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Here is another modern-day film-noir, featuring interesting characters played by a diverse cast. That cast is led by Willem Dafoe, who reminds me a lot of another noir actor, Dan Duryea.

There is the usual corrupt government/military officials angle but the plot does have a few neat twists and is generally a non-nonsense kind of story. However, I did find the storyline a bit confusing, especially in the last half hour. On a second viewing, five years later, a few things cleared up but not a lot. I guess it will take looks to figure out everything, especially the very end.

I'm not usually a fan of Elizabeth Mastrantonio, but I thought she was exceptional in here: by far, the best and most interesting character. The movie has a nice soundtrack. Overall, the good outweighs the bad and the somewhat confusing story helps draw me back for future viewings.

Aside notes: this must have been one of Samuel L. Jackson's first films because he was listed as "Sam Jackson" in the closing credits. Unbilled were three always-interesting actors: Fred Thompson, Mimi Rogers and Jack P. Ryan.

Which was an incredible distraction and took quite a bit away from the film. Whenever a swear word was supposed to be uttered the dialogue went mute. Unbelievable for Amazon.

A New Mexico state sheriff assumes the identity of a dead man he finds in the desert and sets out to solve the crime all by himself. Willem Dafoe is the lawman who bites off more than he can chew and stumbles from one situation to another, all with bad guys and mysterious women who want the money he found in the desert with the man who was killed. The plot is not easy to follow and is populated with heavies and shadowy figures but somehow the film maintains interest throughout. The supporting cast is very good, with Samuel L. Jackson, Mickey Rourke, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and M. Emmet Walsh heading the list, and Dafoe and Mastrantonio have a nice shower scene together. Senator Fred Dalton Thompson is also good in a brief appearance. Partick O'Hearn contributes a nice music score.

This interesting cop thriller has a convoluted plot that gets a bit out of hand in the second half, with improbable, needless twists added only to provoke a surprised response on the audience's part (consider, for example, Mickey Rourke's true identity), but it has been stylishly directed by Roger Donaldson (who has already shown his competence with the first-rate "No Way Out") and acted with restraint by the three leads; Rourke is particularly magnetic. Samuel Jackson also has an amusing supporting role. (**1/2)

I have seen this movie on the racks at video stores for years. I have never been tempted to view it. Since I saw it on Cinemax, I say that I like it. Willem DeFoe plays a cop who becomes wrapped up in this undercover scheme involving half a million dollars. He pretends like he is this man who was found dead in the desert. The great thing about this movie is that it takes turn after turn and twist after twist. All the characters, played by Sam Jackson (a great actor) and Mickey Rork are not who you really think they are. The scenary is great to. The entire film was shot in New Mexico. Scenes of Taos and Santa Fe are plentiful. This is a must see movie for Willem Defoe fans. I rate this movie a hefty 7 out of ten stars.

Trying to figure out "White Sands" is like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle with quite a few missing pieces. This overcomplicated movie challenges the viewer's understanding way too much, and eventually you will lose interest. It really is a shame because the cast gives their best effort with what is a severely disjointed script. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and the blue Corvette are easy on the eyes, but it's not enough to maintain momentum, and the whole thing derails twenty minutes in and never recovers. True there are a few strong scenes, but a plethora of dead material is unfortunately connecting them. Not recommended. - MERK

This movie started out promising. Ray ( William Dafoe ) investigates an apparent suicide in the middle of the desert of a man with a briefcase full of money . After following clues ( including one found out of someone's stomach ) Ray eventually finds himself in trouble with criminals and the F.B.I. But after the first 40-60 minutes, the movie loses interest and becomes dull and boring. Even with the supporting cast of Mickey Rourke and Samual L. Jackson, White Sands trails away from the initial interest of the start and becomes a cliched " everyone chasing after the money " flick. I would only recommend this film for fans of Dafoe or people with nothing to do on a Saturday afternoon. 4.5/10

Deputy Sheriff Ray Dolezal (Willem Dafoe) investigates a dead body with a suitcase full of money found in the middle of the desert. Medical examiner Bert Gibson (M. Emmet Walsh) finds a phone number on a piece of paper swallowed by the dead man. He goes to a meeting where the money is taken and a meeting with Gorman Lennox (Mickey Rourke) is set up. FBI agent Greg Meeker (Samuel L. Jackson) tells him that it was an undercover FBI operation. They want their half million dollars back. FBI Agent Flynn (James Rebhorn) is also chasing after the money claiming a rogue element stole it from a court case. Dolezal meets the underworld partner Lennox and then Lane Bodine (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) who knew the dead man, Bob Spencer. At White Sands, Dolezal and Lennox are shown state-of-the-art weapons.

