The Border

Such a great cast. I shudder to think what it would look like if it were made today. It is a touching and candid portrayal of a US border patrol agent stuck in a hopeless and depressing marriage while being tempted by corruption in his job on a daily basis. It's a disturbing movie which oddly enough has something like a happy ending. You will despise Valerie Perrine and Harvey Keitel. You will feel sorry for Jack Nicholson. It is a thought provoking and oddly innocent movie that is now pushing 40 years old. However, the issues it raises are timeless. Well worth watching. The writing isn't great and the sound quality is not very good but that could just be me.

One of my favorites, many have forgotten it or never saw it. The immigration issue still with us after all these years, but its hard to imagine a movie dealing with that issue in as thoughtful or morally complex a way as this one does being made today. So many great lines: "I really liked feedin' those ducks", "I married a banana", "Soup's on", "Regular or Hungry Man", "I just want to feel good about something", "That's just money, boy, that's all that is, and that ain't enough" "I might'a known yer momma" "I can tell by the way he looks through his face that guys crazier than a s***house rat" Such a wonderful script, and one of Nicholson's best performances...instead of crazy "Bull Goose Looney" Jack we get a repressed slow burn. I read recently that he thinks its one of his best too. Shame that it is only available on DVD. Hope this gets a Criterion Blu-Ray release some day, it really deserves it.

Better than I expected, not as good as it could have been, but solidly entertaining film with the usual outstanding Jack Nicholson performance.

To appreciate Jack Nicholson's work in "The Border" you have to take into account the time it was made. Nicholson was just coming off "The Shining" where his performance was universally mocked by the elites as ham boned. His turn here is the polar opposite of Jack Torrance. Nicholson plays a passive border guard submissively going along with a corrupt system until events force him to take a stand for what is right. The transformation of his character is subtle with few broad gestures or demonstratives. It's a masterful piece of acting that fits easily into the illustrious canon that Nicholson has amassed. It would be better if the film itself was on par with Nicholson's contribution. I'm not suggesting that this isn't a good film that doesn't offer some cogent points about our porous border with Mexico. I'm in agreement that a lot of it stems from America's demand for cheap labor. The film, however, bludgeons the filmmakers assertion that the majority of border security is on the take. Tony Richardson's film uses a broad brushstroke in advancing this argument which may be partially true but patently unfair to the majority of border security doing their very difficult jobs. As we have seen in this election cycle illegal immigration remains a hot button issue. It's unfortunate that this film oversimplifies the topic.

Jack Nicholson thought this was one of his best performances. And the rest of the cast is 1970-80s great with Harvey Keitel (Thelma and Louise), Valerie Perrine (Oscar for Lenny), the under appreciated Warren Oates (Two Lane Blacktop, Blue Thunder) oh and Elpidia Carrilo (Predator). Nicholson plays a Border Patrol Agent trying to stay clear of the department's graft and corruption.The actors try but frankly the roles here are pretty thin. The scenery is genuinely authentic and perhaps that is part of my problem. I have lived in West Texas, visited El Paso several times, and yep that is just what border shanty towns look like, no wonder they want to leave. It is a stain on humanity that people live like that this close to the US. Where are the Hispanic writers wanting reform on the Mexican side of the border?The production seems to have that 'let's shoot this and get it done sparse budget and general attitude' of a made for tv movie, unlike Route 9 for example which I watched recently. Contrast this with Nicholson's trade mark wise guy attitude in Five Easy Pieces or his brooding descent into madness, Wendy I'm Home line as he chops through the bathroom door in The Shining, and one is likely to be disappointed.The wives start out glad to see one another and clearly wanting to bring something to the story but alas the script never gives them a chance. Perhaps the best role in fact was Carillo whose character does not speak English and therefore relies a great deal on facial expressions. Warren Oates is his usual gruff and rough harried self but again we don't see how and why he descended into corruption just that he did. Ditto for Keitel's character.I will have to watch the credits again, the scenes are clearly filmed amid Border Patrol motor pools and offices but it is hard to imagine the US BP went along with this version of their officers.:If you want to see Jack in a different sort of role, try About Schmidt instead. This is the sort of role Jack Lemmon loved to play, the over the hill, past middle aged guy caught in his own struggle to define himself, and Jack is not the usual Jack Nicholson but pulls it off as well as Lemmon ever did.One can see the last scene will not end well for all concerned but seems to have that whoops ran out of budget end this thing now leaving lots of loose ends to be explained, but I won't say anything more, you be the judge.I rate it interesting but it could have been oh so much more, they had the right cast.Hmm, whatever happened to Valerie Perrine anyway?

I enjoyed this film in the theater long ago. But to be honest, the tale of crooked Border Patrol Officers is a bit hard to see in this age of a completely trashed border. Take in to account the difference between the 70's vs the 2020's. Still worth a watch because of the cast. Jack Nicholson and Harvey Keitel makes it for me.

One of Jack’s lesser known. The title says it all - a tight drama with one of the finest actors around. Great bluray release.

EXCELLENT

DVD has become the equivalent of the old late night double-bill circuit, the last chance to catch old movies on the verge of being completely forgotten like The Border. There were great expectations for this back in 1982 - a script co-written by The Wild Bunch's Walon Green, Jack Nicholson in the days when he could still act without semaphore and a great supporting cast (Harvey Keitel, Warren Oates, Valerie Perrine), Tony Richardson directing (although he was pretty much a spent force by then) - but now it doesn't even turn up on TV. The material certainly offers a rich seam of possibilities for comment on the 80s American Dreams 80s of capitalism and conspicuous consumption, with Nicholson's border patrolman turning a blind eye to the odd drug deal or bit of people trafficking to finance his wife's relentless materialism, until he rediscovers his conscience when he finds out his partners are also in the baby selling business. Unfortunately, he never really gets his hands dirty, barely even turning a blind eye before his decency rises to the surface. The film feels always watered down as if too many rewrites and too many committees have left it neutered and, sadly, the recent DVD release is a missed opportunity to restore the original, nihilistic ending where Nicholson goes over the edge and firebombs the border patrol station that was cut after preview audiences found it too downbeat but which still featured prominently in the film's trailers.While that probably wasn't too convincing considering how low-key Nicholson's crisis of conscience is in the film, it had to be better than the crude reshot climax where the film abandons logic and even basic rules of continuity: at one point he's holding characters at gunpoint, then he's somewhere else and they're free trying to kill him, one character goes from injured at his house to hopping around like a gazelle on the banks of the Rio Grande while Valerie Perrine's character gets dumber on an exponential level. The villains of the piece are disposed of with absurd ease (and one impressive car stunt) in time for a clumsily edited happy ending and you start wondering if you somehow found yourself watching another film entirely. What makes it all the more clumsy is that the rest of the film is so flat and underwhelming that the sudden lurch into melodrama is all the more jarring. Unfortunately Ry Cooder's beautiful title song, Across the Borderline, says it all much more economically. But if you want to know the film's real crime, it's completely wasting the great Warren Oates in a nothing bit part. When even he can't make an impression, you know something's really wrong. All in all, all too easy to remember why I found this so forgettable.The DVD has no extras - not even a trailer - but has an acceptable 2.35:1 widescreen transfer, although many night scenes lack detail.

almost an underrated classic

This is a very good film even though it's a bit predictable at times. Jack Nicholson gives one of his finest performances and the film is still very relevant today. Kino's Blu-ray transfer is fine, I found the audio to be a bit muffled at times but I'm just glad to finally have this on Blu-ray.