At Close Range – 1986
Posted by Scott on 03 Mar 2008 at 05:17 am | Tagged as: Underrated Films
One of the best films of the 1980’s, At Close Range, features two of America’s finest actors going head-to-head. Christopher Walken and Sean Penn provide a clinic on how to give memorable and authentic performances. The Academy Awards routinely ignores worthy acting, but they should be flogged for omitting both Walken and Penn in 1986. Forgive me for venting. This movie is the shit.
Penn plays Brad Jr., a bored teen living in a rural Pennsylvania town. One day his absentee father Brad Sr. (Walken) shows up, awakening Brad Jr.’s desire for a male influence in his life. Brad Jr. and his brother Tommy (Chris Penn) begin hanging with Brad Sr. and his crew of miscreants. Seduced by a life of crime and seeking love and admiration from his father, Brad Jr. recruits his friends into joining Brad Sr.’s gang.
After popping his criminal cherry, Brad Jr. gets bold and sets up a job on his own. Without Brad Sr.’s guidance, the heist goes awry. Brad and his buddies end up in jail which brings unwanted attention to Brad Sr. and his associates. Fearing one of the kids might snitch, Brad Sr. decides to silence voices before they incriminate him. Brad Jr. discovers his father’s duplicity and plans to escape.
Brad Jr.’s naive hope for acceptance collides with Brad Sr.’s vicious lack of morality. Unwilling to follow his father’s path, Brad Jr. learns a lesson Brad Sr. never taught him: to be his own man. At Close Range succeeds where most movies fail; it creates real characters with real conflict. Director James Foley (Glengarry Glen Ross) lets his actors tell the story without distraction. He simply frames Penn and Walken and they do the rest. Great movie with an outstanding soundtrack featuring one of Madonna’s best songs, “Live to Tell.”
A scene from At Close Range:
