''U Turn'' is a 1997 American

neo-noir Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating ...

crime thriller Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

film directed by Oliver Stone and starring

Sean Penn Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He has won two Academy Awards, for his roles in the mystery drama ''Mystic River'' (2003) and the biopic ''Milk'' (2008). Penn began his acting career in televisi ...

Billy Bob Thornton Billy Bob Thornton (born August 4, 1955) is an American actor, filmmaker and musician. He had his first break when he co-wrote and starred in the 1992 thriller ''One False Move'', and received international attention after writing, directing, a ...

, Jennifer Lopez,

Jon Voight Jonathan Vincent Voight (; born December 29, 1938) is an American actor. He came to prominence in the late 1960s with his Academy Award–nominated performance as Joe Buck, a would-be gigolo, in ''Midnight Cowboy'' (1969). During the 1970s, h ...

, Powers Boothe,

Joaquin Phoenix Joaquin Rafael Phoenix (; né Bottom; born October 28, 1974) is an American actor. He is known for playing dark and unconventional characters in independent films. He has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academ ...

Claire Danes Claire Catherine Danes (born April 12, 1979) is an American actress. She is the recipient of three Primetime Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. In 2012, ''Time'' named her one of the 100 most influenti ...

, and

Nick Nolte Nicholas King Nolte (born February 8, 1941) is an American actor. He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the 1991 film ''The Prince of Tides''. He received ...

. It is based on the book ''Stray Dogs'' by

John Ridley John Ridley IV (born 1965) is an American screenwriter, television director, novelist, and showrunner, known for '' 12 Years a Slave'', for which he won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He is also the creator and showrunner of the a ...

, who also wrote the screenplay.

Plot

Bobby Cooper is a

drifter A drifter is a vagrant who moves from place to place without a fixed home or employment. Drifter(s) or The Drifter(s) may also refer to: Films and television Films * ''The Drifter'' (1917 film), an American film directed by Fred Kelsey * ''Th ...

in debt to a violent gangster when his car breaks down in Superior, Arizona. Stranded and broke, he meets Jake and Grace McKenna, a father and his stepdaughter who are also a married couple. They separately approach Bobby to kill the other for money. Desperate and in fear, Bobby approaches Jake about killing Grace. He becomes attracted to Grace and agrees to kill Jake, then he and Grace can be together and use Jake's money for a new start somewhere else. With Grace's help, Bobby kills Jake, and they leave together with $200,000. As they make their way out of Superior, the Sheriff, with whom Grace has been having an affair, stops them. Grace shoots and kills the sheriff. As they dump the bodies, Grace pushes Bobby over the cliff, severely injuring him. Grace suddenly realizes that Bobby has the car keys. Grace makes her way down the steep incline where she and Bobby fight, and in his weakened, injured state, Bobby kills Grace, but she also shoots him in the belly. He makes the grueling journey back up the cliff with a broken leg, then starts the car, but the radiator hose bursts, and Bobby is stranded in the heat, injured and dying.

Cast

as Bobby Cooper * Jennifer Lopez as Grace McKenna *

as Jake McKenna * Powers Boothe as Sheriff Virgil Potter *

as Jenny *

as Toby N. "TNT" Tucker *

as Blind Indian *

as Darrell *

Abraham Benrubi Abraham Rubin Hercules Benrubi (born October 4, 1969) is an American actor. He is known for his appearances as Jerry Markovic on the long-running medical television drama '' ER'', for his first role as Larry Kubiac on the series '' Parker Lewis C ...

as Biker #1 * Sean Stone as Boy In Grocery Store * Ilia Volok as Sergei * Valery Nikolaev as Mr. Arkady *

Brent Briscoe Brent Briscoe (May 21, 1961 – October 18, 2017) was an American character actor and screenwriter. Early life Briscoe was born in Moberly, Missouri. After completing his education at the University of Missouri, Briscoe launched his career as a ...

as Ed *

Bo Hopkins William Mauldin "Bo" Hopkins (February 2, 1938 – May 28, 2022) Issucover/ref> was an American actor. He was known for playing supporting roles in a number of major studio films between 1969 and 1979, and appeared in many television shows and ...

as Boyd * Julie Hagerty as Flo * Sheri Foster as Grace's Mother *

Liv Tyler Liv Rundgren Tyler (born Liv Rundgren; July 1, 1977) is an American actress, producer, singer and former model. She began a modeling career at age 14. She later decided to focus on acting and made her film debut in ''Silent Fall'' (1994); she ...

as Girl In Bus Station (Cameo) *

Laurie Metcalf Laura Elizabeth Metcalf (born June 16, 1955) is an American actress. Often described as a character actor, she's known for her complex and versitile roles across the stage and screen. She has received various accolades throughout her career sp ...

as Bus Station Ticket Attendant

Production

''U Turn'' was filmed during November 1996–January 1997 on location in Superior, Arizona and other areas of

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

and

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, including the Coachella Valley. �
Download
( Downloadable PDF file) It was filmed entirely on Reversal stock, 5239, to give an extra harsh look to the hostile environment.

