Customer Reviews

Red Rock West [VHS]

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Red Rock West" is a superb and amazingly well written thriller with excellent acting and surprises galore. The plot twists and turns and keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout.

Nicolas Cage plays Michael Williams who arrives in Red Rock broke and out of work when he is mistaken for a contract killer. Bar owner Wayne Brown (J. T. Walsh) offers him $10,000 to murder his wife. Williams is shocked but pretends to go along with the plan. He decides to warn Brown's wife Suzanne (Lara Flynn Boyle) of her husband's intentions but this is where things start to go drastically wrong. The real killer, Lyle (played by Dennis Hopper) then arrives in town which places Williams in many dangerous situations so you will just have to see the film to find out what happens to him next!!

Some favourite lines from the film:

Nicolas Cage (to Lara Flynn Boyle): "I hate to see an innocent woman get hurt but it's an awful lot of money".

Boyle (to Cage): "O.K. How are you going to explain impersonating a hired killer and taking $10,000 from my husband?".

"Red Rock West" is a film that did not receive much publicity on its release but is now gaining a cult following. This is definitely a film worth looking out for with a marvellous storyline and many unexpected surprises along the way.

J.T. Walsh gave a riveting performance in the film - he was a fine actor and it is tragic that we lost him to a fatal heart attack in 1998. He had become one of my favourite actors in films such as "Breakdown", "The Narrow Margin", "A Few Good Men", "The Client" and many others. He usually played character parts or supporting roles but was always watchable. A sad loss.

"Red Rock West" was co-written and directed by John Dahl - a name I was not familiar with - but I did enjoy another film of his recently called "The Last Seduction". I will watch out for more of his films in the future. "Red Rock" is certainly a surprise hit - one of the best thrillers of the 90's. Do yourself a favour and see it! Clive Roberts.

I've watched this marvelous noir movie, oh, maybe 4 times, and my response is always the same. Nicholas Cage has yet another opportunity to just get the hell our of Red Rock, and you can see the conflict and indecision and inevitability play across his face, and you just want to shout at him, `GO, man, just GO!'
But of course, if he did, there wouldn't be a movie, and it's such a good one that it would really be a shame to have it not exist.
Cage plays a down and out ex-Marine who literally stumbles into Red Rock West, Wyoming. For his sake, you wish it could have been maybe Red Rock East, or Laramie, or Cheyenne - anyplace other than Red Rock West...but no. It's in Red Rock West that he finds himself caught in a web of betrayal that begins with a case of mistaken identity and goes from silly to confusing to scary to terrifying in the space of about 20 minutes. There's a femme fatale, a psychopath (spectacularly played by Dennis Hooper), money, power, treachery, and ruthlessness at play here. Cage is trapped but good, and no matter how hard he tried, he just can't seem to leave town.
Bravo, bravo.

Yes, this is Film Noir, but it's a new step in Film Noir evolution....and not just because it's funny! Cage's character does get into hot water because of one tiny slide into temptation. When he's mistaken for a hired killer, his desperation for money gets the better of him. But he's just too nice to do the job. As he goes deeper into the muck, he has three choices: give in & be corrupted...or walk away & leave these nut-cases to their own dysfunctional devices. Even that wouldn't be enough, though: he's determined to go with the third choice: stay in the game & Make The World a Better Place.

Cage can pull it off. His essential goodness seems very real, and the befuddled expression on his face, when confronted by the greed of the other characters, is hilarious. The movie has enough action, but it's really a well-crafted balance of thriller and fable.

I was surprised at just how well elements of classic film noir worked when combined with those of a contemporary western in the surprising little thriller "Red Rock West," written and directed by John Dahl.

Mike Williams (Nicolas Cage) is a likeable, down on his luck, Gulf War vet looking for work as a roughneck on an oilfield in Big Sky Country. When he doesn't get the job, Mike finds himself down to his last few dollars, with no prospects on the horizon. That all changes when he goes into a bar--looking for work--in the little town of Red Rock, Wyoming.

