the law but also share love for the same woman Sarita Maria Conchita Alonso . While dealing with Cash Bailey,Jack also has to deal with a group of military men led by Major Paul Hackett Michael Ironside who do classified missions,but this time they're in Jack Banteen's territory and Banteen has to deal with Cash and the military men with...Extreme Prejudice.I am shocked and surprised that Extreme Prejudice has been underrated and overlooked by Action fans and Walter Hill fans. 1987 was a great year for the Action movie genre with great Action classics like Lethal Weapon,Predator and Robocop also being released that year. While those three films became Box Office hits and became classics,Extreme Prejudice sadly flopped at the Box Office remains obscure but in my opinion Extreme Prejudice is one of the great Action films of the 1980s and deserves more love. and I think one of the reasons Extreme Prejudice works so well is because of the main character,Action and modern Western setting. While Walter Hill paints the main character with a bigger than life scope,the characters also have depth. The character Jack Banteen is pretty much old school Western cowboy in a modern setting,instead of dealing with just drunks and bar fights,Banteen has to deal with drug dealers,violence and his best friend. Jack has to do something about the violence and drugs in his territory and he can't have second thoughts about it. Jack wants to deal with his old friend Cash his own way whether it means doing it by the book or breaking the law. It's a simple yet complex story that Hill brings with excellence. I love the Action that Walter Hill has in this film because it's bloody,violent and horrific. The violence and Action in the film is more in the tradition of Sam Peckinpah where the violence is ugly and brutal not like the Action films of the 80s which I love where after a violent scene it's followed by a one-liner or pun with the ending of the film is definitely a homage to Peckinpah's Western classic The Wild Bunch and you feel like when a person gets killed in the film it isn't fun or lighthearted,it's gritty,dark and uncompromising and I guess it felt kind of out of place during the 80s because you will feel like no character in the film is safe from the violence in the air. Where slow motion in today's Action films are used to look cool,Extreme Prejudice uses slow motion to show the horrifying and dangerous effects of violence. That's one of the things that separates Hill's Action films from the Action films made today. Hill keeps the film moving at a great pace and keeps you glued to the film with great storytelling,memorable characters and excellent atmosphere. Hill has always said every film he has made is a Western and that is true statement with this film. Even though the film is set in the 80s,you can feel the tone of the old west through out the film with most of the characters wearing cowboy hats and getting into Western style shootouts. I feel when watching the film the movie has an almost timeless look to it where you feel like the film could've taken place in any decade or time period by the way people dress and talk. When characters step in the dirt and dust you can feel it coming off the screen and feeling like you're getting dirt on yourself. While none of the film's main characters don't have six-shooters,ride on horse, have stagecoaches or gold coins you smell the great Western genre in this film and it's one of the reasons that Extreme Prejudice is amazing. The ending of the film is great and is filled with intense Action and brutal violence that Walter Hill is an absolute master at doing and will definitely remind viewers of the Western films of the past. It's a an excellent conclusion to the film. The whole cast does a great job with their roles. Nick Nolte gives one of his best performances as Texas Ranger Jack Banteen bringing a memorable depth and dimension to the role.Excellent performance. Powers Booth is a wonderful delight as Cash Bailey,Jack's old friend who's now a drug lord. Booth's scenes with Nolte are amazing. Michael Ironside is terrific as Major Paul Hackett,the man who leads his secret military group. Maria Conchita Alonso does a wonderful job as Sarita,Jack's girlfriend and a woman Jack and Cash both love. Rip Torn gives a fun performance as Hank,a local sheriff who is also a Father figure to Jack. Clancy Brown is great as Sgt.Larry McRose,Hackett's second in command. William Forsynthe is wonderful and humorous as Sgt.Buck Atwater. Matt Mulhern SSgt.Declan Coker ,Larry B. Scott Sgt.Charlie Biddle and Dan Tullis Jr. Sgt.Luther Fry give good performances as well.Walter Hill does an exceptional job with the direction with the film,bringing a gritty,dirty tone to the film and also does a great job with the Action scenes,making bloody,fast and unforgettable. Wonderful Job,Walter.Jerry Goldsmith's score is great and fits with the Action and Western tone of the film.In final word,if you love Action films,Westerns and Walter Hill I suggest you see Extreme Prejudice,an action-packed film that has been underrated and overlooked for too long and deserves an audience. Highly Recommended. 10/10.

