Extreme Prejudice

Jack Benteen is a hard-edged Texas ranger, Cash is his boyhood friend who now lives across the border and works as a major drug smuggler bringing crime into Texas. The conflict between the two men is complicated further when a group of soldiers registered as killed in action arrive in the area and begin to involve themselves in the existing drug war.

This is a good Walter Hill film that has plenty of good old fashioned western style action. The plot seems a little strange for most of the film because you're not quite sure where it's going. At the start you assume that the main focus of the film will be the relationship between Power Booth's Cash and Nolte's Benteen, but after 15 minutes the focus shifts onto the arrival of the army unit and stays split between them and Nolte. Because you're not sure what the unit is doing in this situation it keeps your interest throughout. However this means that Boothe is sidelined for most of the film which is a shame.

Both Boothe and Nolte are good, with Nolte doing his usual tough guy stuff. However the real pleasure comes from the depth of famous faces in the supporting cast. Maria Conchita Alonso is in a thankless role as the girlfriend torn between Cash and Benteen, Rip Torn is the local sheriff while the army unit includes many now well-known faces of Michael Ironside, Clancy Brown, William Forsythe and a small role for the always recognisable Tom "Tiny" Lister Jr.

The action is good throughout despite being a little flat and without any great style. The "wild bunch" style ending is exciting if a little unlikely and is typical of Walter Hill.

Overall a good modern day western with a strong cast, good plot and good action. It's nothing out of the ordinary but it's still entertaining decades after it was made.

Yes, it is. I do not kidding. There aren't that much people that has heard of this little gem from master action director Walter Hill, but is is HIGHLY recommended. If you like John Woo's early Hong Kong efforts, you will LOVE this movie... It has a great story for an action western, and terrific actors: Michael Ironside, Powers Boothe, Rip Torn, William Forsythe and Clancy Brown. All some of the coolest actors ever committed to screen, if not in ONE movie. I was completely blown away by the scenes and the staging of them in this film, so I wonder why has so few heard of it? It's a shame, this one ranks alongside the most stylish films ever made. It's comparable to some of Hill's best movies: "The Long Riders, Trespass, The Warriors" etc. Nick Nolte is a god, and so is this movie. Don't let the rating fool you. For an action movie, this is a 10. Buy it, like me. And watch it on a widescreen with surround! Lovely.

Walter Hill and John Milius tackle the modern day Western in 'Extreme Prejudice'. A fast moving, Drugs Across the Border film that requires some attention to detail. With Nick Nolte delivering the goods as a strong, silent, second generation Texas Ranger opposite an equally powerful Powers Booth as a well connected, possibly undercover Kingpin who had grown up with Nolte... Enter a team of Black Ops GIs led by Michael Ironside and the always underrated Clancy Brown. Stir in the odd bank heist. Great Lines. Lies on top of lies. Lots of guns. William Forsythe as a totally dedicated borderline psycho. Rip Torn as Nolte's shoot from the hip Mentor. Even more guns. And a final Shoot 'Em Up to rival 'The Wild Bunch'. Put it all together, and you have a memorable, cast driven classic 'Guy Flick'!

They don't make em like this anymore, Walter Hill knows how to stage an "in your face" gun fight, and this movie has truckloads of that. I cant imagine women finding much in this film to entertain them, its a bloke thing through and through.

The film has an engaging story, heist movies are always great, but its conceit of moving the western into the modern era is what really stands this apart. Its got some of the all time great tough guys in it, Michael Ironside , Clancy Brown , William Forsythe etc, and they are obviously having a blast.

If you like the cinematic equivalent of a punch in the face, then this ones for you, its blokes doing what blokes do best, growling macho one liners at each other and trying to blow each other out of their socks. Cracking stuff !

Extreme Prejudice moves and unfolds just a like a Swiss watch, a well oiled and violent action movie that you can tell" even though he only has a story by credit, is through and through a John Milius yarn. Walter Hills direct clear, muscular action, and a hell of a lot of fun to experience, but what I like the most is just how completely this is a modern western, and decidedly a character-based one at that. Nick Nolte has almost the same tough Grimace expression through the whole thing, but that's fine because then that gives plenty of space for Powers Boothe, Clancy Brown, Michael Ironside, Rip Torn, William Forsythe and everybody else to work there grizzly magic if that is what it can be called on the screen.

In particular Powers Boothe is a delightful antagonist, like others sweating at times like its going out of style but making it part of his menace, and at one key point snorting enough coke to make Scarface blush. As soon as you see him and Nolte together you know this is going to be whenever they reappear a great meaty "I'm gonna emotionally and probably physically kick your ass" scene.

One could say we've seen a lot of this before, matter of fact it's deep down a "I got to hold up my Man code" story, down to the love intetest (Maria Conchita, who thankfully is cast well and she gives a very good performance), and at its best feels like Son of Peckinpah, in particular with that climax. I'm at saying this movie reinvent the wheel, but the direction is always precise and exciting and the interplay and dialogue is sharp and occasionally very funny or just the right tone of humorous attitude and one-liners for this kind of mercenary, Western heights movie, and by the very end it almost feels like Milius and Hill are giving us the origin story of the modern Mexican cartel haha. It's a good one.

Also one last thing, did it feel like the climax of this movie is almost like John Milius was finally getting to do the climax of Apocalypse Now, now only if Willard and Kurtz knew and even were friends going back? Just a musing.