The Border (1982)

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

I've just been watching "The Border" with Jack Nickolson. which is very topical given recent events in the USA in 2018.A distopian present as relevant now as it was when it was made in 1982. Jack on Mexican Border control. It does not pull it's punches when it comes to social comment, showing all facets of the strange underworld of this border society - the suffering and exploitation of the poor people, the corruption, the effect of crime and drugs on youth, while it also satirises American consumerism and even manages a somewhat happy ending, where the two main protagonists, Jack and a young Mexican mother, are not exactly better off, but no worse off, which, given what happens in between, feels like a win for them.I can also describe it as an action movie, as by 1970s standards it has as many car chases and shoot ups as an equivalent Clint Eastwood or Charles Bronson movie. Being a somewhat realistic movie, Jack is never allowed to kills anyone out right, he shoots one bad guy in the leg, who, distracted, then runs into a clothes line and accidently blows his head off with his own shotgun, and later he shoots and punctures the tire of a large earth moving machine, which evil Harvey Kietel is hiding under, and the machine slowiy subsides, crushing Kietel beneath it!So all in all a rare combination of social comment and entertainment, which is probably why it wasn't very successful at the time. Those who are passionate about the political issues may feel it trivialises them, whereas I think it performs the function of highlighting them for those like myself that would not watch a movie on this topic that did not also provide the type of entertainment I seek.

To appreciate Jack Nicholson's work in "The Border" you have to take into account the time it was made. Nicholson was just coming off "The Shining" where his performance was universally mocked by the elites as ham boned. His turn here is the polar opposite of Jack Torrance. Nicholson plays a passive border guard submissively going along with a corrupt system until events force him to take a stand for what is right. The transformation of his character is subtle with few broad gestures or demonstratives.The story-line takes place in El Paso, Texas and Juarez, Mexico, in which there is the border between the two places (the Rio Grande river, more specifically). It deals a lot with the illegal immigration problem, and other issues that occurred at that time. The immigration issue still with us after all these years, but its hard to imagine a movie dealing with that issue in as thoughtful or morally complex a way as this one does being made today.I think the striking contrast between Charlie's air-headed Mary and the desperate and needy Maria needed to be further explored. As it was played Charlie is just a good Joe doing a good deed or two when in fact we know he is much more involved than that. I think the movie would have been improved by making him choose between the two women as he had to make the moral choice between going with the Cat's corruption or going against him. You gotta see this for Jack Nicholson, one of the great actors of our time, who brings subtlety and veracity to a role that could have been ordinary, while giving us only a hint of the commanding and irreverent style that he would adopt in later years.Overall rating: 8 out of 10.

Jack Nicholson gives a wonderfully controlled performance in this film. His restraint and control is contrasted to Harvey Keitel's fallen character and to his out-of-control, childish wife (Valerie Perrine). He works in dishonest circumstances in which he enforces the law selectively in a tacit arrangement with crooked businessmen. In so doing he is a part of the exploitation of Mexican workers. When he transfers from L.A. to Texas, his conscience is awakened by his dishonest co-worker and a beautiful, victimized Latina (Elpidia Carillo) and her child. There is plenty of action and the story moves in response to the characters.Freddy Fender and Ry Cooder provide memorable and haunting music that just makes the whole film so much more powerful.

I remember seeing this movie at a seedy downtown LA theater, the second film of a double bill that I almost walked out on before it began. I was glad I stayed. I don't remember what the feature film was, but I have never forgotten this movie.Jack Nicholson plays a on-the-take border patrol cop trying to go straight, but surrounded by corruption on both sides of the fence. He finally has to choose between fitting in by being a dirt bag, and being true to himself and cutting his ties with his buddies and his family.The border is not only a fence between two countries, it's a moral line between decency and indecency, between moral compromise and being a truly humane and compassionate person regardless of the consequences.The acting is superb, and the the plot could not be more timely. So give this box office bomb a go soon! It's a real diamond in the rough.