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Extreme Gullability

© Bob Stenbaugh

I still get fooled sometimes. I've seen well over a thousand films, most rented, but I was born a sucker for the back of the box.

"A high-voltage thriller. Nick Nolte is sensational. Two Thumbs Up!" Curse you, Siskel & Ebert. "A bold, modern Western that delivers a powerful punch." Damn you, studio blurb writers. A sexy photo of Maria Conchita Alonso. Go to hell, hormones.

I rented "Extreme Prejudice."

I guess it was just one of those movies that slipped past the radar screen. I had never heard of it. They give a story credit to John Milius, the runt of the seventies-director- revolution. It was directed by Walter Hill, who is either a poor man's James Cameron or a stupid man's Sam Peckinpah--I haven't figured out which. Every once in a while Hill sneaks a half decent movie on to the screen (The Long Riders) so he wasn't on my "not worth $2.50" list. Wasn't.

Nick Nolte was the clincher. Nolte's a guy that's hard to like, but much the same as Deion Sanders or Bill Clinton, the man has got talent. "Affliction" was as moving a film as I've seen in years, "North Dallas Forty" is one of the all-time great sports flicks, and his was the most memorable performance of a terrific ensemble in "The Thin Red Line." If Ebert says Nick is sensational, then gosh darnit it's worth a look, right?

The first half-hour of the film is mildly amusing thanks to terrific supporting performances by Rip Torn and the underappreciated William Forsythe. The second Torn's body gets ripped to shreds by several machine guns in typical Walter Hill style, the movie assumes it's true status: bottom shelf, right next to the TBS original programming.

Other stellar features of "Extreme Prejudice" include a shower scene just gratuitous enough to make an image of beauty truly ugly, and some funky synthetic drums that will remind you of the hemmorhoids you developed watching "Miami Vice."

Leonard Maltin would have you believe that there is a self-reflexive element at work in this film, that tongues are firmly place in cheek. There is absolutely no evidence of this to my eyes. As for the "modern western" comment, the only thing western about this modern mindcramp is the hat on Nick Nolte's head.

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