It's an overly complicated hard-boiled police undercover investigation. There are a lot of annoying little problems. Dolezal is careless with a half million dollars evidence. There is no way a non-idiot police detective would walk out with that much money and no back-up. Once it's taken, there's no reason for the bad guys to return it in one of the silliest request. I also really need somebody to call FBI headquarters to check on some of these agents popping up demanding their money back. It's simply bad writing and doesn't survive in-depth examination. The first class actors try to make the material work as best they can.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this movie and it is an excellent rental option when you are undecided on what to get in your favorite movie rental service/place. Very good plot, the dialogs are great and the ending is definitely not predictable. Rourke was in his downhill after a flash rise to fame due to 9 1/2 weeks (if you are an 80s guy like me, you know what I mean), but he still gives a good performance and one of his lines was just the best of the whole movie. Samuel Jackson was solid and Dafoe balanced as always. As a bonus the sexiest performance of Mastrantonio in her career. The movie has ups and downs and does not keep you nailed to your chair, but that is the story telling style of the director and I am cool with it.

This is some of Willem Dafoe's best work. Mickey Rourke at his best before whatever happened to him happened. Sam Jackson is a casting pro's dream. He always plays himself and he's always perfect for his roles, even if one-dimensional. Either his characters' dialogues are written just for him, or he adlibs the lines and is always as genuine. There is nothing not to like about Ms. Mastrantonio and she is quite delightful here, especially in the shower. Fred Thompson added to the convoluted fun out of nowhere. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense but is so well presented by the superb cast that its worth the watch and ends well..

At least this film has some terrific desert scenery, especially at the beginning and at the end. But the spectacular New Mexico vistas are not nearly enough to overcome a garbled storyline about a good-guy cop named Ray Dolezal (Willem Dafoe) who investigates the death of a man clutching a suitcase full of loot. Implausibly, Dolezal then assumes the identity of the dead man, to track down the villain or villains. The plot contains several potential villains, but their real identities and their various motivations are terribly confusing. About halfway into the film, I gave up trying to figure out who was doing what to whom. None of the characters are especially interesting.

The story also suffers from various standard film clichés: tough guys who talk tough, characters who spend a lot of time pointing guns at each other; the obligatory nude shower scene, a gory autopsy, and so on. Another big problem here is the casting of Willem Dafoe. With his heavy-duty Northern accent, he is not at all convincing as a redneck sheriff.

Lacking thematic depth or significant originality, "White Sands" is just another film about some cop who tries to solve a crime alone, and in the process encounters assorted characters and risks. The only thing that made the movie halfway interesting to me was the expansive New Mexico landscape.

Roger Donaldson always distinct itself by making mediocre films. Just think of movies like "Cocktail", "Species", "Dante's Peak" and the remakes of "No Way Out" and "The Getaway". Now most of this movies showed some great potential but yet somehow Donaldson manages to not let this movie pass the mark of average. I really liked his movie "Thirteen Days" though, which was just great but this mostly was due to its compelling historic tense story. Even that movie shows great flaws in the directing. Even though he doesn't make that great movies he still makes well known wells, which also really is an accomplishment, I must admit.

I'm afraid that this movie is also a typical example of a Roger Donaldson movie. The concept of the movie sounds just great and shows more than enough potential to create a tense and original thriller with, with perhaps even noir elements in it. And also just look at the cast, how could you go wrong with this? The movie is still a decent one but it leaves lots of potential unused. The movie is not really ever tense or mysterious, mostly because of the reason that the story always stays way too vague and overcomplicated with twists that don't always seem to make credible sense. In the end you just simply stop caring about the story and its characters.

It's an amazing cast if you look at it. It features stars such as Willem Dafoe, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Mickey Rourke, M. Emmet Walsh, Miguel Sandoval, James Rebhorn and also actors who weren't big stars yet at the time such as Samuel L. Jackson and Maura Tierney. The actors all do their very best but at times they're obviously struggling with the confusing script and formulaic dialog.

See it or don't. It's not a bad movie but it ain't a recommendable one either.

