Themes: Serial Killers, Out For Revenge, On the Campaign Trail
Main Cast: Dennis Quaid, Danny Glover, Jared Leto, R. Lee Ermey, Ted Levine
Release Year: 1997
Country: US
Run Time: 118 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Scripter Jeb Stuart (Die Hard) made his directorial debut with this thriller about an FBI agent in pursuit of a serial killer. Politically ambitious Amarillo police chief Jack McGinnis (William Fichtner) uses a local murder to gain votes in his campaign, a setback for Sheriff Buck Olmstead (R. Lee Ermey), up for re-election. The situation looks better for Olmstead after FBI agent Frank LaCrosse (Dennis Quaid) arrives to track the killer. LaCrosse has a personal agenda: he's convinced this killer is the man who kidnapped his son. Meanwhile, ex-medical student Lane Dixon (Jared Leto), hitchhiking across New Mexico, gets a lift from friendly Bob Goodall (Danny Glover), a former rail worker who later rescues Dixon from menacing miners in a bar. Red herrings throughout conceal the true identity of the killer. Some scenes were filmed at an altitude of 10,000 feet in Red Cliff, Colorado. Working titles include: Going West in America, Going West. Shown at the 1997 Denver Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
Review
Switchback's lead character is a serial killer. Of course, he's a "movie serial killer," which means that he doesn't kill for sexual pleasure and he's sane enough to out-think the entire cast. Jared Leto plays one of the dumbest characters ever put on screen, but R. Lee Ermey is watchable as always and there's an exciting climax set on a moving train speeding through the snowy wilderness. The screenplay is needlessly complicated, with too many subplots that dilute the intensity of the action scenes (Die Hard was far more pure in comparison) but it's entertaining nonetheless. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
William Fichtner - Chief Jack McGinnis; Leo Burmeister - Shorty; Merle Kennedy - Betty; Julio Oscar Mechoso - Jorge Martinez; Orville Stoeber - Saldez; Ted Markland - Bartender
Credit
Carl Stensel - Art Director, Pam Dixon - Casting, Betsy Heimann - Costume Designer, Vincent Lascoumes - First Assistant Director, Jeb Stuart - Director, Conrad Buff - Editor, Jeb Stuart - Executive Producer, Keith Samples - Executive Producer, Mel Efros - Executive Producer, Basil Poledouris - Composer (Music Score), Jeffrey Howard - Production Designer, Oliver Wood - Cinematographer, Gale Anne Hurd - Producer, David Kelson - Sound Mixer, Gary Hymes - Stunts Coordinator, Jeb Stuart - Screenwriter
FBI agent Frank LaCrosse (Dennis Quaid) was in charge of tracking down an elusive serial killer, but when the killer kidnapped LaCrosse's young son, Andy (Ian Blake Nelson), he was taken off the case by superiors who felt that this latest development would destroy his objectivity. Frank is now more determined than ever to catch the killer, and he teams up with a small-town police department to continue his investigation. Meanwhile, a hitchhiker named Lane Dixon (Jared Leto) is picked up by Bob Goodall (Danny Glover), an affable drifter. It is later revealed that Bob is the killer, and he and Frank battle on the side of a train. Bob repeats to Frank that he has to kill him before he can find his son. Frank then lets go of Bob, and Bob falls off the train, laughing. He falls down a hill but is suddenly impaled on the back by a stick. Frank is grieving the chance he lost to find his son, but an injured Lane takes out a sharpie and writes something on the floor of the train, which leads the policeman to finding his son.
