THE CROSSING GUARD
A film review by Ben Hoffman
Copyright 1995 Ben Hoffman
Freddy Gale (Jack Nicholson) is a jeweler. Watching the film, my mind wandered to the many films in which Nicholson starred over the years, almost all fine films: ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, A FEW GOOD MEN, PRIZZI'S HONOR, REDS, CHINATOWN, FIVE EASY PIECES, and EASY RIDER, to name some of the more outstanding. And I am watching Nicholson looking and acting very much as he did in every film he has been in: the white eyeballs, the devilish look, the way he wipes his mouth, the way he lowers his voice into a hushed mumble. And I think, maybe he ought to start looking different in different kinds of films. Even at the Lakers' games, with his dark glasses, he is Nicholson. His "look" is getting a bit boring.
The film's story is not much help. Written and directed by Sean Penn, it's a simple story and not terribly interesting. John Booth (David Morse) accidentally ran over Gale's seven-year-old daughter with his car. After spending his time in jail he is about to be released. While he is ticking off the days on his calendar in the jail cell, Nicholson is doing the same in his home. Both know that when Booth is released, Gale is going to go after him.
Gale shows up at the home of his ex-wife, Mary, (Anjelica Huston) and informs her that he is going to kill Booth. Mary has remarried. They had gotten divorced, presumably because of Gale's behavior once his beloved daughter was killed; he has become a changed man who hangs out at strip joints with other jewelers who look more like sleazy gangsters. It now becomes, for the audience to watch and guess how the film will develop and the development is nothing spectacular. There is a short look at an elderly crossing guard asleep, or half asleep, sitting in a chair while the children are in a playground. If there were any significance to that, and to the film's title, I missed it.
Supporting actors are Robin Wright who befriends and comforts booth and Piper Laurie (as beautiful as ever) as Booth's mother.
One of the obviously "silly" incidents (to use a kind word) is the policewoman who, when Gale is pulled over for possible drunk driving, takes his gun (he has a license for it as he is a jeweler who carries valuables) and lays the gun on the trunk of his car within easy reach of Gale if he chooses to make a grab for it and escape.
There is not much else to the film worth mentioning.
1.5 bytes
4 Bytes = Superb
3 Bytes = Too good to be missed.
2 Bytes = So so.
1 Byte = Save your money.
-- Ben Hoffman
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