson - Production Designer, Marc Reshovsky - Cinematographer, Steve Golin - Producer, Sigurjon Sighvatsson - Producer, Kate J. Sullivan - Set Designer, Frank Ceglia - Special Effects, John Dahl - Screenwriter
Red Rock West (1992) is a neo-noir film directed by John Dahl. The film, written by Dahl and his brother Rick, was shot in Montana and Willcox, Arizona. The film was well received at the prestigious Toronto Film Festival, but deemed a cable and direct to video product by Columbia Tri-Star who owned the North American rights. When Bill Banning, the owner of a San Francisco movie theater and a huge fan of the film, arranged for a theatrical release, the film gained a "buzz" and toured the country as an art house hit.
Nicolas Cage plays Michael Williams, a drifter who wanders into rural Red Rock, Wyoming looking for work. A local bar owner named Wayne (J.T. Walsh) mistakes him for a hit man, "Lyle from Dallas," whom Wayne has hired to kill his wife. Wayne offers him a stack of cash--"half now, half later"-- Michael doesn't correct him and takes the money. Michael then visits Wayne's wife, Suzanne (Lara Flynn Boyle) and attempts to warn her that her life is in danger—instead of killing her. She then makes a tempting counteroffer to him. Michael, knowing that the longer he stays in town the more danger he'll get into, continually tries to leave town, with no success. He complicates matters when he becomes romantically involved with Suzanne, and has to dodge bullets when "Lyle from Dallas" (Dennis Hopper) finally does show up.
Red Rock West was made in 1992 in Arizona on a budget of $7 million.[1] The domestic rights were sold to Columbia Tri-Star home video for $2.5 million and the foreign rights to Manifesto Films, a subsidiary of Polygram Filmed Entertainment.[1] Test screenings for the film were not strong and Peter Graves, an independent consultant who headed the marketing department at Polygram said, "The film doesn't fall neatly into any marketable category. A western film noir isn't something people can immediately spark to."[1] One of the film's producers suggested early on that the film be submitted to the Sundance Film Festival and was told by the studio that it wasn't a festival film.[1] Columbia sold Red Rock West to cable and it was shown seven times on HBO in the fall of 1993.[1]
The film opened successfully in theaters in Germany, Paris, and London in the summer of 1993. Piers Handling, director of the Toronto Film Festival saw the film in Paris and decided to show it at the festival in September.[1] Bill Banning, who owned the Roxie Cinema and Roxie Releasing in San Francisco saw Red Rock West in Toronto and thought that there might be an American theatrical audience for the film. It took him until January 1994 to find out who owned the rights.[1] The film had already played on HBO at this point and was due to come out on video in February.[1] Banning started showing Red Rock West at the Roxie Cinema on January 28, 1994 where it broke box office records before expanding to eight theaters in the city.[1] It then opened in Los Angeles and New York City.
Music
The soundtrack for the film features a number of country music performers, including Johnny Cash, Shania Twain, Toby Keith, The Kentucky Headhunters, and Sammy Kershaw. Dwight Yoakam wrote the film's closing credits song "A Thousand Miles From Nowhere" when the film was being made and while the musician made his film acting debut in the film. The song went on to become a Top 10 country hit.[2]
Reception
In his review for the Washington Post, Richard Harrington praised it as "a treasure waiting to be discovered."[3] In her review for the New York Times, Caryn James called it "a terrifically enjoyable, smartly acted, over-the-top thriller."[4]
