Fausse piste

This one is way off the radar or "noirdar". Probably because its never seen or has been dismissed or mislabeled as fluff. It's probably forgotten for two reasons, one it was a Showtime film (much like The Last Seduction was originally an HBO film), and two, it had a lot of adult T&A but its all germane to the story, its T*i*t*s & A*s*s with CLASS. It can be done and done well. It's also as noir a tale as you can get.

Kevin Anderson plays a young 30-ish American, Alex Walker, a sailor on the run from a second degree murder charge, whose cargo ship is working the Gulf coast of Mexico, think of the classic Noir roles that went to Steve Cochran, William Holden, Glen Ford etc.

John Lithgow plays the "ne plus ultra" Ugly American John Mills, channeling Henry Fonda and touches of other classic Noir performances you see a bit of Jimmy Stewart a bit of Broderick Crawford, he's so very entertaining in the role, an excellent performance.

Rosanna Arquette plays the Heartbreaker, Mills' young wife/common law friend with benefits, a real lovable Floozy Femme Fatale named Missy. Arquette is playing the exact type of exhibitionist, free spirit role that in the late 50s early 60s would have been given to Brigitte Bardo, Arquette is smoking-ly sultry in this film and beautiful to watch a siren luring men to their fate.

There is also a good policier angle that is nicely fleshed out of a young Mexican Criminal Law graduate Ortega played by Ernesto Laguardia . who will remind you of a young Ricardo Montalban, vs. the old school police chief Diaz played excellently by Jorge Cervera Jr. who gives off a John Wayne/Harry Carey vibe. The cinematography is outstanding, the noir sequences to die for, the Mexican locations humidly hypnotic.

Robert Harper is excellent as the fleece joint operator in Tampico, he has some memorable sequences, I think Dan Duryea or Timothy Carey as I watch him.

I'm starting to believe that what makes Neo Noirs authentic Neo Noirs for me, is not only a heavy dose of Noir stylistic cinematography along with a simple Noir storyline, but also a bit of cinematic memory, when you can picture the stars in these Neos as inheritors of Classic Noir star parts, or see a nod to Classic Noir locations combined with an old school, without bells & whistles, low budget, "B" film artistry you reach the tipping point into full blown Noirsville.

All the action sequences are done very well and all low key, mostly on foot, no automatics, no car chases, no explosions, just good choreography on existing location, Bravo! Watch for the "Duello of the Wrong Man" sequence, "The Death Of Felix" sequence, "The Ballad of the Heartbreaker" and "The Dance of the Siren". You wont be disappointed.

I had to order this off Ebay from Hong Kong, it's worth it. It's equal to the best Neo Noirs of the 90s, a great, great soundtrack by Los Lobos too, enjoy.

In a south of the border setting, Lithgow is the quintessential Ugly American, Arguette his bimbo wife, and Anderson a bland non-entity on the run from the law. If you like seeing Arguette undraped (and it certainly beats being poked in the eye with a sharp stick) this third rate flick merits a look. Other than that, not much to recommend.

In Mexico Alex Walker has his wallet stolen by smuggler Felix Crawley. When he finds his house and goes in to get his money back he finds Felix shot and himself accused of murder. He runs and gets help from Missy and Phillip Mills, however his relationship with Missy begins to affect how cleanly he can get away.

False advertising! I watched this with the understanding that it was a thriller of some sort. However I'm sad to say that it isn't anything of the sort. The film opens OK and sets us up to have Alex hunt down the killer before the police catch him for the murder. Instead what happens is that he falls in with Missy and Phillip. He screws Missy a lot, Phillip fights and then is calm and over and over again ad nauseam. This continues till the end when the `shock' noir ending turned out to be what I had assumed from the first 10 minutes.

The film has no direction. The love triangle takes the place of the murder – except the occasional scene of the two Mexican police officers chasing Alex. Because it just drifts aimlessly it is very, very dull. I really had to force myself not to just turn it off and do something else instead simply because it is so very dull and boring.

Lithgow is OK but he lacks subtlety – I suspect he hammed it up because he didn't know any better than me what his character was all about. Arquette is annoying – all she does is flop her boobs out every 10 minutes or so, which is fine if you want that with no reason – but why not watch porn if that's all you want? Anderson is a TVM kind of guy and looks out of his depth with Lithgow and Arquette. He thinks all he needs to do is not shave and look moody to fit in – he is terrible and makes this film even more dull just by his presence.

Overall this is dull and aimless. Please – don't waste your time on this. I rarely see a film so poor that I struggle to watch it at all, but this felt to me like it took a year of my life to watch.

A couple of points that haven't been mentioned: Setting aside the plot, this flic has very good Mexican mise-en-scene, at MANY different points. It's up there with "Bring me the head of Alfredo G." for capturing the feel of Mexico. For instance, the wonderful cloudy scenes at the start, of the port city. {Where is this? I think it's supposed to be Veracruz, but does not look at all like the V. city that I recalled, in terms of the geography...) Also, I very much liked that decaying motel in the jungle-- where things really get crazy between our jolly trio.

Second, the soundtrack is by Los Lobos so you have the enjoyable moody "wrong man theme" during these opening shots of the port city. Also a soulful ballad, as the credits roll up, at the end.

The biggest liability is Anderson, who is so insipid, has none of the appeal that one would hope from a lead "hero." This leaves a sorry hole at the center of the movie. (On the other hand, I rather liked Lithgow's nutty over-acting.) Definitely recommended for those who'd like a brief Mexican getaway.

a brilliant film, wonderfully directed by Jim McBride: it breaks all the cheesy corny conventions of the "TV movie", the story swerves and moves and lives just as vibrantly as the characters do, this is one of the better movies I've ever had the pleasure of seeing. The movie transcends genre, the acting is believable, the characters are neither good nor bad, moral nor immoral, human or inhuman, there's a clever combination of all these things which makes them complex and frustrating maybe but never boring.

The acting is amazing, the story has real depth: it might not hit you straight away but the characters show their personality traits, and as a result more and more of themselves as the film goes on.