Page 42 - Sports Energy News, Cornwall, Issue No 151

42 Issue #151 August 2025 www.sportsenergynews.com

In Reel Time

Rocky Terrain

By Nikolai Adams

ou always know you’re in for
Ysomething rather interesting
when a mysterious drifter walks into
some small town in a movie. . . which
is just the case in Red Rock West
(1993), a neo- noir infused modern
western crime thriller co-written and
directed by John Dahl (his brother
Rick, the other writer and associate
producer).
The drifter is Michael (Nicolas
Cage – in a more reserved
performance), an injured former
Marine and rather quiet Texan who
is simply looking for some oil field
work in Wyoming. . . but is having
no luck. Down to his final five bucks,
he drives to the next closest town,
Red Rock, and pops into a bar for a
drink.
Photo Submitted
Hoping to find a lead for work,
fact a body is found with two slugs in how it originally went). off in a sheep’s mask – a trickster of
he finds something he wasn’t
exactly looking for. Wayne Brown it, the possibility that Suzanne might Fusing both western and noir sorts, and lastly, Lara Flynn Boyle
(J.T. Walsh), the owner of the be a femme fatale – after all, this motifs, Red Rock West playfully is excellent as the unreadable dame
does have some neo- noir elements, – is she Michael’s only ally, or just
establishment, sees the man’s Texas jumps between the dry tumbleweed
licence plate and misconstrues him that a boatload of cash is now up for vistas of the exterior and the neon another wily individual with an
grabs, and that Wayne doesn’t want ulterior motive hidden beneath her
as the hitman he has hired from out of tinged bar, making this landscape
state to kill his wife, Suzanne (Lara people to know some life altering full of Wild West risks on the one feminine exterior? It is also worth
Flynn Boyle). Handing him over a secrets that Michael can now spread hand, while also capturing the moral noting that Dwight Yoakam has a
around town. . . all of this meaning nice surprise cameo in this as well –
big chunk of money, the drifter is ambiguity and cynicism of 1940s/50s
tasked with a most difficult decision that this could become messier than cinema – a most inhospitable so keep an eye out for him.
the O.K. Corral.
– to go on take the money and run, combination that Michael finds A most unique hidden gem, Red
warn the soon-to-be-in-danger wife, Confined in a small locale with himself in. Rock West is a must for fans of both
or, in financial desperation, do the the cards stacked in the Sheriff’s modern noir and westerns. Brought
Likewise, the strong cast further
job. hand, this makes things all the more enlivens the feature. As mentioned to vivid life thanks to its steaming
Further muddying the water, claustrophobic for the drifter. The above, Cage plays against type as a hot locales, dynamic star power, and
Michael soon discovers that this wide open roads offer no safety, more reserved individual surrounded fusion of two popular genres from
bar owner that hired him is also the making things all the easier for the by complete wild cards (a nice change yesteryear, it’s what is missing from
Sheriff of this here community, and Sheriff and his team to track and of pace). Dennis Hopper brings his the current cinematic landscape. So,
there’s an actual Texan murderer trace, bringing to mind the old saying best as the intense, mentally unstable hop on board this dramatic crime
named Lyle (Dennis Hopper) driving ‘stuck between a red rock and a hard killer with a penchant to be greedy, thriller, it might have you thrown and
into town for the job. Throw in the western place’ (at least, I think that is while J.T. Walsh is a wolf starting even arrested by its unique story.