U Turn is a 1997 Neo-noir/drama film directed by Oliver Stone, based on the book Stray Dogs by John Ridley. It stars Sean Penn, Billy Bob Thornton, Jennifer Lopez, Jon Voight, Powers Boothe, Joaquin Phoenix, Claire Danes and Nick Nolte.
Plot
The plot concerns a drifter named Bobby (Sean Penn) who ends up entangled in a plot involving a Grace McKenna (Jennifer Lopez) and her husband Jake (Nick Nolte), also finding himself in conflict with the town mechanic named Darrell (Billy Bob Thornton).
Bobby owes a large amount of money which he is currently transporting to California. His car breaks down however, forcing him to drive to the nearest town, Superior, Arizona. He takes the money with him but leaves his gun in the trunk of his car. While waiting for his car to be fixed, he wanders around the town where he meets Grace. Not realising she is married, he hits on her and helps her carry some drapes to her car. She offers to take him back to her house where he can have a shower.
While in the shower, it is revealed that the 'accident' that happened to his hand was in fact a punishment for the overdue debt - two of his fingers were cut off. After his shower he attempts to seduce Grace, who is cold to his advances. He goes to leave, saying he isn't interested in playing games. The two then kiss, where they are caught by Grace's husband Jake. Bobby, saying he didn't know she was married, tries to leave but Jake punches him.
As Bobby is walking back to town Jake pulls up beside him and offers him a lift. After a casual conversation about Grace, Jake asks Bobby if he would kill her for a price claiming that he is sick of her games. Bobby laughs this off and asks Jake if he's just trying to "rattle" him.
Later on when Bobby is in a convenience store, the store is held up. The robbers take his bag with all his money in it but the shop owner takes out a shotgun and kills them both, unfortunately destroying most of the money in the process. Broke and without the means to even leave the town as he cannot pay the mechanic, Bobby frantically calls nearly everyone he knows trying to get money to fix his car. He even calls the gangster he owes money to asking him for money but the gangster angrily refuses. The gangster now knows where Bobby is and sends someone after him.
When Bobby is sitting in a bar drinking a beer, he is approached by Jenny (Claire Danes). Here we are introduced to Toby N. Tucker (Joaquin Phoenix), an aggressive and very possessive boyfriend calling himself TNT who attempts to fight him for Jenny. The fight is stopped in time by the town Sheriff (Powers Boothe).
Bobby also goes back to the mechanics, where he finds that Darrell has done additional work and is asking a higher price. He also busted open the trunk of the car, meaning Bobby cannot access his gun. A confrontation breaks out which results in Darrell scratching up the hood of Bobby's car. Darrell says that he will continue working on the car and charging more and more for the work until Bobby has the means to pay him.
Wondering what to do for money, Bobby remembers the offer Jake made to him earlier in the car. He approaches Jake about the deal, who initially passes the comment off as a joke. Bobby says that he could tell Jake was serious about the offer and that he is serious about taking him up on it. Jake tells him that he would need to take Grace out of town and push her off a cliff in order to make the murder look like a suicide. A dreamy sequences shows that Bobby couldn't go through with it and ends up sleeping with her instead. Grace cuts the sex short however, leading Bobby to call her the "Queen of hot-and-cold". Grace reveals that she is not just Jake's wife; she is also his illegitimate child. Jake sexually abused her from a young age and then married her after her mother died. Her mother was found dead at the bottom of a cliff but her death was ruled a suicide, Grace doesn't believe she killed herself. Her death is eerily similar to how Jake told Bobby to kill Grace. Grace then asks Bobby if he would kill Jake, meaning the two of them could steal his money which Grace would not have access to otherwise. Bobby initially refuses.
Still broke and aware that the gangsters will send someone to find him, Bobby attempts to buy a ticket out of town in order to escape. Although he doesn't have enough money, the clerk gives him the ticket anyway after he becomes aggressive and hostile. After buying the ticket he sees one of the gangsters driving towards him. However, the Sheriff stops the gangster and arrests him for speeding. Thinking he is safe, Bobby is then attacked by TNT who has been attempting to fight him for most of the film. TNT takes Bobby's ticket, rips it up and eats it, causing Bobby to lose his temper and badly beat him.
Knowing he is out of options, Bobby agrees to kill Jake. When he breaks into Jakes house while Jake is having sex with Grace, he accidentally makes a noise. Jake goes downstairs to investigate and finds Bobby, who then tells Jake that killing him was Grace's idea and that he'll kill Grace for just enough money to pay for a car. Grace overhears this and attacks Bobby when he walks into the room. However, she is really waiting for Jake to return so that she can kill him. After killing Jake, Bobby and Grace unlock his safe to find $200,000. They then have sex in front of his dead body.
Afterwards, Bobby goes to Darrell to get his car back. When he returns, Grace's car is gone. Bobby thinks she has run off with the money but she shows up at the front door. As they drive off however, they are pulled over by the Sheriff. Here we find out that Grace has also been sleeping with him. Grace appears to turn on Bobby, blaming him for Jakes death. However, she shoots the sheriff and puts him in the trunk with Jake.
As Bobby and Grace are dumping the cadavers, Bobby elbows Grace in the nose and steals her gun, telling her that he doesn't trust her and that when they reach California they will split the money and go their separate ways. Grace says that when she blamed Jake's death on Bobby, she was merely baiting the Sheriff so she could kill him, much like Bobby baited Jake when he said he'd kill Grace. The implication seems to be that Bobby would have killed Grace rather than Jake if he'd had to. As they are talking, Grace pushes Bobby over the cliff, not killing him but severely injuring him. She gets in the car to drive off before realising that Bobby has taken the keys. Bobby pleads with her to come down and help him. She does so, knowing she needs the keys. When she gets close enough however, he strangles her. He then makes the grueling journey back up the cliff with a broken leg. Relieved that he is finally back in his car (and with all the money), he starts the car, only for the radiator hose to burst again like it did at the start of the film. The film ends showing that Bobby has died in the heat.
Cast
Production
U Turn was filmed in 1996 on location in Superior, Arizona and other areas of Arizona and California.
Reception
Roger Ebert gave the film 1½ stars, deeming it a "repetitive, pointless exercise in genre filmmaking—the kind of film where you distract yourself by making a list of the sources".[1] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that it "demonstrates a filmmaker in complete command of his craft and with little control over his impulses".[2]
References
External links
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