At Close Range (1986)

Sadly Over-hyped

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Blistering performances.

Sean Penn delivers a solid, mostly under stated performance as Brad Whitewood Jr., living in Pennsylvania in the late 70s with a mother (Millie Perkins), grandmother (Eileen Ryan), and half-brother Tommy (Chris Penn). Brad and Tommy's estranged father Brad Sr. (Christopher Walken) fatefully re-enters their lives, and they become intrigued with the criminal life that he leads. Ultimately, they will realize that this rediscovered father figure is as toxic as he can possibly get. Brad Sr. will stop at NOTHING to protect his interests, including murder.This imperfect but still pretty powerful drama was inspired by a real-life case, and it's noticeably downbeat and violent. Something this viewer felt was lacking was a stronger connection to Brad Jr. and Tommy, although they are basically okay kids with a mildly punkish streak. As we can see, they're young enough to be impressionable, and the magnetic Brad Sr. messes up their lives for the worse.Director James Foley (who also cameos as an assistant D.A.) crafts a reasonably stylish and good looking film, shot in widescreen on various scenic locations. The haunting (if also fairly repetitive) music score is courtesy of Patrick Leonard, who also wrote the classic theme song "Live to Tell" with Madonna. The use of violence is, for the most part, restrained, except for one shocking act of brutality late in the picture, when Brad Jr. is confronted with the depths of his dads' depravity.Excellent casting in just about every role helps. The real-life Penn brothers have good chemistry, and it's nice to see them in scenes with Ryan, their mother. Mary Stuart Masterson has much appeal as the under-age girl to whom Brad Jr. is drawn. Familiar younger actors like Crispin Glover, Kiefer Sutherland, and Stephen Geoffreys of "Fright Night" turn up, as well as some of L.A.'s top character actors: Penn family friend R.D. Call ("Waterworld") as Dickie, David Strathairn ("Good Night, and Good Luck.") as Tony Pine, J.C. Quinn ("The Abyss") as Boyd, and Tracey Walter ("Repo Man") as amiable chatterbox Patch. Walken dominates it all with a performance that may not be free from standard Walken eccentricities / line delivery, but is disturbingly effective in its creepy charisma.Overall, "At Close Range" does work viscerally, and stays with you after its final moments.Scripted by Nicholas Kazan, based on a screen story by him and producer Elliott Lewitt.Seven out of 10.

At Close Range is one of the most underrated American films of the 1980s. How it has become so forgotten is not only a sad reflection on film, but also on audiences. Rarely do people flock to the cinema to see such an unflinching neo-realist tale of depravity and dysfunction and perhaps this is why so many people overlooked this engrossing work of art. Films like At Close Range, released in 1986, tread on those very personal lines that make the viewing experience too close for comfort. We all know people who have fallen through the cracks of society, who are morally corrupt, people who represent a failure of school, of parenting, of discipline, of the law, of art, of the accepted way of life... people who are potentially capable of anything at the right time and place. These very people are at the center of At Close Range, which is based on the true story of a notorious Midwestern crime gang with strong familial ties. The Midwestern United States has become more than a geographic compass, more than a mere region of a nation. It is now representative of a place where change seldom visits and a very outdated, unjust way of life is upheld. Stagnancy seems to be ripe in the region. Prejudicial intolerance and hatred bred out of ignorance has been rampant there. Of course, it is not all like this, but this is how it is commonly depicted in cinema and it makes for some very interesting character studies. History hasn't exactly been kind to the region, tarnishing its reputation with many grisly murder cases. As a result, the 'Midwest' could almost be an epithet of sorts, a setting of a series of similar films that detail the redneck rurality that propels people into nihilistic turpitude and banal evil. A few of these Midwestern films that come to mind are Badlands (1975) and the exceptional Boys Don't Cry (1999). At Close Range is certainly a Midwestern crime drama, just like the aforementioned films. All three of these films are based on harrowing true stories. Of course, the Midwest- crime tale does not just exist in cinema, but also in literature. It harks as far back to Truman Capote's iconic 1960s book 'In Cold Blood', a true crime story about a brutal slaying in a Kansas farmhouse. Thus, the Midwest being painted as a nether-region of sorts where crime seems to be just as familiar to the inhabitants as crop farming is so deeply ingrained in art that At Close Range feels like a tale we have seen or heard about before, yet it is portrayed with such beauty and stark honesty that it takes on a reverence. In At Close Range, Christopher Walken plays Brad Whitewood Senior, the head of a crime gang who have made millions stealing from other people. His estranged and wayward son, Brad Whitewood Junior, (played brilliantly by Sean Penn) has recently reconnected with Brad Senior, and has a taste for the gangster life that his father so ruthlessly pursues. To Brad Jr, this life of crime is not only alluring, it's a denunciation on the American Dream, a life he refuses to live. Things go awry when Brad's girlfriend, the pretty and petite Terry (Mary Stuart Masterson) and half brother Tommy (referred to Brad Senior as the "bastard" child) come into the picture. Before long, Terry is an unwitting pawn in a situation of pursued vs pursuer. It is her restless eye for Brad Jr. that sets this drama in motion. A blood curdling finale ensues, which threatens to change the lives of these small town lives irrevocably.At Close Range is many things. It is a tale of love on the run, of a young man growing up in rural America, the tale of idyllic small town life that very finely treads the line of reckless abandon (the boys and their girls spend summer afternoons at the lake, drinking and making out), the tale of family dysfunction, of lower middle class life, of the corrupt, of vengeance, and ultimately of justice. But I think what is truly at the heart of this film is a son's coming of age - a desperate need for a father, which is what makes the final act so heartbreaking. Brad Junior so desperately needs guidance, love and affection, but the very man who should have given it to him is so hopelessly screwed up and even dangerous, so dangerous in fact that he would murder his own son if he threatened to spill the beans on his crime gang. Very few characters have been as terrifying and evil as Christopher Walken's Brad Senior. When Brad Junior finally finds the love he has sought after for so long in Terry, it is cruelly snatched away from him by his own flesh and blood.Everyone in this film was at their very best here as far as talent goes. The acting is mesmerizing, there isn't a weak link in the entire cast. Walken, Penn and Masterson all deserved Oscar nominations for their deeply effecting performances. The cinematography was another pleasant surprise, every shot unfolds as though it was plucked straight out of a waking dream. The scenes at night evoke so much mood and suspense, while the sun-drenched scenes at the lake and on the farms recall those glory days we all knew and long for. Of course, things move at a languid pace at times, but the direction remains tight and the suspense picks up very rapidly. As the film progresses towards the final moments, it becomes increasingly harder to watch, but it's equally as difficult to look away. I was hooked, thanks to the expertly crafted worked by the cast and crew. At Close Range is truly a diamond in the rough. I highly recommend this film for being an intricately layered, absorbing study on moral abandon and small-town idle that eventually spills into violence. It's unforgettable.