Casting

For the Toby N. Tucker role,

said small-town style gave him the inspiration and the idea for the haircut, which was "TNT" (the character's initials) shaved on the back of his head. "These kids in these small towns, these fads that just roll over them," he told ''Rough Cut Magazine'' in October 1998. "Like, five years pass and they still hang on to them. So, I thought it was really great if he shaves his name, he thinks he's really notorious."

Reception

Reaction by critics to the film was mixed. Roger Ebert gave the film 1½ stars out of four, deeming it a "repetitive, pointless exercise in genre filmmaking—the kind of film where you distract yourself by making a list of the sources". James Berardinelli rated the film three stars out of four, stating "for those who enjoy movies on the edge, ''U-Turn'' offers just the trajectory you might expect."

Mick LaSalle Mick is a masculine given name, usually a short form ( hypocorism) of Michael. Because of its popularity in Ireland, it is often used in England as a derogatory term for an Irish person or a person of Irish descent. In Australia the meaning broad ...

of the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The ...

'' wrote that it "demonstrates a filmmaker in complete command of his craft and with little control over his impulses". ''U Turn'' currently holds a 61% rating 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 Wang ...

based on 51 reviews with the consensus: "''U-Turn'' is a lurid, stylish lark that boasts striking moments but lacks the focus and weight of Oliver Stone's best work." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, it has a rating of 54 out of 100 based on 20 reviews, indicating mixed or average reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.. Later Oliver Stone said: “Certain people really liked U Turn. More than you might think claimed it was the one they “most liked” of my films. It’s certainly different, and its incest storyline was verboten to the average American viewer. Let’s just say, you need a sense of humor for this one.https://twitter.com/theoliverstone/status/1357011270671740928 The film was nominated for two Golden Raspberry Awards: Worst Director (which went to

Kevin Costner Kevin Michael Costner (born January 18, 1955) is an American actor, producer, film director and musician. He has received various accolades, including two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Screen Actor ...

for ''

The Postman ''The Postman'' is a post-apocalyptic dystopia science fiction novel by David Brin. It is about a man wandering the desolate Oregon countryside who finds a United States Postal Service uniform, which he puts on and then claims he is a mail carri ...

'') and Worst Supporting Actor (Jon Voight, also for '' Most Wanted''; ultimately, he "lost" to

Dennis Rodman Dennis Keith Rodman (born May 13, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player. Known for his fierce defensive and rebounding abilities, his biography on the official NBA website states that he is "arguably the best reboundin ...

for ''

Double Team In basketball, a double team (also double-team, double teaming, or double-teaming) is a defensive alignment in which two defensive players are assigned to guard a single offensive player. Among basketball strategies in which defenders are assign ...

''). It was also included on

Siskel and Ebert Gene Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) and Roger Ebert (June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013), collectively known as Siskel & Ebert, were American film critics known for their partnership on television lasting from 1975 to Siskel's dea ...

's "Worst Films of 1997" episode. In the episode, Gene Siskel reflected that "''U Turn'' adthe same highly stylized violence as Stone's ''

Natural Born Killers ''Natural Born Killers'' is a 1994 American crime film directed by Oliver Stone and starring Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Robert Downey Jr., Tommy Lee Jones, and Tom Sizemore. The film tells the story of two victims of traumatic childho ...

'', but without that film's intellectual content, ''U Turn'' seems like Stone's attempt at a commercial hit – and he failed, miserably."

References

External links

* * * {{Oliver Stone 1997 films 1990s crime drama films 1997 crime thriller films 1990s thriller drama films Adultery in films American crime drama films American crime thriller films American thriller drama films Films about murderers Films based on American novels Films directed by Oliver Stone Films produced by Clayton Townsend Films with screenplays by John Ridley Films with screenplays by Oliver Stone Films scored by Ennio Morricone Films set in Arizona Films set in California Films set in Superior, Arizona Films shot in Arizona Films shot in California American neo-noir films Phoenix Pictures films TriStar Pictures films 1997 drama films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films