Main Cast: Jack Nicholson, Harvey Keitel, Valerie Perrine, Warren Oates, Elpidia Carrillo
Release Year: 1982
Country: US
Run Time: 107 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Tom Jones director Tony Richardson might seem a curious choice to direct the contemporary western The Border, but he does his best to emulate Sam Peckinpah. Jack Nicholson stars as an El Paso border guard, saddled with avaricious wife Valerie Perrine. Hoping to stifle her nagging about money matters, Nicholson begins accepting payoffs to allow Mexican aliens to cross the border without interference. This leads to a relationship with a young Mexican mother Elpidia Carillo. Harvey Keitel and Warren Oates lend strong support to this atmospheric tale. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Director Tony Richardson delves into the complex symbiosis between border guards and illegal aliens on the U.S./Mexican border in a film that's often engrossing, but finally too sprawling and diffuse to be compelling. The film takes a somewhat detached view of both guards and aliens, in laying out an ethnography of tastelessness and obsessive materialism among the Border Patrol that fuels the shady deals that exploit the desperate Mexicans. Jack Nicholson, whose characters have often ridiculed the kind of minor official he plays here, is surprisingly straight as the weary, cynical guard who finally tires of Harvey Keitel's venal boss, and the conflict between them gives the film what energy it has. Less successful is the sketchy character of the Mexican woman played by Elpidia Carillo, who supposedly inspires Nicholson's redemption. Despite the film's limited impact, the documentary aspects of this situation, which seems to have changed little in the intervening years, remains of interest. Valerie Perrine and Warren Oates are typically excellent, and the sweeping camera work of Vilmos Zsigmond and Ric Waite is also worth noting. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
Shannon Wilcox - Savannah; Manuel Viescas - Juan; Jeff Morris - J.J.; Mike Gomez - Manuel; Dirk Blocker - Beef; Lonny Chapman - Andy; David Beecroft - Kevin; Alan Fudge - Hawker; James W. Gavin - Helicopter Pilot; Gary Grubbs - Honk; James Jeter - Frank; Floyd Levine - Lou; Lupe Ontiveros - Madam in Whorehouse; Stacey Pickren - Hooker; Juan Ramirez - Angel Dominguez; William Russ - Jimbo; Billy Silva - George
Credit
Richard Sawyer - Art Director, Vicki Sanchez - Costume Designer, Irby Smith - First Assistant Director, Tony Richardson - Director, Robert Lambert - Editor, Neil Hartley - Executive Producer, Ry Cooder - Composer (Music Score), Toby Carr Rafelson - Production Designer, Ric Waite - Cinematographer, Vilmos Zsigmond - Cinematographer, Edgar Bronfman - Producer, James M. Halty - Stunts, Walon Green - Screenwriter, Deric Washburn - Screenwriter, Dave Freeman - Screenwriter
The movie is set in Texas. Smith takes a job as a US Border Patrol agent. Red and Cat are veteran agents already assigned to the station.
While attempting to enforce the law, Smith discovers corruption and a black market system within the force. While trying to support a free-spending wife (Valerie Perrine), he succumbs to the fringe benefits revealed to him by his fellow agent Cat. When Smith discovers the depth of what he has become involved in, he is forced to make a deadly decision.
Othello (1955) •It Should Happen to a Dog (1955) •"BBC Sunday Night Theatre" (1955) •"ITV Play of the Week" (1956) •"The Sunday-Night Play" (1960) •A Death in Canaan (1978) •The Penalty Phase (1986) •Beryl Markham: A Shadow on the Sun (1988) •Women and Men: Stories of Seduction (1990) (with Frederic Raphael and Ken Russell) •The Phantom of the Opera (1990)
