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by Rusty White
THE EARLY 80'S
After "Southern Comfort," Walter Hill hit the big time. His next film was the perfect synthesis of the gritty crime drama and comedy. "48hrs" became a mega hit for Hill. The Eddie Murphy/Nick Nolte vehicle had audiences rolling in the aisles. No need to review it here as everyone including the Dali Lama has probably seen it. Just a few trivia notes. James Remar, who delivered fine supporting roles in "The Warriors" and "The Long Riders" came into his own as the main bad guy. His psycho performance who guarantee him work for the next 20 years. Daniel Patrick Kelly, also from "The Warriors" appeared as the doomed Luther, one of Remar's gang. The beautiful and talented Annette O'Toole is waste as Nolte's long suffering girl-friend. Hill's stylish violence and flair for character driven direction reached it's commercial zenith with this picture. His next picture would be more personal and much less successful.
STREETS OF FIRE
A Rock and Roll comic book, "Streets of Fire" stars the eternally hot Diane Lane, a tom boyish Amy Madigan, Rick Moranis and 80s flash-in-the-pan heart throb Michael Pare. Forget the plot. Forget the stylish sets. Forget Michael Pare's tough guy performance. Forget Rick Moranis's nebbish presence. Pay some attention to Amy Madigan's excellent performance. Hell, forget Hill's writing and direction! The only reason I mention this movie is the presence of the ultimate Earth-Mother cum Sex-Goddess Diane Lane. I even thought she was sexy in "My Dog Skip." The opening concert sequence when she struts her stuff in a leather mini skirt would raise the dead. She's a hell of an actress too! I wouldn't care if she couldn't act her way out of a soggy paper sack. I must stop now, as I am losing my critical perspective. How unprofessional of me. The fan must emerge every now and then!
Hill followed this commercial and critical misfire with another commercial movie which I hated and will not comment on further except to name it: "Brewster's Millions." Once again, Hill would return to a more personal vision in "Crossroads." Like Peckinpah did with "The Ballad of Cable Hogue" and "Junior Bonner" Hill showed that a macho director can have a sentimental side. Walter Hill followed "Crossroads" with an homage to his violent predecessor. The closest thing to the style and spirit of Peckinpah: "Extreme Prejudice."
EXTREME PREJUDICE
"Extreme Prejudice" is almost as if a cinematic Dr. Frankenstein looted the graveyard of Sam Peckinpah's entire output, put it in a blender and came up with this highly entertaining, if derivative homage to the "Master of Violence." Actually Hill had some help with this one. If Peckinpah was the movie God of Carnage and Machismo, Walter Hill and John Milius were his imps in waiting. Co-scripted by Milius (Dirty Harry, Red Dawn, Dillinger) and directed by Hill, "Extreme Prejudice" is a movie which is at once familiar and at the same time original. I am going to (once again) break my no-spoiler review policy in order to discuss fully Hill and Milius's tribute to the late great master, Sam Peckinpah.
"Extreme Prejudice" opens with a complex credit sequence which bombards the viewer with a ton of information. Set in a Texas airport, six men are seen meeting each other. As each character arrives, a quick cut to a computer printer running shows that each of these men are soldiers who have died in either combat or military accidents. The sequence harkens back to the credit sequence of "The Getaway" in tone and the airport sequence in "The Killer Elite" in pacing and purpose. The soldiers are led by Major Paul Hackett (Michael Ironside). Clancey Brown (Highlander) and William Forsythe stand out among the five NCOs under Hackett's command. The purpose of this elite squad of covert ops is revealed as the movie unreels.