feel, that have become part of me. It is really a beautifully written movie, beautifully directed, and littered with some of the finest character actors since RESERVOIR DOGS. Nick Nolte delivering one of his finest performances, in a career littered with great performances. My favorite modern day western! "Hell, you can buy me Cash, you always could. But you can't buy the badge, and one without the other ain't no damn good!" Highly recommended.

unpretentious attention it deserves. Hill has always had a way with casting, and here he composes a symphony of tough guys and gutter poetry spewing, hard boiled cowboys that leaves you feeling like a shot of whiskey marinated in a deer skin sweat lodge. Nick Nolte, just emerging from his pretty boy cocoon and into the second age of his career as a cold blooded tough guy, plays Jack Benteen, a Texas ranger attempting to rid his county of the drug pollution flooding across the Mexican border. Ironically, the front runner and kingpin of the trade is his old buddy and fellow hell raiser Cash Bailey Powers Boothe , who has zero intention of quitting his wicked ways, even at the behest of an old friend. Boothe is an actor that the camera and mic just loves, and here he theatrically inhabits the role of Cash like a white suited scorpion with a a five o'clock shadow from hell and a voice like granite slabs making love with sandpaper. Truly a memorable villain. This drug war gone personal provides a nice 'clash of the southern American Titans' style aesthetic, as the two go head to head, with the obligatory girl of both their dreams Maria Conchita Alonso caught in between. Just to give the plot another shot of tequila infused adrenaline, there's a team of ex special ops mercenaries in town to pull off a mysterious heist that to this day, after at least ten views of this film, I still cannot discern what they have to do with the main plot at all. But no matter, as that sub plot gives a bunch more awesome actors a chance to flex their bulldozing tough guy chops. Michael Ironside plays their leader Paul Hackett, a snarling desert dog of a prick. Clancy Brown plays the level headed, low key bruiser. It's a youthful William Forsythe, however, who steals the show as Buck Atwater, a rowdy, rootin tootin, flippant wiseass of a merc who functions like redneck, black ops version of the joker. Rip Torn shows up as a salty county sheriff as well. All of the characters eventually get swept up in a rip roaringly violent showdown south of the border, with Nolte and Boothe's characters colliding like dusty fire and ice in an explosion of flesh shredding bullets, booze and sweat cocktails flooding the air like smog, and an old fashioned sense of Hollywood escapism, aided by Hill's commitment to not only pushing the detonator on the action, but giving the characters time to talk things out, get to know each other, and most importantly, allow us to get to know them, and actually care about their outcome, so we damn well pay attention when they get their heads blown off in a gunfight. Highly recommended.

