Extreme Prejudice

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'!

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.

You know the movie. Drugs across the Southwest border, blasted Texan landscapes, sweaty faces, gas stations in the middle of nowhere, money exchanging hands and gone missing somewhere along the way, maybe a bank robbery. It's that distinctly American type of crime movie given character by the beautiful western setting, a modern update of sheriffs and Mexican outlaws and doublecrossing between old friends now on opposite sides of the law that goes as far back as Boetticher's films, done with a focus on high-octane no-holds-barred action cut straight from Sam Peckinpah's school of blood squibs and slow-mo gunfights.

The story isn't half-bad but Walter Hill has always been an action nut first and foremost and John Milius was never Cormac McCarthy, so you'll forgive Extreme Prejudice for not quite being No Country for Old Men. It's still a good movie, not very surprising truth be told, with some nice dialogue exchanges along the way, a crabby Rip Torn as the old sheriff mentor and Nick Nolte looking mean and badass for most of the film, and if it's let down in the acting department every now and then when some emoting is required, that's because both Michael Ironside and Powers Boothe playing the villains were never the greatest of actors.

The low 6.2 rating the movie has as of this posting tells me the movie has suffered at the hands of sleepy viewers catching it randomly on late night TV in crappy pan-and-scan versions or indifferent video club patrons renting it on VHS. A niche audience comprising of fans of action movies and 70's gritnik crime cinema, the kind of genre Walter Hill has proudly inhabited in the 70's with films like The Driver, watching a good quality widescreen copy like I saw, will have much different things to say.

I acutally remember seeing the trailer to this film when I was a teenager and couldnt wait. I have always been a fan of Walter Hill's work, especially Streets of Fire, the Warriors, and Southern Compfort.

I see most people tend to think this is a Wild Bunch wannabe but in actuallity it is more of a "elite team of superheroes kills the bad guy movie". Its more akin to Buckaroo Banzai than the Wild Bunch. (Maybe because Clancy Brown was the same character in both movies) The book was fantastic and I dont see many similarities to Sam Peckinpah other than he and Walter Hill must be brothers.

In this case, the "superheroes" are soldiers and the main hero is a bad-ass sheriff who's best friend is the main heavy. Sounds like any comic book I ever read.

What makes this film so good is Powers Boothe and the elite team of heroes, who are essentially bad guys in there own right. Powers Boothe coming hot off his bad-ass Colonel role in Red Dawn (also Milius) is awesome. His attitude is ripe for this movie and he and Michael Ironside, hot off of "V", is equally bad-ass, play off each other. It is nice to Nolte in his prime as a hero (versus a drug addict).

I highly recommend this movie for any junkie who wants to see a

"bad-ass-team-of-superheroes-who-give-new-meaning-to-dont-mess-with-Texas."

A stoic Nick Nolte and a charismatic Powers Boothe face off in this Peckinpah-style serving of sordid melodrama and intense bloody violence. It's a fun action-Western from director Walter Hill, a filmmaker often at his best when portraying tough male milieus. With story credit going to Fred Rexer and the colourful John Milius, it deliberately makes its way towards an exciting confrontation when bullets fly and countless squibs go off. This will mean that some viewers will be turned off, but others will enjoy the visceral quality of this material. Certainly one of the movie's prime assets is a kick ass cast of cool actors, not just Nolte and Boothe.

The two leads play former childhood friends now on opposite sides of the law, a familiar enough premise. Jack Benteen (Nolte) is a Texas Ranger and Cash Bailey (Boothe) is a big time drug dealer, and Jack wants to give Cash every chance to surrender peaceably. While this is going on, they fight over the affections of a saloon singer, Sarita (the very sexy Maria Conchita Alonso) and a team of mercenaries led by Major Paul Hackett (Michael Ironside) has their own plans that involve a bank robbery.

You know you'll have a good time when you see that Hackett's comrades are played by (among others) Clancy Brown and William Forsythe. Rip Torn makes the most of his screen time as Jack's colleague Sheriff Hank Pearson. Other familiar faces in the cast include Larry B. Scott, John Dennis Johnston, Luis Contreras, Gary Carlos Cervantes, Tommy 'Tiny' Lister, Marco Rodriguez, Mickey Jones, and a briefly seen Lin Shaye. Forsythe in particular tears up the scenery. The sun baked cinematography (by Matthew F. Leonetti), Texas and California locales, and soaring Jerry Goldsmith music are all credits to the movie.

The audience should be able to enjoy the twisty plot, the interplay between the two main characters, and the big finish. All in all, this proves to be a solid outing for Hill and his cast & crew.

Seven out of 10.