(Ape caricature art by Richard Smith)
Lucas Hardwick, Contributing Writer
In Collaboration with ATLRetro
Welcome to Apes on Film! This column exists to scratch your retro-film-in-high-definition itch. We’ll be reviewing new releases of vintage cinema and television on disc of all genres, finding gems and letting you know the skinny on what to avoid. Here at Apes on Film, our aim is to uncover the best in retro film. As we dig for artifacts, we’ll do our best not to bury our reputation. What will we find out here? Our destiny.
ONE FALSE MOVE – 1992
5 out of 5 Bananas
Starring: Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton, Cynda Williams, Michael Beach, Earl Billings, Jim Metzler
Director: Carl Franklin
Rated: R
Studio: Criterion Collection
Region: 4K Region Free / 2K Region A Blu-ray
BRD Release Date: July 25, 2023
Audio Formats: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Video Codec: HEVC / H.265
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Run Time: 105 minutes
The old prison buddy combo teaming up for a big take once they’re on the outside is usually a formula for disaster; a reliable parable in the traditional sense that serves as a lesson about people doing bad things in the spirit of some concocted easy route to financial success or otherwise, being a one-way ticket to their ultimate downfall. Spoiler alert! In terms of a high-spirited narrative, these situations are less about that inevitable destination of destruction than they are about the dark, circuitous journey that leads them there. It’s a little subgenre better known as film noir, and though we’ve seen it a thousand times, decent people like the rest of us always shake our heads in disbelief as we wag our fingers and vicariously reap the thrills of watching a handful of reprobates barrel headlong into their own annihilation.
These situations typically involve a couple of guys who’ve shared the same toilet for longer than they care to admit and have become forced into an uneasy friendship that exists only for the other’s benefit once outside of institutional correction. Throw in a little sexual distraction of a pretty girl who teams up with her own best interests in mind and you got yourself a Bonnie and Clyde meets a methodically-minded Richard Ramirez scenario who can’t get it together enough to not leave a trail of blood across the country as their journey to an easy existence spirals into a living hell for themselves and everyone they encounter.
This is the groundwork for Carl Franklin’s 1992 feature film ONE FALSE MOVE that finds ex-cons Ray (Billy Bob Thornton) and Pluto (Michael Beach) with big dreams of scoring a pile of drugs in Los Angeles to sell to some connections in Houston, Texas, with Ray’s girlfriend Fantasia (Cynda Williams) along for the ride to reunite with family in a little crossroads town still recovering from the Depression known as Star City, Arkansas. The trouble is, this irrepressible brain trust can’t help but leave a mess wherever they go. The dynamic trio are their own worst enemy: Live-wire Ray is itching to wave his gun around while switchblade sociopath Pluto prefers a more deliberate approach that scratches his serial killer itch. Ray’s girlfriend Fantasia, meanwhile, is a pathological liar capable of far more dangerous, life-altering decisions that forcibly chart the gang’s course into her endgame and conclusively their demise.
The trail of blood and pile of bodies this crew leaves in their wake makes short work for L.A. detectives Dud Cole (Jim Metzler) and John McFeely (Earl Billings) who quickly trace the trio’s course to Star City and team up with local police chief Dale “Hurricane” Dixon (Bill Paxton) to head them off at the pass. Detectives Cole and McFeely soon become background players in a bigger scene that suggests a dubious past for the enthusiastic small-town police chief so eager for big-time attention from the likes of L.A. cops. Scripted by eventual SLING BLADE scribe Billy Bob Thornton and writing partner Tom Epperson, the story becomes one of two opposing camps converging to an explosive climax that will leave the lives of these characters forever altered.
The story is simple enough on paper, but the richness of the film’s characters is what makes this fairly commonplace tale so impactful. The crux of the narrative’s dynamic is the unexpected decisions by trojan horse Fantasia who from the film’s opening moments illustrates her as someone with an intent so secretive and focused, that she’s not to be trusted by the audience. Her allure and conceivably good-natured intentions deceive us at every turn slowly revealing her as the most capable of earning success in the midst of her bumbling cohorts. Fantasia’s actions are so unpredictable that by the time she gets around to sharing a darker truth about the film’s hero, Chief “Hurricane” Dixon, none of us—not even Hurricane himself—are emotionally equipped to believe her.
Because the plot is rather inevitable, the film is fueled by dynamic performances and distinct characters with clear intentions—dependable, textbook storytelling gear that is so often easily left by the wayside. Bill Paxton conveys an entire spectrum of emotional range forced upon him by the desires and haunts in the heart of a character that is lovable but contains a darkness that alters what we’re led to believe about him. Shorter onscreen roles such as Metzler’s Detective Dud Cole are seasoned with qualities that clue us in to stuff behind the eyes. Cole’s alcoholism is not only apparent by the flask that joins his morning coffee, but Metzler imparts a dry, despondent quality about Cole that clearly separates him from Hurricane Dixon’s world. Michael Beach’s Pluto as the quiet and meticulous orchestrator of the film’s antagonist trio is the most disquieting of the entire ensemble. Pluto’s proclivity for unhinged actions juxtaposed with his reticent demeanor serves as a catalyst that informs the horror he and his accomplices are capable of inflicting upon anyone in their path. This combination of varying desires and dispositions inherently forms the tension that drives what is otherwise the fairly conventional and predictable plot of the film.
Director Franklin executes this traditional film noir tale with methodical skill that eases the audience into a tension that vibrates right off the screen. We’re enamored and charmed by the relatable Andy Griffith nature of Hurricane Dixon while simultaneously uneasy about the dangerous capabilities of the alarming sum of Ray, Pluto, and Fantasia. And knowing these two worlds must collide has us anxious with squirmy apprehension about what lies ahead. As the tension builds, Franklin mildly plays into the chilling supernatural lore of the Southern Gothic with suggestions of superstitions that will determine the film’s course and serve as a warning to those involved. Franklin exacts an eerie style as the movie approaches climax with the use of Dutch angles and a haunting harmonica soundtrack that seems to guide the story to its devastating, yet foretold finale.
ONE FALSE MOVE is presented by the Criterion Collection on Director-Approved 4K Ultra High-Definition blu-ray disc. A special features Blu-ray disc includes a high-definition presentation of the film along with an archival commentary from director Carl Franklin and a newly recorded conversation with Franklin and co-writer and star Billy Bob Thornton. The film also comes packaged with the essay “Lock Things Up” by author William Boyle.
In a world of blockbusters and big-screen eye candy, ONE FALSE MOVE is a film most of today’s audiences seemingly don’t have much use for anymore. The unsuspecting title and standard film noir synopsis will probably have many people passing on it to move on to something more shiny and with lots of zeros in the budget. For those who bother to give it a shot, it’s a film that will have viewers on the edge of their seats in a very classical sense and appeal to the broadest spectrum of their hearts. Recommended.
When he’s not working as a Sasquatch stand-in for sleazy European films, Lucas Hardwick spends time writing film essays and reviews for We Belong Dead and Screem magazines. Lucas also enjoys writing horror shorts and has earned Quarterfinalist status in the Killer Shorts and HorrOrigins screenwriting contests. You can find Lucas’ shorts on Coverfly. Look for Lucas on Twitter, Facebook, and Letterboxd, and for all of Lucas’s content, be sure to check out his Linktree.
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