Cult Cinema: Extreme Prejudice (1987)

 


It would not be an unfair statement to refer to Walter Hill as one of Sam Peckinpah's spiritual successors.  His gritty, masculine fueled neo-westerns helped to define the 80's and 90's, with stories of criminals, soldiers, and lawmen coalescing into an oeuvre of sweat soaked machismo.  Extreme Prejudice is perhaps the finest example.  Blending post cold war paranoia with Hill's patented southern ambiance, the classic tropes of two friends turned enemies is dialed up to eleven with endless homages to The Wild Bunch.  Featuring an iconic ensemble of character actors and an unforgettable climax, this is one of Hill's defining offerings.   

Jack and Cash are two childhood friends that have taken different paths, putting them at odds on opposite sides of the law. Their rivalry becomes complicated when a black ops team of soldiers arrives in their Texas-Mexico territory with a mysterious agenda, leading to the ultimate showdown.  One of the most immediate characteristics of this film is how it attempts to encapsulate Reagan-era sensibilities.  Drug dealers from an aesthetically savage Mexico are wolves at the "civilized" American border.  The scenes in Texas proper are filled with angles and order while the scenes in Mexico are chaotic and wild, drenched with blood and burnt colors.  The government is filled with shadowy agents and soldiers who are presumed dead that stalk the byways as professional mercenaries. 

 


In the middle is Nick Nolte's Jack Benteen.  Loosely based on a real Texas Ranger, this is perhaps the most morally uncompromised character of Nolte’s career. His foil is Powers Boothe's Cash.  Boothe brings his dependable swagger to a role he vanishes inside.  In the middle are the "zombie" squad soldiers led by Michael Ironside.  Clancy Brown, William Forsythe, and Larry Scott portray some of the members.  The legendary Rip Torn plays Jack's partner and mentor.  The result is one of the ancestors of No Country for Old Men.  Much like Flashpoint, Extreme Prejudice takes the neo-western and infuses it with conspiracy and violence, threads that would eventually be woven into masterworks by McCarthy and the Coens. 

Matthew Leonetti lenses the action with sweaty, focused shots that highlight the brutality of the microcosm of Hill's design.  While the first act repeats many tropes of the era, as it descends into its Peckinpah laced finale, the vibe also changes as the rage that has been simmering finally boils over and the result is a masterfully excited gunfight in a border town that features gruesome deaths and a bona fide high noon scenario. 

 


Now available for digital rental or via a sterling Blu-Ray from Vestron, Extreme Prejudice both lampoons the extremes of the time in which it was conceived and pays respects to the classics of the genre that inspired it while hinting at greatness still to come.  Rough, unpolished and fully charged, this is one of the many relics of the 80's that deserves a revisit.

--Kyle Jonathan