You always know you’re in for something rather interesting when a mysterious drifter walks into some small town in a movie. . . which is just the case in Red Rock West (1993), a neo-noir infused modern western crime thriller co-written and directed by John Dahl (his brother Rick, the other writer and associate producer).
The drifter is Michael (Nicolas Cage – in a more reserved performance), an injured former Marine and rather quiet Texan who is simply looking for some oil field work in Wyoming. . . but is having no luck. Down to his final five bucks, he drives to the next closest town, Red Rock, and pops into a bar for a drink.
Hoping to find a lead for work, he finds something he wasn’t exactly looking for. Wayne Brown (J.T. Walsh), the owner of the establishment, sees the man’s Texas licence plate and misconstrues him as the hitman he has hired from out of state to kill his wife, Suzanne (Lara Flynn Boyle). Handing him over a big chunk of money, the drifter is tasked with a most difficult decision – to go on take the money and run, warn the soon-to-be-in-danger wife, or, in financial desperation, do the job.
Further muddying the water, Michael soon discovers that this bar owner that hired him is also the Sheriff of this here community, and there’s an actual Texan murderer named Lyle (Dennis Hopper) driving into town for the job. Throw in the fact a body is found with two slugs in it, the possibility that Suzanne might be a femme fatale – after all, this does have some neo-noir elements, that a boatload of cash is now up for grabs, and that Wayne doesn’t want people to know some life altering secrets that Michael can now spread around town. . . all of this meaning that this could become messier than the O.K. Corral.
Confined in a small locale with the cards stacked in the Sheriff’s hand, this makes things all the more claustrophobic for the drifter. The wide open roads offer no safety, making things all the easier for the Sheriff and his team to track and trace, bringing to mind the old saying ‘stuck between a red rock and a hard western place’ (at least, I think that is how it originally went).
Fusing both western and noir motifs, Red Rock West playfully jumps between the dry tumbleweed vistas of the exterior and the neon tinged bar, making this landscape full of Wild West risks on the one hand, while also capturing the moral ambiguity and cynicism of 1940s/50s cinema – a most inhospitable combination that Michael finds himself in.
Likewise, the strong cast further enlivens the feature. As mentioned above, Cage plays against type as a more reserved individual surrounded by complete wild cards (a nice change of pace). Dennis Hopper brings his best as the intense, mentally unstable killer with a penchant to be greedy, while J.T. Walsh is a wolf starting off in a sheep’s mask – a trickster of sorts, and lastly, Lara Flynn Boyle is excellent as the unreadable dame – is she Michael’s only ally, or just another wily individual with an ulterior motive hidden beneath her feminine exterior? It is also worth noting that Dwight Yoakam has a nice surprise cameo in this as well – so keep an eye out for him.
A most unique hidden gem, Red Rock West is a must for fans of both modern noir and westerns. Brought to vivid life thanks to its steaming hot locales, dynamic star power, and fusion of two popular genres from yesteryear, it’s what is missing from the current cinematic landscape. So, hop on board this dramatic crime thriller, it might have you thrown and even arrested by its unique story.