SwitchBack
The script for SwitchBack was written when Jeb Stuart was in college, long before he wrote DIEHARD and THE FUGITIVE. There is no question about his talent. Still, the story for SwitchBack reads like a million others, convoluted and unnecessarily complicated.
Essentially, it is the story of a serial killer, Bob Goodall, (Danny Glover) who is being tracked by an FBI man, Frank LaCrosse. We are never told why Goodall is engaged in his killings, only that he has killed some 16 people. Not only has he thrown the police off his track, he has managed to make them look for someone else. However, he has not fooled LaCrosse. When Goodall becomes aware of that, he kidnaps Lacrosse's seven-year-old son in the hope that the father will lay off. On the contrary, this incites the father to double his efforts.
Early in the film, Goodall meets up and saves the life of Jared Leto (Lane Dixon) a medical student dropout who has become a drifter. For the rest of the film they hang out together. The other interesting character is that of Sheriff Olmstead (R Lee Ermey) who originally is antagonistic to the FBI stepping in on his case but eventually becomes an ally.
What value the film has is almost entirely in the spectacularly beautiful photography of the snow-covered Rocky Mountains with the train snaking through. That is the magnificent work of Oliver Wood. In addition, there are some hair-raising fights with both Goodall and LaCrosse battling it out on some kind of snowplow that swings perpendicularly away from the train. Still, the film does not lend itself to any great acting and so everyone is quite adequate without particularly having to shine..
Directed by Jeb Stuart.
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Copyright 1997 Ben Hoffman
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