Red Rock West

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 The eerie deep shadows of classic noir have been replaced by panoramic views of Wyoming's barren sagebrush wastelands.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.

Red Rock West is a perfect example of how good a film can be with practically no budget. All you need is a smart script, good actors and loads of atmosphere. RRW delivers all these and more.Nic Cage plays an ex-marine, injured in Lebanon, who is down to his last 5 dollars after being refused a job on an oilfield because of his bad knee. He roles into Red Rock and is mistaken by bartender Wayne (JT Walsh, not quite as his most menacing-but still evil) for a hit-man from Texas.He pays him to kill his wife and make it look like burglary. Only when he gets there, just to check her out. She offers him double to kill Wayne. Cage just wants to get the hell out of town with his free money and leave the sparring lovers be. But a series of mishaps and setbacks results in him yo-yoing in and out of Red Rock, back and forth. Eventually this leads to a run-in with Lyle from Dallas (a cheeky and somehow sympathetic Dennis Hopper), the REAL hit-man from Texas who offers to help without knowing he's making the plot more complicated.RRW never had a big release, thus most of it's audience discovered it on video or on cable TV showings. Viewing it in such a way might make it seem like a TV movie but it's bigger than that. The slick, slowly-timed direction, moody score and howling desert wind would have all made for a great movie in theatres but the best you can do these days is watch the DVD on a big HDTV.The only weak point of the movie I can think of is Lara Flynn Boyle's boring femme fatale with the nasty dyke-ish hairdo. I certainly wouldn't fall for her but if you assume that Nic Cage's character is in to militant lesbians then you'll accept it nonetheless.The DVD is in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen with Dolby 2.0 sound and a commentary by the director.

Maintained interested during the entire movie

"Red Rock West" is a very, very quirky film, which never steps outside the bounds of hard reality. This is one of my favorite (small) Nicholas Cage films. There are no special effects here. Everything is carried along skillfully with the pure acting talents of its four main characters. Cage gets caught up in a somewhat complicated plot between a married couple who both want to murder each other. Adding to the threatening mayhem is Dennis Hopper who is in top form as a killer-for-hire. Who has the upper-hand at any given moment shifts around, but other than Cage, it's topsy turvey over the motives of the married couple, and exactly what Hopper will settle for. The ending is right on the money. The moral of the story may be that if your a down-on-your-luck drifter passing through Texas, you might want to think twice about any easy jobs that seem to fall into your lap.

Nicolas Cage was at his gorgeous glorious peak in my opinion, as a decent man caught in a crazy web in little old Red Rock West, Wyoming. I can not say a damn thing about the story because the fun of this movie is not knowing what is going to happen next. Great acting all around, clever script, directing, sets, mood lighting everything, Even though I have seen this movie several times I recently watched it again and was on the edge of my seat! Lara Flynn Boyle is a beautiful femme fatale perfect for the part. Dwight Yoakim as a truck driver showed pretty cool acting skills If you like quirky independent films, and especially if you like Nic Cage, this is for you! ( and me!)

I just don't know why but hardly anyone knows of this movie even though it has several BIG names. This truly is one of my favorite movies that I can watch over and over from time to time. I've probably watched it at this point about 15 times or so.What makes this movie SOOO great is it is story and character driven. Zero special effects. Constant twists and turns. Truly a gem.Just remember "RAYYY-DEEE-AYYDER"

Con sorpresa ho scovato questo blu ray Spagnolo con audio Italiano, avevo il dvd ma ho sempre amato questo film e non mi sono fatto scappare l'occasione.Ottimo film e ottimo cast.La qualità video è buona per essere un film datato ,forse meno l'audio.Spero che questo film esca un giorno in 4K lo merita .Cmq felice dell'acquisto,spedizione e prodotto arrivato integro e perfetto.

Entretenido thriller , pero los hay mejores.Imagen y sonido correcto

Film in stile Lynch. Cupo, misterioso, non visionario ma comunque con sottofondi e suspance che richiamano il grande David. E poi gli attori... sono passati tutti da lui. Bravo quindi il regista (non ricordo il nome).

È presente la lingua italiana. Ottima qualità video ed audio.

Grandes actores. nunca suficientemente valorados. Mantiene el interes durante todo el metraje. Un bravo para el director y el equipo que hizo posible esta pequeña obra de arte.