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Sean Penn's The Crossing Guard

© Jeremiah Kipp

The Crossing Guard (1995) Written and Directed by Sean Penn. Starring Jack Nicholson, David Morse, Robin Wright Penn, Piper Laurie, John Savage and Anjelica Huston. 111 minutes. Rated R.

* * * 1/2 (out of 4)

Strip clubs and seedy coffee shops, womanizers and ex-cons, men who talk tough to hide their deep wells of doubt or fear but will pick a fight in vain to prove they aren’t pathetic losers – this is the world of Sean Penn’s The Crossing Guard. Thanked in the closing credits is drunken master Charles Bukowski, whose barfly universe is evoked.

From the slow motion opening credits of Jack Nicholson walking through the crowded streets of Los Angeles, a deep seated anger and cold resolve in his eyes, Bruce Springsteen’s ballad, Missing, pulses underneath, we are drawn into the story of Freddy Miles, a wounded lion whose daughter was killed in a drunk driving accident. The man responsible is getting released from prison, and Freddy has decided long ago to pay this stranger a visit and put a bullet in his head.

David Morse plays John Booth, the driver, who carries the enormous guilt of his actions. The first turning point is when Freddy shows up one fateful night in John’s trailer, his gun ready and waiting. John doesn’t ask to be forgiven, nor does he beg for his life. First he asks if he can turn the light on, and then he asks for three days to take care of a few things before Freddy returns. In a Bukowski-esque moment, Freddy realizes he forgot to put bullets in the gun, and warily spits out that John can have his damned three days, but then he’s coming back.

Thus begins this remarkably straightforward narrative of three days in the lives of a man so consumed with revenge that his life has fallen apart. This is particularly true with his ex-wife. Once they had good times. Now, they no longer connect. Anjelica Huston, in a bold piece of casting, plays this woman scraped raw.

* * *

Freddy's pathetic life has no purpose other than killing John Booth. Every futile moment is placed under Sean Penn's microscope. There’s a wonderfully comic, sad scene where he gets into a meaningless barroom scuffle - how often are these moments played for cool bravado? This time, it’s painted as false machismo and foolishness. The girls he walked in with are laughing at him.

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