Hrs and Brewster's Millions. He is quite versatile in his genres and in his propensity to switch his duties on a film. He directs, writes, produces and even executive produces. And in all of that, I believe this is his best film. Aliens is a great film but that has to be more attributed to Cameron because he directed it. But this was Walter's from the beginning. And what we have here is typical Walter Hill brilliance. It is testosterone laden, a little sexist and filled with colourful characters.Nick Nolte gives, what I think, is the best performance of his career. He was great in Prince of Tides but he is amazing here. He plays an incredibly stoic Texas Ranger whose job is plain and simple. Keep the peace and keep the drugs out of Texas. It is the latter that gives him a bit of trouble as his best childhood friend, Cash Bailey, played with complete evil smugness by Powers Boothe, is now a major drug influence on the Mexican side of the border. But stoicism, honour and duty win over comrarderie and memories of years past. This is the first part of the story.The second part involves the love interest of both men. Her name is Cerita Maria Conchita Alonso and both men have loved her for a long time. The issue here is, does Cerita have enough love to stay with Jack and his average life or does she want to sacrifice love and go for wealth and power with Cash?The third part of the film is the best part and it is the story that involves a covert military team of supposedly dead war heroes. Every one of the team, when put into the computer, shows up as dead. One died while difusing a bomb, the other in a helicopter crash and so on. This supporting cast is one of the great casting jobs and as another reviewer said, one of the best ensembles put together, including Reservoir Dogs. Clancy Brown plays Larry McRose, Michael Ironside plays Major Paul Hackett and William Forsythe plays Buck Atwater. Forsythe has the best performance in the film and this is a film that is rich with great performances. I think the only reason that he got overlooked in 1987 was because this was a litttle scene film and Carolco was still in it's infant stages as a studio. But if Mario Kassar or Andrew Vajna released this picture now it might get a better look and more respect, but that is a different story.This covert team is apparently in Texas to get some documents that are in Cash Bailey's possession. But what they are really there for, no one knows, and that includes all of the team except for Hackett. So somehow, all three stories and all of the individuals are going to cross paths until you have the final gunfight. Now I am not an expert at gunfights nor have I seen every film out there that has great gunfights, but this has to be up there as one of the best. It goes on for about fifteen minutes and there are some really great shots of people dying and blood spraying and such.Extreme Prejudice is a tour de force in direction and it is a great script. All of the actors give some of the best performances of their career and if you can give this film a chance it seems kind of slow at first you will be rewarded.There are only a few reasons why you are reading this review. One of them is that you have seen the film and you want to see what other people think about it. Another is that you are checking out Nick Nolte's filmography and this is one the films you haven't seen or the same could be said for the other people involved in the film. I'm sure there are other reasons but if the reason I just mentioned is why you are here, then let me just tell you this.Rent this film, please. You will be very surprised and if you like intriguing characters and a great script with one of the best gunfights in film, then this is one film that you should see. It is now 13 years old but it hasn't aged at all. I watch it about twice a year and I still get a kick out of it.10 out of 10A true hidden treasure. And with lines like " Hey as long as I got a face, you got a place to sit", and " Jack Benteen, Texas Ranger, big son of bitch ain't he?" and my favourite, " Brown Strange. Ironside What is? Brown Ordering the termination of an American civilian peace officer, clearly loyal to the country and in the process of bringing a known criminal to justice. Ironside But we're going to do our job, right Seargant? Brown Right MAJOR." how can you not be entertained?

