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August 2, 2013

Midnight Movie of the Week #187 - Red Rock West

I know what my film history professors in college taught me. (Well, I know most parts of it. I wasn't buying all they had to offer.) I know that, according to them and an article by Paul Schrader, film noir was a movement and not a genre. It lasted from The Maltese Falcon through Touch of Evil, and then it was done. According to them, nothing else is noir.
I don't mean to quibble with a professor who had a hand fetish and the writer of Taxi Driver, but there a few movies I've seen since then that make me think of Sam Spade or a Mexican Charlton Heston; movies that make me think I should never trust attractive women and movies that make me assume there's at least one sociopathic killer in every bar. The trendy thing to say about these movies is that they're "neo-noir" - which implies to me that they're inferior knock offs of film noir - but every once in a while one of these films hits all the right notes and makes me reconsider what I was once taught. (Which, of course, is something we should always do anyway. Hooray for contrarianism!)

(Is contrarianism even a word? If not, I call dibs on inventing it.)
Which brings us to today's film, Red Rock West. Directed by John Dahl (who also co-wrote the film with his brother Rick), it's a deadly game between an honest man, a deadly man, a corrupt man, and...a woman. Being noir (or at the least noiresque), it's not fair for me to put a qualifier on the woman character. Is she honest? Is she deadly? Is she corrupt? You could shake a Magic 8 Ball and get a more consistent answer than I could give you about the women of noir.  There's like five books I could write about them and I'd probably still miss several key points.
Nicolas Cage stars as Michael Williams, an ex-marine who is roaming the Wyoming countryside looking for work and stumbles into the middle of a murder scheme. Cage plays the character with his trademark twitch, but also stays true to that unhinged-yet-pure-hearted persona that he seemed to hit so well in the mid '90s. He gets caught up in that unrewarding cycle of trying to do the right thing, with his biggest mistake being that he accidentally accepts a gig as a professional killer. He thought the guy needed a bartender, but instead the guy needed someone whacked. I'm sure this happens all the time. So remember: Don't forget to ask what the job you're accepting is before you accept it.
The man who mistakenly hires Michael is played by the late J.T. Walsh, one of the '90s sleaziest character actors, and his wife is played seductively by a young Lara Flynn Boyle, who embraces the role of femme fatale with ease. Their dynamic with Cage's character allows for plenty of great interactions as the drifter tries to find the easiest exit from the small town of Red Rock that is left for him. The plot survives thanks to Michael's extreme string of bad luck, particularly when he stumbles into the film's most unhinged character - Lyle from Dallas, the hitman who Michael accidentally impersonated who is played by no less than Dennis Hopper.
By this point in his career anyone who loves dark cinema had seen what Hopper is capable of, and his turn as the killer here steals scenes throughout the film. He's not as crazy as he was in films like Blue Velvet, instead making Lyle seem like a relatively smart guy who just really enjoys money and killing. While all four of the film's stars are excellent - this is one of the most fantastic casting jobs I can think of in a movie - it's Hopper's energy in his scenes that really keeps Red Rock West feeling dangerous and exciting. Thanks to him we feel even more sympathy for our down on his luck hero, and at times he even makes us feel a little sympathy for Wayne and Suzanne, despite their attempts to kill each other.

Red Rock West doesn't look like the traditional noir - or the traditional midnight movie, to be honest - but it's so well-plotted by Dahl and so well acted by the cast that it overcomes all the cliches with ease. It's a little-movie-that-could, one that was even sold to HBO and premiered on cable before getting picked up and distributed theatrically, but it has always jumped off the screen at me as a truly special pulp thriller. Above all else, it's my favorite argument toward the idea that maybe noir didn't die off for good in 1958. The rain and the overcoats are (mostly) gone, but Red Rock West still feels like it belongs next to some of Hollywood's darkest crime stories.

11 comments:

jervaise brooke hamster said...

I want to bugger Lara Flynn Boyle (as the bird was in 1988 when the bird was 18, not as the bird is now obviously).

jervaise brooke hamster said...

Lara Flynn Boyle = Poltergeist III = Heather O`Rourke.

jimmie t. murakami said...

Whats the greatest Film Noir of all-time ! ?, Curtis Bernhardts "Conflict" (1943) starring Humphrey Bogart, that films re-watchability factor is astounding.

the sneering (homo-phobic) snob said...

The only thing i`ve ever really liked about Nicolas Cage is that he is perhaps the most rampagingly heterosexual geezer who has ever lived.

jervaise brooke hamster said...

Lara celebrated her 17th birthday just a few weeks before filming began on Poltergeist III with Heather, but a year later on Laras 18th birthday Heather had already been gone for almost 2 months. Lara is 43 now (and there-fore 25 years past the prime of her life), i wonder if she fully realises that her scenes with Heather in Poltergeist III are now the only reason people remember her (Lara) ! ?, its Heather whos now the legend and Lara whos the has been, very i-debbie-jenny i think you`ll agree.

The Mike said...

What does "i-debbie-jenny" mean ?.

jervaise brooke hamster said...

Oh yeah, sorry my old mate, i better explain, its to do with my murderous homo-phobia again, you see its difficult for me to write the word "ironic" because the second syllable of that word is the word "ron" and the third syllable is the word "nick" and they`re both geezers names, which, as i said, plays havoc with my homo-phobia, thats why i had to replace the geezers names with birds names in order to assert my rampaging heterosexuality, hence why the word "ironic" became the word "i-debbie-jenny", i hope that clarifys everything.

The Mike said...

It does Jervaise, thanks, i appreciate the time you took to explain that, i fell about laughing while i was reading it. By the way, you`re off your fucking rocker ! ! !.

jervaise brooke hamster said...

I may well indeed be a looney but my murderous homo-phobia is a very important part of my life as is my rampaging heterosexuality obviously.

Christine Hadden said...

Holy ridiculously off-kilter comments, Batman!

But hey, the film does intrigue me, will have to check it out.

The Mike said...

Hammy, I will let you have your twisted sessions here...but only as long as you're respectful to others. Only warning.