Highway Patrolman

the best alex cox film i've seen since sid and nancy, having been disappointed by death and the compass, and less disappointed by three businessmen. one to watch! great soundtrack too.

WHERE WAS EL PATRULLERO SHOT?

In Mexico City and on location all over northern Mexico. We began in Parras, Coahuila, which - by complete coincidence - was the town where Peckinpah filmed THE WILD BUNCH. We traveled west through the desert to El Chocolate, Torreon, Gomez Palacio, and Mapimi; thence to Durango and the surrounding hills; and down to Sombrerete in Zacatecas, and the Desierto de los Organos. Superb locations, but we were only scratching the surface -- as I learned later, directing DEATH & THE COMPAS and acting for Arturo Ripstein in LA REINA DE LA NOCHE and for Luis Estradda in LA LEY DE HERODES, Mexico is the most visually stimulating place on earth.

British director Alex Cox made this brilliant film after he was blacklisted from Hollywood for working during the 1988 writer's strike.

Prior to that he was an up-and-coming talent who had made two movies, punk rock bio "Sid and Nancy" and cult hit "Repo Man" and he was on the verge of hitting it big. After the strike, he was placed on the "do not hire" list by all film studios and he ended up having to go to Mexico and make a film in Spanish.

The awesome part is that the film he made is brilliant. It's an episodic look at the life of a young Highway Patrolman named Pedro, played by Roberto Sosa. It begins as he graduates the police academy and quickly learns that lying, cheating, and graft are often necessary components to a uniformed cop's life.

The film follows Pedro through various assignments, a failed relationship with one woman who is borderline homicidal and another who is a prostitute. He has kids and he often has to work other jobs just to survive, and through it all is the spectre of his absent father who never really thought much of him or his chances in life.

It sounds really downbeat but it isnt! Cox makes it all remarkably enjoyable and entertaining and the camerawork is INCREDIBLE. Many of the scenes are a single unbroken shot that ends up being very complex. It's great!

Check out this movie if you get a chance.

I liked this movie. Especially the acting by the guy who played the policeman Rojas is great. This is not an action movie and this is good so. Its a very critical movie.

The corrupt social life in Mexico becomes very transparent through the figure of Rojas, who shifts between adjusting to the system (becoming a corrupt policeman) and holding to his ideals (helping the poor). Brilliant is also his almost parodical performance of "policeman machismo".

See this movie. It's worth it!

Alex Cox is one of the most original, brave and uncompromising directors to emerge from Britain in the last twenty years. Unfortunately it seems he has to fight tooth and nail to get his movies made, and when he manages to get them released they are virtually ignored. It's a shame that a second rate, audience pleasing hack like Guy Ritchie gets all the attention he does when he doesn't have a TENTH of the talent Cox has!

Ever since Cox's second feature 'Sid And Nancy' his career has been a mess. His follow ups, the controversial political drama 'Walker', and the self indulgent spaghetti western homage 'Straight To Hell', almost killed stone dead any chance of mainstream Hollywood success. After a period in the wilderness he returned with his Mexican made 'Highway Patrolman', and it is his most polished, conventional and artistically successful movie to date. Sadly it hasn't reached a larger audience, though one wonders if Steven Soderbergh is a fan, as sections of his 'Traffic' (the good bits!) bear quite a striking resemblance to Cox's movie.

Everything about 'Highway Patrolman' is superb - the script, the acting (especially Roberto Sosa in the title role of an idealistic young cop who must wrestle with his conscience), the editing and cinematography. The movie lacks Cox's trademark surreal subversiveness, so it is not all that representative of his output, but who cares when the results are as fine as this. An emotionally engaging, well crafted movie that any film maker should be proud to be responsible for. Try and see it!