constabulary while they waylay the bank and they cut the local communication lines to keep the authorities from knowing about their audacious deed. Unfortunately, the problem with "Extreme Prejudice" is that Hill and his scribes struggle to streamline two movies into one. One plot concerns an "A-Team" of military soldiers deployed to perform ultra-secret missions that would otherwise embarrass the government. The second plot focuses on the relationship between the hero and the villain who were once the best of friends and are not rivals for the love of the same woman. Despite the uneven, complicated nature of this contemporary western, Hill has fashioned a good crime thriller that maintains attention throughout its 104 minutes with compelling characters, exciting shoot-outs and showdowns, and atmospheric settings."Extreme Prejudice" casts Nick Nolte as lean, mean, and incorruptible Texas Ranger Jack Benteen, while wolfish Powers Boothe is at his villainous best as Benteen's chief adversary Cash Bailey. Cash decks himself out in virtuous apparel with a white Stetson, slacks, and jacket. As it turns out, Benteen and Bailey grew up together in Texas. They played football together, dated the same girl, and smoked marijuana right under the noses of Benteen's Texas Ranger father and Benrey County Sheriff Hank Pearson. Times have changed for both men and Benteen wants Cash to stop selling dope and clear out. While these two lethal opponents circle each other warily with blood in their eyes, a squad of officially dead military soldiers under the command of Major Pat Hackett Michael Ironside of "Starship Troopers" blow into Benrey to rob the city bank. Initially, the two plots appear to intertwine. As Hackett tells one of his men, "We're robbing the bank to cover what we're getting out of the safety deposit boxes. It's a case of national security." Hackett and his men plan to hold up the bank where Bailey stashes his money and records. These men case not only the bank, but they also case the local sheriff's office. Indeed, two of the team--Sgt. Buck Atwater William Forsythe of "Out for Justice" and Sgt. Luther Fry Dan Tullis Jr. of "Harlem Nights" --start a fight so authorities will arrest them for disorderly conduct and assault. Once they are confined to jail cells, they scope out the facilities.The other members of Hackett's team masquerade as Lone Star Armored Car guards so they can enter the bank armed with guns. Naturally, Hackett accompanies them. The robbers don pantie hose to blur their facial features. The flaw in their best laid plan occurs when Sergeant Declan Patrick Coker Matt Mulhern of "Junior" and Buck wind up stuck momentarily in a gully and cannot make it back to town in time to dispose of one of Cash's henchmen. Cash's henchman Hector Gary Carlos Cervantes of "Scarface" ambushes Sergeant Fry as he is exiting the bank lugging suitcases of loot. Hector riddles him with a submachine gun and grabs the luggage. While all this is transpiring, Coker and Buck have established a diversion with a hydrogen tanker that they obliterate with explosive charges. Careening back into town late, Coker and Buck run afoul of Benteen. Benteen learns afterward that Coker, Buck, and Fry were listed as dead by the government. When Benteen tracks down Hackett, the major explains that Cash Bailey once served as the DEA's number one, deep-cover informant. Cash has been using the bank in Benteen's own town to launder and stockpile his illicit drug money. Somehow, Hackett convinces Benteen to release Coker and Buck so they can rejoin Hackett, Sergeant Biddle, and Sergeant McRose and head south to Mexico and liquidate Bailey. Ostensibly, Benteen wants to reason with Cash, but he also wants to bring back his girlfriend, Sarita Cisneros Maria Conchita Alonso of "Predator 2" , who had gone back to Mexico with Cash.Everybody in "Extreme Prejudice" talks tough and looks intimidating. The salty, profane dialogue that these tough guys snarl with venom at each other predated Quinton Tarantino by several years. As the Benrey County Sheriff, Rip Torn has what is possibly the best line: "Only thing worse than a politician is a child molester." The second best line belongs to William Forsythe's flinty character Buck when he flirts with a woman: "As long as I got a face, you got a place to sit!" The bullet riddled confrontation in old Mexico near the end of this R-rated shoot'em up evokes memories of Peckinpah's magnum opus "The Wild Bunch," while the corrosive friendship between the hero and the villain is reminiscent of Peckinpah's "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid." Hill and his writers slip in a few surprises along the way, particularly in the treacherous character of Major Paul Hackett. If you're looking for a blazing guns entry with virtually everybody biting the dust, then "Extreme Prejudice" is designed with you in mind. The other tale of the Texas Rangers in a contemporary setting that compared favorably with "Extreme Prejudice" came out about four years earlier was director Steve Carver's "Lone Wolf McQuade" 1983 with Chuck Norris in his best bad ass role.

they're forced to deal with a bunch of rowdy troublemakers Ironside's Ghost Squad of "dead" Spec Ops soldiers standing in quite nicely for the Dead End Kids . Add Maria Conchita Alonso as the girl in the middle, Rip Torn as the ultimate Texas sheriff, a mess of great "badasses" as the soldiers and a fine mix of action and hardboiled dialog and you have a very entertaining tough guy film. Milius' concept is terrific; Hill knows how to stage these things better than anyone. This movie is a whole lot of fun.Best one-liner comes from Torn: "Only thing worse than a politician is a child molester." But Boothe, Nolte and some of the soldiers get off some good cracks, too. And that shootout is tremendous. Up there with Hill's Hard Times, The Long Riders and 48 Hrs.

