''The Border'' is a 1982 American neo-noir

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super- ...

directed by

Tony Richardson Cecil Antonio "Tony" Richardson (5 June 1928 – 14 November 1991) was an English theatre and film director and producer whose career spanned five decades. In 1964, he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film ''Tom Jones''. Early ...

and starring

Jack Nicholson John Joseph Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is an American retired actor and filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time. In many of his films, he played rebels against the social structure. He received numerous ...

, Harvey Keitel, Valerie Perrine, Elpidia Carrillo and Warren Oates.

Plot

Immigration enforcement agent Charlie Smith lives in California with his wife, Marcy, in a trailer. She persuades him to move to a duplex in El Paso shared by her friend and border agent Cat. She opens a charge account and starts to purchase expensive items like a water bed as she tries to build a dream home. Cat gradually introduces Charlie to the human smuggling operation he runs with their supervisor Red. Though Charlie initially declines to participate, his wife's free-spending ways make him finally take part in the operation. Meanwhile, a young Mexican mother, Maria, that he has observed is detained, and while she is in their custody, one of Cat's drivers abducts her baby for an illegal adoption. Cat warns the driver not to do anything but transport people in trucks, and that if he runs drugs or babies, Cat will hurt him. Charlie finally realizes that Cat and Red are killing drivers who make money off side ventures or anyone who gets in their way. Charlie makes it clear to Cat that he will not be a party to murder. In the film's climax, he is forced to kill Cat. He tracks down the kidnapped infant and returns it to Maria.

Cast

as Charlie Smith * Harvey Keitel as "Cat" * Valerie Perrine as Marcy * Warren Oates as "Red" * Elpidia Carrillo as Maria * Shannon Wilcox as Savannah * Jeff Morris as J.J. *

Dirk Blocker Dennis Dirk Blocker (born July 31, 1957) is an American actor. He earned his first regular TV role on ''Baa Baa Black Sheep'' (1976–1978), playing pilot Jerry Bragg. From 2013–2021, he starred as Detective Michael Hitchcock on the Fox/NBC c ...

as "Beef" *

Lonny Chapman Lon Leonard Chapman (October 1, 1920 – October 12, 2007) was an American actor best known for his numerous guest star appearances on television drama series. Early years Chapman was the son of Elmer and Eunice Chapman, He was born on Oc ...

as Andy

Production notes

The opening earthquake scenes were filmed in

Antigua Antigua ( ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the native population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua and Bar ...

-specifically in La Recoleccion ruins- and

Guatemala City Guatemala City ( es, Ciudad de Guatemala), known locally as Guatemala or Guate, is the capital and largest city of Guatemala, and the most populous urban area in Central America. The city is located in the south-central part of the country, ne ...

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by Hon ...

. Phil Hartman dubbed a few Nicholson lines. (Source: Late Night with David Letterman interview April 5, 1989)

Reception

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' said the movie "has the sort of predictable outrage and shape of a made-for-television movie. It has suspense but little excitement. Once the people and the situation have been introduced, there's not a single surprise in the film, nothing of the uncharacteristic sort that differentiates the adequate melodrama from one that is special and memorable. Like so many films prompted by real-life social problems, ''The Border'' is a movie in which the characters appear to have been created to fit the events. Missing is any sense of particularity, as well as the excitement that comes when the members of the audience are allowed to discover some sort of truth for themselves." On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, the film holds a rating of 65% from 26 reviews.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Border, The 1982 films 1980s English-language films 1980s Spanish-language films American crime drama films American crime thriller films 1980s crime thriller films 1982 crime drama films Films scored by Ry Cooder Films shot in Texas Films shot in Los Angeles Films shot in El Paso, Texas Films set in Texas Films directed by Tony Richardson Universal Pictures films Films about illegal immigration to the United States RKO Pictures films American neo-noir films 1980s American films