Following the credit sequence, the movie shifts locations to a dusty Texas border town. It is a rainy night. Texas Ranger Jack Benteen (Nick Nolte) and county Sheriff Hank Pearson (Rip Torn) sit outside a roadside bar. A drug smuggler has outrun the boarder patrol. The two tall-in-the-saddle lawmen are about to walk into the jaws of death to get their man. Jack wades through the crowd until he faces the dirt-farmer turned mule who makes ends meet by running cocaine across the boarder for the film's villain. Jack is forced to shoot the smuggler. Hank backs him up as the two arrest two others. The scene is full of intensely macho dialogue as the Ranger and the smuggler feel each other out prior to the shootout. Benteen is shown to fearless but human. He knows that if it comes down to a shooting he will win due to the drawn pistol under his pancho. He also doesn't want to kill this man he knew from childhood. He sympathizes with the smuggler to the extent that the economy of the region drove him to this action. Benteen's hate for the drug lord Cash Bailey (Powers Booth) is established in this great action sequence.
Jack arrives home the next morning. His girlfriend Sarita (the sexy and under used Maria Conchita Alonso) is asleep. She awakens. Jack finally reveals that he killed a man the night before. The conversation turns to the direction their relationship is going. The scene is reminiscent of Hill's earlier "48hrs." Fortunately in "Extreme Prejudice" Hill fully develops the relationship between Jack and Sarita, so we don't have a wasted presence by the female lead as we did with Annette O'Toole in "48hrs." The conversation reveals that Jack and his nemesis, Cash Bailey were childhood friends and that Sarita also dated Cash before she was with Jack. Jack leaves for the office. By the time he gets to headquarters, a bomb has exploded in town killing a rival of Cash Bailey's. Jack gets word to his old friend that he wants to meet Cash south of the border.
The meeting between Jack and Cash on Cash's turf is right out of "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid." Both men try to use their friendship to get their way. Both men are on a path from which they can't veer. Jack has morals and Cash is in to deep. As in the Peckinpah movie the scene honors, both men walk away knowing that there will be bloodshed when they next meet.
The convoluted plot switches back and forth between Jack's pursuit of Cash Bailey and his problems with girlfriend Sarita. Don't forget those dead soldiers. Whatever their covert operation is, it involves robbing the bank where Cash Bailey launders his drug money. The robbery is right out of "The Getaway" up to and including the diversionary explosions, severed telephone lines and car chase.
Hill also draws inspiration from the murkiest, if most personal of Peckinpah's movies, "Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia." Jack Benteen's character has the determination of Warren Oates' piano player/mercenary. There is a daylight shoot out between some drug dealers and Jack and Sheriff Pearson. This scene as with one section during the climatic massacre are lifted from "Garcia" in body and spirit.
No Peckinpah tribute would be complete without a salute to the climatic battle between Pike, Deke, Tector and Lyle and the army of General Mapache at the end of "The Wild Bunch." Hill and Milius have all of the film's major characters meet for a grand battle at Cash Bailey's Mexican stronghold. I won't say who is shooting at who, but I will say that Hill is obviously paying tribute to the master of violence. One of the risks of remaking a great movie, or so obviously paying tribute to them is the fact the works will be given side-by-side comparisons. While the shoot out at the end of "Extreme Prejudice" is well done and exciting, it pales by comparison to Peckinpah's masterpiece.
Another nod to Peckinpah are the well developed characters. These are all ballsy, macho men who also have very deep feelings. OK, so they express their emotions with a gun, but they aren't the cold killing machines of many action films. Clancey Brown and William Forsythe deliver very good performances in their minor roles. The fact they stand out speaks volumes about their performances, because Nolte and Rip Torn are in peak condition in this movie. Only Powers Booth waivers as the bad guy. During the film's ending, Mr. Booth seems to be drunk one minute and hopped up on coke the next. He is inconsistent during the weakest part of the script. Hill takes the Jack Elam/ Kris Kristofferson duel from "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid" and puts Jack and Cash in the parts. It goes on way to long and is the film's biggest liability.
The fact that Hill and Milius made "Extreme Prejudice" such a blatant copy of the films of Peckinpah leads me to believe that it has to be an homage. It is derivative, but it is also enjoyable and delivers the goods. Despite the similarities between this film and Peckinpah's work, Hill's individual style in this and other films proves that he is not just another Peckinpah wannabe.
» continue: Postscript
« previous: Hill the Director (1970s)
Rusty White
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