Red Rock West **** (1992, Nicolas Cage, Lara Flynn Boyle, Dennis Hopper, J T Walsh) – Classic Movie Review 336

John Dahl’s 1992 brilliantly quirky and twisty retro-film noir Red Rock West is a killer thriller to watch again and again. Nicolas Cage is mistaken for a hired killer by a sinister bar owner (J T Walsh), who pays him to kill his wife (Lara Flynn Boyle).

Director John Dahl’s 1992 brilliantly quirky and twisty retro-film noir movie Red Rock West is a killer thriller to watch again and again. Lovingly crafted, it’s as menacing and scary as it is steamy.

A pre-superstardom Nicolas Cage stars as Mike, a down-on-his-luck Texan who calls in at the little nowhere town of Red Rock, Wyoming, to see if he can land some bar work after a promised job fails to materialise. But he is mistaken for a hired killer by sinister bar owner Wayne (J T Walsh), who gives him cash to kill his unfaithful wife, Suzanne (Lara Flynn Boyle). When Cage decides to warn her, she promptly gives him money to kill Walsh, who is in fact the town sheriff.

Mike takes the money and runs. During his getaway, things start to go wrong, and Walsh then tries to kill Cage, who escapes in a passing car driven by none other than the real hired killer from Texas, the seriously disturbed Lyle (Dennis Hopper). Now things go from bad to worse.

There’s more, much more of this deviously and deliriously plotted cat-and-mouse yarn, whose bizarre twists are jaw-dropping. And, all along the way, there is endless pleasure to be had here for any thriller fans.

All the cast are absolutely ideal, and respond with impeccable turns. On fine form, Cage proves a very useful hero, severely tried and tormented but always remaining resourceful and upright. He’s the centre of the vortex, not exactly calm, but easy to identify with as our point of contact with the crazies he meets.

The sizzling Boyle makes an especially slinky femme fatale, making the stereotype seem fresh and alluring all over again, while Walsh and Hopper turn in their rousingly crafted portrayals of, respectively, chilly evil and crazed evil. Hopper effortlessly steals all his scenes, accessing his Frank Booth character from Blue Velvet.

There are loads of exciting suspense set pieces in John Dahl and his producer brother Rick Dahl’s terrific screenplay that punctuates the thrills with an effective layer of tongue-in-cheek humour. Marc Reshovsky’s cinematography and William Olvis’s score also help to pile on the heady film noir atmosphere.

A lot of the Wyoming-set film was shot on location in Montana, the Dahls’ home state, as well as Arizona (in Willcox, Sonoita and Elgin).

A critical favourite at the time, it is now a respected cult movie but it wasn’t a hit. Even on a low cost of $8 million, it took back only $2.5 million in the United States. What do you have to do to entertain people?

However, the film was successful in German, French and UK cinemas in summer 1993 and then was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival. It played on HBO in autumn 1993 and then opened in cinemas in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City.

Cage was recommended to the Dahls by his uncle, Francis Coppola, who admired their first film Kill Me Again.

John Dahl went on to direct Rounders, The Last Seduction and Road Kill (aka Joy Ride). He also made Unforgettable (1996), The Great Raid (2005) and You Kill Me (2007).

Dwight Yoakam makes his acting debut playing the Truck Driver. His hit single ‘A Thousand Miles From Nowhere’ is used during the closing credits. He wrote it while the film was being made and it became a Top Ten country hit.

The film’s soundtrack features country music performers Johnny Cash, Shania Twain, Toby Keith, The Kentucky Headhunters, and Sammy Kershaw.

The cast

The cast are Nicolas Cage as Michael Williams, Dennis Hopper as Lyle, Lara Flynn Boyle as Ann McCord / Suzanne Brown, J T Walsh as Kevin McCord / Sheriff Wayne Brown, Dwight Yoakam as Truck Driver, Timothy Carhart as Deputy Matt Greytack, Dan Shor as Deputy Bowman, Robert Apel as Howard, Craig Reay as Jim, Dale Gibson as Kurt, Shawn Michael Ryan as Ted, Barbara Glover as Jane, Vance Johnson as Mr Johnson, Robert Beecher as Caretaker, and Jody Carter as Caretaker’s Wife.

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© Derek Winnert 2013 Classic Movie Review 336

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