Desperate for any kind of employment, Mike takes advantage of a case of mistaken identity when the bar owner, Wayne (the late great J.T. Walsh), asks him if he is there "for the job." Expecting a job as bartender, Mike is horrified to find he has been hired as a assassin to kill Wayne's wife, Suzanne (Lara Flynn Boyle). Mike decides to keep Wayne's money but has no intention of honoring the contract.

Stopping on his way out of town to warn Suzanne of her husband's plan, Mike finds her willing to double the contract price if he agrees to kill Wayne. Figuring that he has landed in a nest of vipers, Mike writes a letter to the sheriff and plans to 'get the hell out of Dodge' when fate intervenes yet again in the form of a traffic accident. The basically decent Mike takes the man who stumbled in front of his car to the Emergency Room only to find that the man was not only hit by his car but was shot as well. A world of trouble opens up for Mike when the real contract killer, Lyle (Dennis Hopper), finally shows up. What follows are a series of abortive attempts by Mike to leave town--only to be thwarted by chance and circumstance.

"Red Rock West" has a hard luck hero, a beautiful and bad-to-the-bone femme fatale, and enough treachery, betrayal, layered suspense, plot twists and duplicitous characters to satisfy any hardcore classic noir film fan. The eerie deep shadows of classic noir have been replaced by panoramic views of Wyoming's barren sagebrush wastelands. The soundtrack is supplied by such country greats as Johnny Cash, Dwight Yoakam (who also has a small cameo role) and Shania Twain.

This is a 'no frills' DVD without a single extra. It didn't really matter to me though as the movie itself was so outstanding and the transfer was quite good. Along with such modern day classics as "Blood Simple" and "Kill Me Again," "Red Rock West" is one of the best examples of the neo-noir crime film.

One of the three Dahl's "film noir" / "road movie" and possibly the best of all. The other are "Kill Me Again" and "The Last Seduction". In this particular movie, Nicolas Cage and Dennis Hopper have excellent performances and give life to a brilliant script. Not as brilliant as in "Vampire's Kiss" and not as energic as in Lynch's "Wild At Heart", Nicolas Cage has, even though, a great performance as a naive and pure soul and Cage's character comes to be the only who makes his way out of the plot. A lesson of life? Dennis Hopper shows us that even after being on the road as an "Easy Rider" and playing the dark and mysterious "Blue Velvet"'s character, he is still on the run. As in the other two movies which complete Dahl's trilogy, there is a "femme fatale", a certain amount of money, there are men in whom she is only interested because of the cash and there is an unknown end, different at each one of the three movies.

John Dahl's "Red Rock West" has so many twists and turns in its plot that to reveal them all would do the film injustice. Michael (Nicholas Cage) arrives in Wyoming with a promised job that doesn't pan out. Without money and low on gas, he heads into the town of Red Rock West. When Michael walks into a bar and is asked by the owner Wayne (the oily and late great J. T. Walsh)if he's there about the job, Michael does what anyone would do--he says yes. What he doesn't realize is that Wayne has mistaken him for a hitman he's hired sight unseen to kill his wife Suzanne (Lara Flynn Boyle). Michael takes the $10,000, a key and heads up to Wayne's house. We're not really sure of his intentions all we do know is that he seemed like such a nice guy. When the real hit man Lyle (Dennis Hopper)shows up, things become more complicated as Michael has his money and Wayne's wife.

A clever, well written and directed film noir thriller from John Dahl ("The Last Seduction", "Joy Ride"), "Red Rock West" became a cult classic on video when it was first released. The film also has enough quirks to remind me of the same qualities that made the Cohen Brothers' "Blood Simple" and David Lynch's "Blue Velvet" memorable as well. This film isn't like those films but has a distinctive personality and visits the same genre with typically comic/dramatic results.

Although I didn't totally buy Cage as Michael, he does work his way into the role and does a convincing job. The supporting cast gives a terrific performance particularly J. T. Walsh, the underrated Timothy Carhart as his deputy and Lara Flynn Boyle. Dennis Hopper does a variation on "Frank" from Blue Velvet although his turn as Lyle is equally memorable I'm surprised he didn't spring for the role he was originally cast for that of Wayne (which Walsh plays to perfection).