6/10

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Small town sheriff Willem Dafoe is investigating a dead body with $500,000 in a briefcase. Following a hunch, he calls a phone number and is put in touch with the people the money was intended for. He impersonates the dead guy, and finds himself in the middle of an FBI investigation involving a sinister Mickey Rourke, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and aggressive FBI agent Samuel L. Jackson.

The film is extremely stylish and fairly nonsensical. How much you'll enjoy it from minute to minute will depend upon which of these is dominating. I found myself enjoying it for a while, but eventually the heroically outsized performances started to wear me down.

This is really strange role for Dafoe. I'm not sure I ever really bought him as a simple country sheriff. The running joke about his hat is just one of the film's not very good ideas.

A man has apparently committed suicide in he New Mexico desert and beside his body is a bag containing $500,000 so local sheriff Ray Dolezal decides to keep the dead man's rendezvous to unravel the mystery A lot of people have complained about WHITE SANDS being implausiable , contrived or over plotted . My complaint is that it's really none of these things but suffers from a fundamental flaw we're warned about at basic screen writing course " Show , don't tell " . For much of the screen time the plot twists and turns well enough but ion the last 15 minutes we have to listen to characters state " I'm not how you think I am , I'm really .... " or we listen to characters give away the plot which means the climax is very much spoon fed to the audience which is something of a shame since while not being a truly great thriller WHITE SANDS deserves to be remembered more than it really is . I guess the dislodge heavy last act conspires to make this a very forgettable movie

I can't stand censorship. Well, that's exactly what Amazon did to this film. Terrific cast, very good director, weak plot. Style over substance.

Mickey Rourke is truly one of America's finest actors. He has been dismissed because of his irrational behavior, however, that takes nothing away from his talent and penetrable screen prescene. White Sands has wonderful atmosphere, capturing the desert with splendid cinematograpy. Willem Dafoe makes for an excellent protagonist to journey with through the maze that is the plot. A bonus in watching White Sands now is the post-Jungle Fever but pre-Pulp Fiction Samuel L. Jackson. He makes for a slimy antagonist. All of this and M. Emmet Walsh, in an autopsy scene to die for, make for an enjoyable movie experience.

"White Sands" (1992) is a crime/drama/thriller about a small town cop (Willem Dafoe) who masquerades as a man he mysteriously finds dead in the desert with half a million dollars. This gets him mixed up with a shady weapons-runner (Mickey Rourke) and a woman of means who is attracted to him (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio). The convoluted plot also includes a greedy FBI agent, played by Samuel L. Jackson, and many more (e.g. Maura Tierney).

Although shot in and around the spectacular White Sands, New Mexico, (Estancia, Taos and Sante Fe), the film doesn't really take advantage of the locations. Another reviewer shared how the film is "action-packed" but this isn't really the case. There are a lot of soap-operatics as characters discuss things in restaurants, hotels, houses, rodeos, etc. There's SOME action -- mostly people getting shot -- but this is hardly an "action-packed" picture.

What the film has going for it is a cool ambiance, a great cast, solid performances and an excellent soundtrack. Dafoe is a likable protagonist and Mastrantonio shines here, although I was never a fan; plus Jackson is formidable. But it's Mickey Rourke who steals the show. Being the early 90s, Rourke was still a young stud at 40 years of age. Since I'm only familiar with his films of the last 5-7 years, I wouldn't have even recognized him if I didn't know beforehand he was co-starring. In any event, Rourke is magnetic as the charismatic arms-runner.

While not as good as Rourke's more recent "Killshot" -- an underrated thriller from 2008 -- "White Sands" is a professionally made film with enough good points to make it worth your time, if you like the cast.

The film runs 101 minutes.

GRADE: B-

If there was a movie that was totally implausible and simply asks too much for one's "suspension of disbelief" well, it's WHITE SANDS. The story, about a small town cop taking the identity of a dead man in order to figure out who the dead man is, is by far the least convincing story I've seen in a long time. The idea itself is good. It's basically the same storyline as the one in Hitchcock's NORTH BY NORTHWEST played straight. But unlike the Hitchcock film, this film suffers from the get go because one of major detail: The main character, played by Dafoe, has no reason or motivation to go through all the pain and trouble of what the main character is made to go through. He's a total blank going from one incredulous situation (his relationship with Mastrantonio's silly character) to the next (Rourke's real identity), until the truly anti-climatic ending. 40 minutes into the movie and I was already drifting away from total disinterest. The acting is actually good. It's a shame that the rest of the movie is irremediably unconvincing.

There's a reason why this movie is forgotten. It's just not good.