At Close Range (1986)

"Hands Down, A Winner"

"At Close Range" is a classic example of a movie in which all aspects of the filmmaker's art shine; if it isn't already, it should be required viewing for students in film schools. First of all, the Kazan script, which details the growing into manhood of the Sean Penn character, skillfully combines the luridly violent with the ultimately noble, its resolution having Penn, without his becoming a goody two-shoes, credibly endorse the virtues of the civilized over the flashy and brutish.

The color photography, unexpected in a neo-noir film, works remarkably well as it turns out, being consistently beautiful (in the rural landscapes) and imaginative (for example, in its scenes of the gang members marching single file, silhouetted against a dusky sky.) Each image in the film appears to have been composed with great aesthetic care, reminding this viewer of the directorial art of such a master as William Wyler.

The acting in this movie can't be praised highly enough. Christopher Walken, always good as a villian with a sarcastic bent, here outdoes himself as a self-centered father, doing evil not for its own sake, but for HIS own sake. As his initially impressionable and then maturing son, Sean Penn combines a youth's brooding qualities with an astonishing ability as an adult male to scream and even cry on screen, becoming intensely moving in such moments.

As earlier reviewers have insisted, this film deserves to be far better known. June 14, 2008

"Is this the family gun, dad?" Hidden '80's Genre Gem

Somehow this movie vanished without a trace when in came out c.'86, but in my years as a video store clerk in that bygone epoch, whenever i recommended it to customers, they thanked me profusely. This slice of no-hope rural oedipal noir was based on a true story. Sean Penn, barely out of his teens and incendiary, is a bored teen in small-town, depressed Pennsylvania farm country, living with his indolent mom and younger bro (played by real-life bro, the late, lamented Chris Penn). Bored out of his skull, with no prospects, Sean is tantalized by fleeting glimpses of his dad, who abandoned him back in toddlerhood, but who periodically stops by to dispense wads of cash to his estranged wife, keeping contact with his son to a minimum. Dad, as is evident by his clothes, the cash, his swagger and his car, is some kind of rural bandit. And he is played by Christopher Walken, to the absolute hilt, in one of the most menacing, hilarious, kitsch-free depictions of villainy I have ever seen. The narrative proper gets going when Walken takes a fancy to his forgotten son, to the point where he initiates him into his criminal world (which seems to consist mostly of hijacking high-end farm equpiment and selling drugs). Penn, thrilled at the money, excitement, and filial bonding, is swept up into dad's heady orbit...until it begins to dawn on him that there are worse things than being fatherless...like having a dad who is a predatory homicidal maniac.

Magnificent script by Nick Kazan, son of Elia, who in the late '80's early '90's specialized in literate, offbeat true crime stories like this, "Reversal of Fortune," and "Patty Hearst." James Foley ("GlenGary Glen Ross") directs beautifully, paying great attention to the no-hope depressed rural environment. Supporting performances are fabulous, from Tracy Walter's Walter Brennan-like gangster underling, to Crispin Glover and Chris Penn as the stoner kids who get carried away into a life of crime and pay a dear price, to the stunning Mary Stewart Masterson as Sean's tough-as-nails tomboy girlfriend. Penn himself is his usual smoldering self, but it is Walken who makes this a must-see; too often self-parodic, here is is absolutely believable, from his cocksure swagger, to his peculiar but convincing Appalachian accent ("a little Elvis, a little Muhammed Ali," he explained in an interview), to his habit of smiling sweetly to himself when he kills people. The story of a man who discovers the joys of fatherhood belatedly, until it gets in the way of what really matters to him, the story of a fatherless boy whose belated reunion with his father goes from rapture to nightmare: this is not merely a true-crime movie, but an archtypal tragedy, and everyone involved should take a bow -- even Madonna, then in her Penn-days, who delivers a terrific title song with the downbeat "Live to Tell." May 30, 2008

dvd

was not to happy whit this item it as a copy and was all choped up alot of the seans were missing March 23, 2008

The Family Business of Crime

This movie is based on the true events of a crime family from Pennsylvania. Sean Penn and Christopher Walken are both outstanding in this film. If I remember correctly, Sean Penn was married to Madonna during the time this was filmed. Madonna actually has a song that plays on the soundtrack to this film. I had never heard of the story behind this movie until the movie itself came out. Penn's character seeks the approval of his father (Walken) by following in his father's footsteps. The family business is burglary, and business is good. Greed eventually takes over and things start to fall apart for everyone in the film. Sometimes films based on true events fall short on exitement, but this one delivers the goods. Great film. February 14, 2008

Underappreciated Gem

Sean and Chris Penn are perfectly cast as sons (Sean the fathers namesake)of rural theft ring boss Christopher Walken. When life in quiet PA. town with mom and stepfather becomes boring and without opportunity, Sean falls in with ne'er do well dad and uncles stealing cars,tractors,trucks and tools from local landowners.Younger brother Chris soon follows suit and both fall in over their heads as federal grand juries meet and a case is built against the crew.
Walken doesn't play the kingpin role here, he's a more common variety of crook whose rewards are muscle cars and above ground pools instead of Benzes and bling. Walken is very dangerous in the narrow and amoral ways of his "big small-time" thief whose life may be crashing down soon and must be ruthless to protect the illict spoils he is used to. As the Penn brothers characters are only in their late teens, they both quickly realize how fast life moves and how deep their crimes have become.
Cinematography is top-notch in depicting Mid-Atlantic country life and innocent pleasures that will soon be gone. Great support roles by Mary Stuart Masterson and Candy Clark as two very different young women who are the father and son's girfriends.
Based on a true story. November 20, 2007

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