The image quality on the DVD is exceptionally good and the extras consist of a running commentary from both Director Dahl and his brother co-producer/co-writer Rick. It's full of fascinating tibits about the difficulty in shooting a film like this on location. It's a pity there's no commentary from Cage, Hopper or Boyle. We also get the theatrical trailer although, curiously, there's no featurette on the making of this terrific cult classic. I would love to see this reissued with a featurette on Walsh and with deleted/alternate scenes. A great little modern noir masterpiece that's well worth renting or buying, "Red Rock West" stands as one of Dahl's best films.

Very enjoyable movie. Does not require a lot of thought on the viewer's part yet is not a stupid movie. Great cast. Nicholas Cage, Lara Flynn Boyle, Dennis Hopper, J.T. Walsh. All work well together. No silly special effects; just a good story. Rent it or buy it.

This is an excellent modern-day film noir...."excellent" in that it's interesting, start-to-finish. There are some holes in here and some goofy parts that make you shake your head in disbelief.....but I haven't found anyone who didn't get caught up in this story. and enjoy the movie.

The film has the right amount of action, suspense, plot twists and interesting characters. In addition, it sports some nice colors and cinematography plus a good guitar-based soundtrack.

I labeled this crime movie a "film noir" because it's gritty and the all the characters are no good. Even the only supposed-good guy, played by Nicholas Cage, gets himself in trouble by lying and has a quick affair he should't have. He also does something at the end which isn't right, but I'm not going the spoil it by saying. Suffice to say, however, that the rest of the characters are so bad they make Cage look good!

Speaking of "bad guys," does anyone do it better than Dennis Hopper? At least in the "deranged" category, he's tough to beat. Lara Flynn Boyle is fun to watch for a bunch of reasons. J.T. Walsh gives another great supporting performance, too.

This is one of those films that never got much publicity, but it should have. You'll have fun watching this. By the way, try saying the name of this movie out loud three times fast without messing it up!

An unemployed cop is hired in order to check if his woman is adulterous. Here and there, turns, double cross and twists will blend themselves to give us a very amusing movie that has as main highlight Denis Hopper in a role that reminds us to Blue velvet.

The final conclusion is extremely mordacious but equally effective.

Do yourself a favour and try this one. It was a nice surprise to me. It's my understanding that this was originally a movie done for HBO or one of the other cable giants, but it has the feel of a movie I would have seen years ago at an art-house theater.

Nicholas Cage - and I'm not much of a fan - drives his landliner of a Caddy out to an oil rig in the remote American West on the promise of a job by a buddy already working there. The rig boss turns him down upon learning of Cage's character's bum leg, the result of a military injury. Left high and dry, Cage's character, Michael, cruises into Red Rock on fumes, willing to do almost anything for work. He inadvertently accepts a job, the nature of which is vague, and is horrified to discover that he is expected to bump off a cheating wife.

It's important to note here that Red Rock, a blip on the map, is essentially run by the sheriff of the town, in true Old West fashion. Saying too much here would ruin some of the excellent twists, but suffice it to say that Michael becomes the unwitting lynchpin that ties together all the nasty elements - a basically good guy caught between a bunch of slimeballs.

There are a number of neat bits - Michael drives in and out of town past the city-limits sign so many times I kept looking for the population notation on the sign to change - and some priceless roles. Dennis Hopper saved "Waterworld" from a totally watery grave; if this movie was bad, he would have done the same thing, but he just adds to this one, at his maniac best and clearly enjoying every minute. Lara Flynn Boyle, as the femme fatale, ceased having much effect on my regard after Twin Peaks; she does OK here, but I did question Michael's continued involvement with her when she is such obvious bad news. J.T. Walsh plays pretty much his regular bad-guy role. The real treat for me is quite minor - a cameo by Dwight Yoakam that makes me smile every time I see it. (He also sings the theme at the end.) One scene at a bar, where Michael is trying to escape from a hit man, has me on the edge even though I know what's going to happen.

For a movie that nobody seems to have heard of, it has a lot going on. And at the end, everybody has gotten just what they deserve. It is certainly worth a couple hours of any movie maven's day.