Themes: Unlikely Friendships, Kidnapping, Doctors and Patients
Main Cast: Woody Harrelson, Jon Seda, Anne Bancroft, Alexandra Tydings, Matt Mulhern
Release Year: 1996
Country: US
Run Time: 122 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Michael Cimino, the director of The Deer Hunter and the ill-fated Heaven's Gate, helmed this bizarre New Age action picture in 1996. Based on a screenplay by Charles Leavitt, the film stars Woody Harrelson as Dr. Michael Reynolds, a rich, young L.A. physician who worries more about promotions and buying a $2 million home for his family than about his patients. Reynolds is assigned a 16-year-old convicted murderer, Brandon Monroe (Jon Seda), as his new patient. Brandon is a half-Cherokee gang member who killed his own stepfather, has terminal cancer, resents his privileged doctors, and has beaten up several pediatricians who've tried to care for him. Brandon gets a gun while going to the bathroom at the hospital and kidnaps Reynolds, stealing a car. While constantly threatening his doctor's life, Brandon takes him on a trip to an Arizona Indian reservation with the aim of immersing himself in a magic lake which native tradition says has healing powers. Along the way, the pair meet up with motorcycle gang members, rattlesnakes, and several New Age philosophers. Eventually, the materialistic doctor and the young tough gain a grudging respect for each other's values, and Reynolds even steals money to buy Brandon medicine. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
Review
The Sunchaser is a half-baked drama that combines elements of a kidnapping thriller and ideas of spiritual awakening, with uneven results at best. What was intended as a theatrical release fared poorly enough with test audiences to go straight to video, even with big names like Woody Harrelson, Anne Bancroft, and director Michael Cimino straining to lend it credibility. As the gangbanger at the film's center, Jon Seda struts and intimidates like the real McCoy, while doing a decent job conveying his character's trembling grasp on his own mortality, which contradicts the stoicism he shows the world. But his journey is a pretty hokey one, as the vengeful spite he feels toward his doctor (Harrelson) soon gives over to the amiable mechanics of a buddy road movie. Predictably, the comeuppance of Harrelson's oncologist also softens into something more precious, namely, his renewed appreciation of patient care and human life. Bancroft enters the narrative too late to serve as a life preserver in this swirling ocean of mismatched clichés. Although it looks okay, cinematographer Douglas Milsome would get better desert footage in the satisfying thriller Breakdown the following year. As for Cimino, the one-time phenom and Oscar winner, The Sunchaser constitutes an odd and disappointing return to filmmaking after a six-year absence. Another long layoff would follow. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Lee Mayman - Art Director, Edward L. Rubin - Art Director, Terry Liebling - Casting, Pablo Ferro - Consultant/advisor, Brian Cook - First Assistant Director, Michael Cimino - Director, Joe D'Augustine - Editor, Joseph M. Caracciolo, Jr. - Executive Producer, Michael Nathanson - Executive Producer, Maurice Jarre - Composer (Music Score), Victoria Paul - Production Designer, Douglas Milsome - Cinematographer, Michael Cimino - Producer, Arnon Milchan - Producer, Larry Spiegel - Producer, Joseph S. Vecchio - Producer, Judy Goldstein - Producer, Jackie Carr - Set Designer, Douglas Axtell - Sound/Sound Designer, Charles Leavitt - Screenwriter, Robert "Bobby Z" Zajonc - Pilot
"Blue" Monroe (played by Seda) is a 16-year-old juvenile offender (convicted of murdering an abusive stepfather) who is dying of abdominal cancer. Dr. Michael Reynolds (played by Harrelson) is Blue's rich, self-absorbed oncologist.
During a medical visit, the patient discovers that he has only a month to live and decides to escape. He kidnaps Dr. Reynolds and forces him to drive to Arizona to visit a mountain lake sacred to the Navajo people. The trip forces both to confront their sense-of-self and life choices.