conservative- libertarian bent, but what would you expect from the pen of veteran action ideologue John Milius. The acting is all class, and every character you remember and has depth; always a sign of a worthwhile movie. Nick Nolte plays the straight edge but likable Texas Ranger, Powers Boothe is the archetypal self-aware 'bad guy', and once again my man Michael Ironside steals every scene he is in, and is the perfect foil. Rip Torn is the funny Sheriff, and Reagan era hottie Maria Conchita Alonso even has a topless scene.This is a quintessential film for fans of either action movies, westerns, or 1980's nostalgia. The movie was produced by Carolco, which always meant that the action was going to be good and elaborate, and this film is no exception. The Peckinpah inspired final shootout is bloody and epic and really sticks out in an era like today where soft PG-13 action by guys like Will Smith or Nicholas Cage have forgotten that realistic firearms violence can add so much more to a story than CG.And now let me ask...WHEN IS THE REGION 1 WIDESCREEN DVD VERSION GOING TO BE RELEASED? It is a crime to have to watch this first rate classic in Pan & Scan, especially when so many awful titles from the 1980's have gotten the widescreen treatment. Somebody start a petition already.

blood squibs and slow-mo gunfights. The story isn't half-bad but Walter Hill has always been an action nut first and foremost and John Milius was never Cormac McCarthy, so you'll forgive Extreme Prejudice for not quite being No Country for Old Men. It's still a good movie, not very surprising truth be told, with some nice dialogue exchanges along the way, a crabby Rip Torn as the old sheriff mentor and Nick Nolte looking mean and badass for most of the film, and if it's let down in the acting department every now and then when some emoting is required, that's because both Michael Ironside and Powers Boothe playing the villains were never the greatest of actors.The low 6.2 rating the movie has as of this posting tells me the movie has suffered at the hands of sleepy viewers catching it randomly on late night TV in crappy pan-and-scan versions or indifferent video club patrons renting it on VHS. A niche audience comprising of fans of action movies and 70's gritnik crime cinema, the kind of genre Walter Hill has proudly inhabited in the 70's with films like The Driver, watching a good quality widescreen copy like I saw, will have much different things to say.

around a "mission impossible" styled subplot in which a group of off-the-grid soldiers plot to take Cash out themselves. One of the great things about the script is the way Milius juggles both story arcs, and then merges them during the film's grand finale. In an age of cookie-cutter action plots, its nice to find a genre film that keeps us gripped; an hour into the film and we still don't quite know what's going on, or how things tie together.But most of all, "Extreme Prejudice" is director Walter Hill's love letter to Sam Peckinpah. The film plays like a combination of "Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia" and "The Wild Bunch", Hill serving up brutal gun fights, strained romances, slow motion squib-operas and the kind of sweltering Mexican heat that Peckinpah's best films ooze. This is a film filled with men weathered and beaten by the Texan sun, haunted by an inability to get things right and willing to lay their lives down on matters of principle. Incidentally, the character of Cash Bailey is based on Orson Welles' corrupt lawn man in "Touch of Evil". "Touch of Evil" was itself set on the Mexican border, and featured a similar cast of sweaty gringos and snarling Mexicans.7.9/10 - Hill's early films were visceral genre pictures several inches ahead of the curve. His later films, however, concede to, rather than challenge, the conventions of action cinema. This film is a bit different, though. Skip its poor first act and ignore Milius' stupid politics the whole film is right winger's extra-judicial, "pop an immigrant" fantasy and you have an atmospheric rift on Peckinpah's "Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia" combined with the apocalyptic ending of "The Wild Bunch".Worth one viewing.