David O'ConnellJohn Dahl's Red Rock West
May 30th 2008 04:09
Nicolas Cage is the star of this minor hit of 1993, a film which has rightfully developed a fervent following over the years after curiously first debuting on cable tv in the States before being granted a cinematic release.
It’s a classic noirish tale of revenge and deceit transplanted from the pages of pulp fiction into the 1990’s and would become the crucial middle piece of an unofficial trilogy of sorts in the early career of director John Dahl. He had earlier made his debut with a similarly neglected noirish crime gem, Kill Me Again (1989), starring Val Kilmer, Michael Madsen and Joanne Whalley.
Dahl then followed Red Rock West with possibly his best known film, The Last Seduction (1994) with Linda Fiorentino as one of the most memorably scheming, sultry femme fatales to have ever graced the silver screen.
Red Rock West is a wonderful entertainment in its own right however, a classic tale of the down-on-his-luck guy being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The guy here is Michael Williams, played by Nic Cage, a bit of a drifter with no fixed abode who moves from one place to the next taking whatever work he can find along the way. He’s an ex-Marine and an old leg injury is a bit of a hindrance to him too, not helping his chances of maintaining steady employment.
His luck is about to seriously take a turn for the worst however when he stumbles into the dusty little town of Red Rock, Wyoming and sits down at the local bar. He stands out as a newcomer to the town and the barman, Wayne (J.T. Walsh), assumes that he's exactly the man he's been waiting for – “Lyle, from Dallas,” here to help him out with a certain ‘problem’! Michael doesn’t say a word, intrigued and sensing the promise of money which he desperately needs more than anything.
The only trouble is Wayne's 'problem' involves “Lyle” murdering his scheming, cheating wife Suzanne (the delectable Lara Flynn Boyle). Michael then heads off with her photo not exactly sure he can pull the deed off. In fact he can’t and things soon begin to unravel before the real “Lyle, from Dallas” (Dennis Hopper in one of his finest roles) saunters into town to complicate things even further. There are plenty of great twists to come as the increasingly desperate Michael tries to bail out of this crazy town with his life intact. But it becomes a fruitless task, much easier said than done.
Red Rock West plays like a classic noir film but with elements of memorable black humour thrown into the mix by director Dahl and his brother Rick who co-wrote the original screenplay with him. Michael is a genuinely decent guy who easily earns our sympathy from the start before becoming enmeshed in this tangled web of deceit and murder. It’s easily one of Cage’s most enjoyable performances in a film made around the same time as two others I’d count as personal favourites - David Lynch’s masterpiece Wild at Heart (1990), and Andrew Bergman’s hilarious Honeymoon in Vegas, also made in 1992.
The most perplexing thing about Red Rock West is how it could have been initially deemed unworthy of a cinema release. Holding its own even today it remains a comic crime gem and a very enjoyable throwback and reminder of an earlier age of Hollywood noir and the fiction of such authors as James M. Cain.
Dahl himself has gone on to direct other decent films such as Rounders (1998) and the slick Duel-reimagining Roadkill (2001), but Red Rock West still remains his finest hour, a film well worth rediscovering.
It’s a classic noirish tale of revenge and deceit transplanted from the pages of pulp fiction into the 1990’s and would become the crucial middle piece of an unofficial trilogy of sorts in the early career of director John Dahl. He had earlier made his debut with a similarly neglected noirish crime gem, Kill Me Again (1989), starring Val Kilmer, Michael Madsen and Joanne Whalley.
Dahl then followed Red Rock West with possibly his best known film, The Last Seduction (1994) with Linda Fiorentino as one of the most memorably scheming, sultry femme fatales to have ever graced the silver screen.
Red Rock West is a wonderful entertainment in its own right however, a classic tale of the down-on-his-luck guy being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The guy here is Michael Williams, played by Nic Cage, a bit of a drifter with no fixed abode who moves from one place to the next taking whatever work he can find along the way. He’s an ex-Marine and an old leg injury is a bit of a hindrance to him too, not helping his chances of maintaining steady employment.
His luck is about to seriously take a turn for the worst however when he stumbles into the dusty little town of Red Rock, Wyoming and sits down at the local bar. He stands out as a newcomer to the town and the barman, Wayne (J.T. Walsh), assumes that he's exactly the man he's been waiting for – “Lyle, from Dallas,” here to help him out with a certain ‘problem’! Michael doesn’t say a word, intrigued and sensing the promise of money which he desperately needs more than anything.
The only trouble is Wayne's 'problem' involves “Lyle” murdering his scheming, cheating wife Suzanne (the delectable Lara Flynn Boyle). Michael then heads off with her photo not exactly sure he can pull the deed off. In fact he can’t and things soon begin to unravel before the real “Lyle, from Dallas” (Dennis Hopper in one of his finest roles) saunters into town to complicate things even further. There are plenty of great twists to come as the increasingly desperate Michael tries to bail out of this crazy town with his life intact. But it becomes a fruitless task, much easier said than done.
Nic Cage at his best as the desperate Michael
Red Rock West plays like a classic noir film but with elements of memorable black humour thrown into the mix by director Dahl and his brother Rick who co-wrote the original screenplay with him. Michael is a genuinely decent guy who easily earns our sympathy from the start before becoming enmeshed in this tangled web of deceit and murder. It’s easily one of Cage’s most enjoyable performances in a film made around the same time as two others I’d count as personal favourites - David Lynch’s masterpiece Wild at Heart (1990), and Andrew Bergman’s hilarious Honeymoon in Vegas, also made in 1992.
The most perplexing thing about Red Rock West is how it could have been initially deemed unworthy of a cinema release. Holding its own even today it remains a comic crime gem and a very enjoyable throwback and reminder of an earlier age of Hollywood noir and the fiction of such authors as James M. Cain.
Dahl himself has gone on to direct other decent films such as Rounders (1998) and the slick Duel-reimagining Roadkill (2001), but Red Rock West still remains his finest hour, a film well worth rediscovering.
Lara Flynn Boyle and Nic together under difficult circumstances
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