Rent Extreme Prejudice (1987)

Bloody Misfire From Walter Hill - Extreme Prejudice review by GI

Director Walter Hill's admiration for Sam Peckinpah spills out of control in this contemporary western that even has a final act that tries to recreate the classic battle in The Wild Bunch (1969). You'll also spot copycat scenes from The Getaway (1972) too. Considering Hill made some great action movies in the late 70s and early 80s here he's misfired with a clumsy, almost silly, blood spurting shoot em up with a daft script. Even the final climactic battle, in modern day Mexico, is eye poppingly weird and has continuity errors galore. Nick Nolte, clearly doing a Gary Cooper walk and an emotionless stoic lawman thing, is a cop working on the Texas/Mexico border trying to stem the flow of drugs being supplied by his former childhood friend Cash (Powers Boothe). His best effort is by meeting Cash and sort of asking him, as an old mate, to stop selling drugs. Surprisingly that doesn't work. There's also a girl in play who flits between the two of them on a whim. Into this ridiculous mix a military black ops unit arrives to sort out Cash who is apparently a threat to national security. And just when you think that's enough there's a final, thoroughly stupid plot twist, that will make you groan out loud. On the plus side there's lots of shooting, blood squibs go off literally everywhere and Nolte does a lot of stony faced staring at just about everybody. Because it's a Walter Hill film it has it's fans but really it is not, by any count, one of his films worth remembering.

Dust, Blood, and Not Much Else - Extreme Prejudice review by griggs

Walter Hill doing his Walter Hill thing — macho posturing, sun-baked landscapes, men of few words staring each other down — should be catnip. And yet Extreme Prejudice left me oddly cold, its considerable swagger covering a film with precious little underneath.

Nick Nolte’s Texas Ranger is so rigidly upstanding he practically squeaks. He’s supposed to be the moral compass, but I never found a way in to him. Powers Boothe fares better as the charming drug lord, and it’s the bit players — underlings on both sides, caught in machinery they didn’t build — who land with more weight than the leads.

The whole thing builds to a genuinely spectacular, almost operatic shootout, and Hill stages it with real command. But bullets only carry so far when the people firing them barely register.

Worth a spin for Hill completists or fans of late-80s action excess. Just don’t expect the crackle of 48 Hrs. For all its dust, blood, and swagger, Hill’s film feels strangely underpowered. 

Cracking - Extreme Prejudice review by sb

FILM & REVIEW Walter Hills supurb 80’s action thriller has Nolte as Jack a no nonsense straight down the middle Texas Ranger. He is at war with a drug kingpin Cash (Boothe) who not only operates over the border in Mexico and is therefor untouchable but he and Jack used to be best friends and even shared the same girl but they have ended up on opposite sides. Into this tension comes a US Army Black Ops team led by Ironside all whose members are listed as killed in action. They appear to be in town to rob a bank but are actually after Cash’s ledger books which could embarrass the Govt. Jack reluctantly agrees to team up with them and they all head over the border but as always things aren’t as clear cut as they seem. It was originally going to be a John Milius film but the rights were eventually passed to Hill giving Milius a screen credit. As always with Hill its a Western at heart with Nolte in the Gary Cooper role and you just know when the team arrive in the Mexican compound we are heading for a Wild Bunch finale. Boothe chews everything in sight as the bad guy and it’s got a real a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do feel to it……cracking stuff - 4/5