THE CROSSING GUARD
A film review by Billy Bud Vermillion
Copyright 1996 Billy Bud Vermillion
The Crossing Guard, a film by Sean Penn, starring Jack
Nicholson and a bunch of other people who don't count
cause Nicholson't in it(just kidding). Also starring
Robin Wright, David Morse, Angelica Huston. Produced by
Sean Penn and David Hamburger. Executive Producers, Bob
Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, Richard N. Gladstein. Miramax
Pictures
This is definitely the best movie to be released last year(hey, I didn't see Crumb, so sue me). It speaks to the soul, humming softly at you, urging you to look inside and see if you'd do the same thing as the figures on screen. Really. A powerful, moving piece of work every one who's ever felt the need for vengeance or justice in an unjust world should see just to show you how justice can be unjust, too.
The film opens as John Booth, convicted of manslaughter in a drunk-driving accident, is released from prison. We meet his parents, who love him very much, and obviously miss him. We see him as a tortured soul, guilty for what he did, for killing a little girl. We see him in flashbacks, beating his head against the bars of his cell, we see the scar this makes. He is a horribly depressed man,a man in a lot of pain.
Then we meet Freddy Gale, one of the most complex characters Nicholson's dealt with in a long time. He is obsessed with fantasies of revenge. He's been counting off the days on a little wall calendar, waiting for Booth to get out. He's planned to kill him since the trial, for his daughter's death. He is man lost to his dreams. All he has is revenge, liquor, and the strip bars where he picks women up from time to time. His wife(Huston)has long-since divorced him an married another man(Robbie Robertson)and thinks Freddy has forgotten her and her other kids for what she sees as selfish wish-fulfillment fantasies. Huston looks more haggard in this role than I think I've ever seen her. She's been worn down by her husband's madness.
Booth meets a woman(Wright)at a party his friend(David Baerwald, nice touch)throws for him, and she falls in love with him, though he can't love because of his oppressive feelings of guilt. Gale eventually makes his way to Booth's trailer and tries to shoot him, but the gun won't fire. He gives Booth three days to live. The movie then follows both characters during the three days, with Wright's character trying to bring Booth back to some semblance of life and Nicholson's moving farhter and farther from life into a kind of dead-eyed obsession. The three days pass, and Booth decides he wants to live, so he runs. The best scene in the movie comes during this part.Nicholson chases him onto a bus, but, polite jewelery store owner and former family man that he is, he decides to sit down and wait for the bus to stop before pursuing Booth(he knows the consequences of killing Booth will probably be the chair, but he still can't bring himself to go nuts on a bus--brilliant!). The ending is one of the most touching I've ever seen(though a little predictable). Penn has proven himself a fine director, and Nicholson has reaffirmed his status as a damn fine actor, too.
Coincidence, perhaps, that this film deals with the same basic idea as dead man walking(starring Penn)? I think not. And this one was released first. Hmmm....
This film may not be out in theaters any longer, but wait for it on video, because it's definitely worth your time. A fine film.
bvermill@students.uiuc.edu
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