An eight year old boy named Otis is abandoned by his no-good mother at a seedy motel in the middle of nowhere. Ten years later, Otis has grown into a hunky, strapping kid (debuting Matt Dotson), who's been raised by the motels' corpulent owner (Vivienne Maloy). He's known no world other than this little one in which he's been raised. When the old woman dies, Otis hits the road, thinking that he'll head for Las Vegas. Along the way, he runs into some hardened veterans of crime - Thelma & Louise-type robbers Faith (Carol Lynley) and Grace (Barbara McNair), and ageing con man Clyde (the great screen tough guy William Smith), and gets involved in their schemes, particularly a robbery of a high-stakes poker game.
Overall, this is a good, if not that memorable, morality tale, which attempts to show what happens as Otis, an obviously innocent and naive type, becomes corrupted by this new element in his life. Clyde, in particular, makes for a compelling twist on a "father figure". Working from a script by Lazar Saric, director Marc Kolbe tells a fairly predictable but entertaining story in style. He gets some great value out of the various rural California locations, which are supplemented by a flavourful music score composed by Tim May. Eventually, things do get pretty grim and violent, but the cast and director keep you watching, every step of the way.
The main reason to watch is to see some veteran and under appreciated talent get some good roles and shine. Lynley and McNair are enticing as the middle-aged but potent and still quite sexy thieves. Dotson was promoted by some as "the next Brad Pitt" at the time, but while he is a handsome young man, he's easily outshone by his co-stars. Clyde is one of the best latter-day characters for Smith, who gets treated to a rare instance of top billing. In fact, despite some of his shady characteristics, Clyde emerges as the most likeable person in the story. And it's also fun to see "Day of the Dead" antagonist Joseph Pilato in a substantial appearance as a sadistic bad guy.
There are no real surprises here (although viewers may be amused by the big twist that the script offers), but as far as movies with "crime doesn't pay" messages go, you could easily do a lot worse than "Neon Signs".
Seven out of 10.
