The Frontier

A gritty American Southwest flick, The Frontier manages to capture a western outlaw atmosphere in a rustic wind blown environment.

A pretty, mysterious girl named Laine driving across the Arizona desert becomes temporarily employed at a diner to make up for food & lodging. The residents and customers therein are a motley lot, each with their own disturbing secrets, and each sharing a collective one as well. There's Eddie the rebel {a brash leather-clad young man reminiscent of Jim Stark/James Dean}; couple Gloria & Flynn are a British gentleman & a Jayne Mansfield-type girlfriend; Luanne, an eccentric former showgirl {diner owner, glamorous yet quite neurotic}; Lee is a stony bearded professor-like gentleman; & Officer Gault comes and goes, reminding one of a William Shatner character*, who takes a shine to Laine, especially evident in the end. Incidentally, despite a very close call with The Reaper, Laine merges with the unlikely crew of malfeasants awaiting their ill- gotten reward, utilizing venomous trickery to gain her own deadly remuneration.

With various unexpected twists and turns, the dangerous path throughout The Frontier leads to surprise lethal treasures awaiting those with a ruthlessly lawless disposition, where few survive. ∞

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* i.e., Mark Preston of The Devil's Rain, Rack Hansen of Kingdom of The Spiders.

Whos says 1970s maxi skirts, wrinkly pantyhose and unkempt, brown hair can't be sexy! Jocelyn Donahue, as Laine definitely pulls off a convincing performance of a sweet girl in a dangerously wrong situation, who wriggles through perilous scrapes with the innocence of a lamb, though, as we soon find she is neither of the two. Though "The Frontier" has the appearance of a 70s TV Movie, with suitable, "barn-find" automobiles and even more antiquated TV sets(!) the action keeps one guessing (admittedly unsubtle), and the script never fails to spring surprises, right to the end. The medium budget drama has both the aura of a road movie and a Western, but in this Western you tend to have just the Bad and the Ugly. In this respect "The Frontier" reminded me of "The Hateful Eight" (2015). Both movies tend also to be pretty liberal in the mistreatment of women, but in taking sexual equality at face value all's fair in love and Hollywood. I think it is more a movie for the guys, thanks to the presence of Laine, doubtless prissily pretty, never showing too much to prove it. The character of Flyn the Englishman was pretty weak, thanks to his difficulty in mastering the tongue, but if you remember only the goofs of a movie it tends to be a "baddun" - right?. "The Frontier", thankfully does have one or two saving graces, e.g. that pass-the-parcel swag- bag of dollars, the ruthless internecine bumping off of adversaries and that all so understandable corruptibility of humans.

Oren Shai knows his archetypes, and plays brilliantly with them in this film-literate, paperback movie, artfully constructed with a wonderfully enigmatic central performance by Jocelin Donahue, playing a role similar to Nic Cage in RED ROCK WEST. The comparison is one that kept popping up in my mind. Both titles suggest Westerns but are in reality dusty, Southwestern Noirs, Both have the lead stumbling into a criminal scheme and then creating their own. Similar, also, is Shai's film to John Dahl's follow-up Noir, THE LAST SEDUCTION, in which we follow the femme fatale, instead of the tragic male.

If made in the 90's, like the aforementioned pictures, I think this would be enjoying a wide-release right now. It clearly has the skill behind it. Shai is a beautiful stylist, creating the timeless palate of a decade never mentioned, but most likely the 70's, given the cars and wardrobe. However, the actors put their spin on movie stars of decades previous. There's Kelly Lynch doing her version of Gloria Swanson, Richard Harris doing his Errol Flynn, and Jim Beaver doing a Lee Marvin. Beaver stands out as the strongest.

As much as the film portrays a slice of Americana Pulp, there's something almost European about the execution. It bypasses the luridness of the genre, and instead focusing on the lead, Donahue; photographing her lovingly, magnetically, like a muse, with long contemplative zooms. She has never looked better. And although we never fully learn about her character, she brings her inherent likability to it. She can be the Margot Kidder of our generation.

Although it starts rather seriously, there is a streak of black humor laced throughout that begins to escalate, climaxing with a delirious shift by Kelly Lynch. I suggest watching with an audience to bring out the potential camp.

Oh, and it's shot on 16mm. What else do you want?

I don't get the it looks.....like it was made in the 70's, well people.. it's obviously set in that period, judging by all the 70's clothing style and cars, and like a lot of great 70's movies, for example Vanishing Point, The French Connection, Bullitt, to name but three, it is all the better for it.

I just do not understand the negative 70's comments, they are clearly made by sub age 40's film watchers, more in tune with todays bang... bang and Fast 'n' Boring style movies, with fake cgi, that you don't have to think to hard when you watch them.

Ok so this movie is a little B movie in it's style, but for all that I actually enjoyed it way more than I was expecting, the acting and plot is very good, and if you like some substance in your movie plots then give it a watch, I don't think you will be disappointed.

With its stylish cinematography and labyrinthine plot The Frontier is up there as one of the best of the bygone era of intentionally slow paced, suspenseful, well crafted film making. If you miss the films of yesteryear, the ones that had grit, character and an aesthetic sensibility, then you are going to want to see The Frontier. This film has all of that and then some.

Director Oren Shai takes you in to a dreamy, shadowy world that looks a lot like the covers of the hard-boiled pulp novels of the 50's and 60's. Every shot is gorgeously cinematic and my favorite thing about this movie is how much space Shai gives the viewer just to observe and revel in moments between the dialogue. The story is told as much through a frame on a characters face with a certain look in their eye, or a shot of landscape that portrays the remote emptiness they are surrounded by, as it is by its clever sharp-tongued dialogue. A haunting score adds to the richness of the visuals as well.

I won't give too much away about the plot, but the story centers around Laine (exquisitely played by Jocelin Donahue) who we don't know much about except that she's a girl on the run. Where she came from or where she's going nobody knows. All we know is that she stumbles upon a kooky set of misfit thieves, awaiting their loot in a dusty motel in the desert, and she seems to be trying to escape danger but has landed in to something that could be far worse. But the heroine is up to tricks of her own and soon we can't tell if she's the one in trouble or the one making it. The plot that starts off steady and cool, quickly becomes a roller coaster ride of twisty turns, girls with guns, double crossing, triple crossing and good guys gone bad, bad guys gone even worse. It's great fun to watch and just when you think you know what's happening, you're on to another jaw-dropping scenario.

All in all, it's very entertaining but also a great piece art. I'm very happy to have discovered this hidden gem and I highly recommend!