I've loved this movie since the first time I watched it 15 years ago and have always been intrigued. I have noticed people on here wanting more info on the real story behind the Johnston gang. I downloaded a book from amazon called "Jailing The Johnston Gang". It tells the whole story and is written by a reporter who was following the story when it was happening. A lot of info and had my mind blown. There is a lot in the movie that is dead on and a lot that can be contributed to entertainment. I highly recommend buying the book. It also has pictures of the real gang. More info is that this happened in rural Pennsylvania and Bruce Johnston (Brad Whitewood) had a home in northern Maryland very close to Delaware. This info is also in the book. There are a lot of quotes and things said and done that are word for word what the real life criminals said or did. I loved the book and At Close Range has been and always will be my favorite movie. It actually happened to be on TV yesterday and I was so excited. Hope that helps :)

At Close Range is directed by James Foley and written by Elliott Lewitt and Nicholas Kazan. It stars Sean Penn, Christopher Walken, Mary Stuart Masterson, Chris Penn, Millie Perkins and Eileen Ryan. Music is by Patrick Leonard and Madonna and cinematography is by Juan Ruiz Anchia. Film is an adapted account of the Pennsylvania Johnston gang headed by Bruce Alfred Johnston Sr, who operated during the 60s and 70s.Boy ain't got the life expectancy of a house fly.The real life source of At Close Range is bleak and the makers don't shy from that marker. James Foley's movie is consistently downbeat, even when a snippet of hope rears its head, you sense that it is a waste of time latching onto it. Story is that of harsh family relations, it's often told with bleak passages and is violent, though never in a way that it feels vicarious, these passages are significant and they do not diminish the film's worth. It's an unpleasant movie in a lot of ways, but dovetailing deftly with the criminalisation of one Bradford Whitewood Junior (Sean Penn), a youngster reaching out for some father love from his estranged criminal pappy, Brad Senior (Walken), we get a love story trying to bloom, where the arrogance and naivety of youth hangs heavy in the atmospheric air. There's even a sense of youthful adventure lurking around the edges of the frame.However, this isn't going to end well, it just can't, surely? Brad Junior is an outcast, a misfit, his life is in a rut, but he is instantly enthralled by what his father can give him, he can't see through his rose tinted spectacles what the audience can and the makers hold us in a vice like grip from the beginning to ensure we are there at the end. An instrumental version of Madonna's haunting pop single "Live to Tell" marries up darkly with the mood crafted, as does Anchia's photography, which looks like it has been shot through some MTV Gothic prism. The acting is powerhouse from S. Penn (intense and full of wrought emotion), Walken (utterly dominant as he shifts unerringly between the charm and nasty gears) and Masterson (naively endearing and makes us care for her Terry character). It will be a bit too maudlin for some, while some of the Pennsylvania imagery comes close to negating the pervading sense of sadness. But to my mind this is an excellent slice of neo-noir and worthy of seeking out as long as you aren't looking to be cheered up! 8.5/10