Blood and Wine **** (1996, Jack Nicholson, Michael Caine, Stephen Dorff, Judy Davis, Jennifer Lopez) – Classic Movie Review 2998

Jack Nicholson re-teams in 1996 with director Bob Rafelson (The King of Marvin Gardens, Five Easy Pieces) for the pounding lowlife thriller Blood and Wine, with the slogan ‘There is no honour amongst thieves’ (amongst ?!).

The plot proves as familiar and archaic as its advertising line, but it is still a good, taut, driving film noir, with suitably seedy characters and a compellingly downbeat Miami underbelly atmosphere. It finds Nicholson on fine form as seedy trickster Alex Gates, a wine dealer who wheedles his way into a wealthy couple’s Florida mansion to steal their valuables while they are away.

He is perfectly paired with fifth-billed Michael Caine, as his as his even seedier, sick, criminal cohort partner-in-crime, safecracker ‘Vic’ Spansky, and all their scenes together resonate with pungency, credibility and funny black dark humour.

This taut and tense film noir should please all mystery fans. None of the other actors gets much of a look-in, thanks to under-written roles. This isn’t just a story crime film like Ransom (also 1996). It is a thriller with a text for adults who want to engage their brains. Its target is an investigation into humanity’s dark side, a corrupt mankind’s air of desperation and on-the-edge behaviour, modified by a strange code of behaviour and a quirky morality.

It’s Jack Nicholson’s film, and he gives a full-blooded, committed turn as a petty burglar who coolly tricks his way into a snob’s home and robs them of their diamond necklace. Roger Ebert called it ‘one of Nicholson’s best performances’, and it is.

Not all of it succeeds perfectly – there are some longueurs and hesitancies, and Stephen Dorff, Jennifer Lopez, Harold Perrineau and even Judy Davis get little look-in. But most of the time it is a spellbinder. Raymond Chandler would have recognised this world, these characters, this story – and given them his stamp of approval.

Rafelson says this is the final part of his informal trilogy starting with Five Easy Pieces (1970) and then followed by The King of Marvin Gardens (1972).

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© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2998

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