Red Rock West Movie Review

Red Rock West (1993)

Red Rock West - Where everything is quite the coincidence.

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Written by: John Dahl, Rich Dahl
Directed by: John Dahl
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Dennis Hopper, Lara Flynn Boyle
Rated: R

My rating is simple, Watch It, It Depends, Skip it. Read my previous movie reviews!

Plot:
After being mistaken for a hitman,taking the money, and fleeing, Mike (Nicolas Cage) then runs into the real hitman (Dennis Hopper).

Verdict:
What can go wrong does, as Mike just can't seem to get out of town. This is part western, part film noir, and while it's contrived, the movie reaches a point with so many contrivances that it works. Mike isn't a good guy, he's just less bad.
It's a great looking film, well directed
Watch it.

Review:
Surprisingly, this didn't get a wide theatrical release. It was relegated to a straight to video, but did get a limited art house run. This feels a lot like the Coen brother's Blood Simple. (1984). Check out my review.

Down on his luck Texan Mike is looking for work in Wyoming and finding nothing. He happens to stop at a bar in the afternoon, spending his last few cents on a beer. The movie perfectly sets up how desperate Mike it. It seems like the right place at the right time when the bar owner mistakes Mike for Lyle and offers him money for a job. It turns out Lyle is a hitman, and the bar owner wants his wife dead.

The story isn't without contrivances, but it works because it takes one contrivance and keeps adding more. The entire plot is built upon Mike just happening to be from Texas. From there he meets every other character at just the right time and place.
It's a focused story and the directing is really sharp, with great cinematography. This is a well done film.

Mike is detained by the sheriff for attempted murder. It just so happens the sheriff is also the bar owner. The movie makes the murder mystery more complicated than needed as the resolution makes even less sense.
I won't spoil it here, but it's sub plot used to keep Mike in town, and it could have been simplified without harming the plot. What the movie tells us happened is more impossible than contrived. Simplification would have improved the script, as the sheriff could hold him just because he's out of town.

The sheriff/bar owner realizes Mike has no plans to carry out the job, and while trying to flees the town once again, Mike runs into the real hitman, Lyle.

Red Rock West - Dennis Hopper chews the scenery as Lyle from Texas

This is a rare early movie where Nicolas Cage plays it straight and Dennis Hopper chews the scenery.

This movie contains plenty of twists, double crosses, and betrayals. While what can go wrong does, Mike manages to make his way out of each situation. His attempt to save the bar owner's wife is yet another turn of bad luck.

Mike isn't really good as he fully intended to take the money and run, but he's not a bad guy. He's just desperate. Everything he does wrong is balanced with him trying to do right. It's the doing right that gets him in the most trouble. If he had been more ruthless and selfish, he could have made it out of town much quicker.