One False Move (1992)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Absolutely Brilliant!

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Some films just slip, for whatever reason, below the radar. We get any amount of top-budget, CGI-heavy dreck which go on to catch the headline - albeit for a week or two - but other films, such as One False Move, which proudly stands head and shoulders over its rivals is barely noticed.The story is simple and effectively told. There are no false histrionics, there is no grandstanding, the violence and horrific murders are not celebrated in that god-awful balletic way favoured by Tarantino and his ilk, and the whole thing is presented to the viewer on the assumption that the viewer has a brain.Yet despite its undoubted quality One False Move slips past and is 'just another film'. It's strength is that it is character-driven and people talk and behave like real people. It manages to convey the complexity of people: one of a trio who ripped off a drug dealer and six people are horrifically killed in the whole episode spares a young lad and saves him from certain death at the hands of her more sadistic accomplices, then goes on to kill a state trooper in cold blood.A small-town sheriff who yearns for greater things is mortified when he overhears the two big-shot cops from LA laughing at him behind his back. It spurs him on to try to be a hero and apprehend two of the gang all on his own. He does so, but at the cost of three lives and gets badly injured himself. All in all he might have got the men, but it is all just a bloody mess. The performances are all good ones, and the direction, camera-work and editing all add the sense of dread and help heighten the tension.The director is Carl Franklin who made another great but overlooked film in Devil In A Blue Dress. If you are able to catch this - though I don't know how because it doesn't seem to be shown on TV - do so. You won't regret spending time on what is something of a gem.

I think this movie was made outside mainstream by some little studio . I expected some cheap B-thriller and I was pleasantly surprised. It's a solid thriller . It's not a movie driven by twists, but by characters . It succeeds , because the direction is top notch . The director was able to create some unnerving moments of true tension and when the violence kicks in it's a really painful (emotionally ) experience. This is more of a character driven story not by twists.Also , almost the whole movie resolves around Bill Pulman ("Predator 2") as a Redneck sheriff . He's adorable . There is so much passion in him , a child like naivety and easy going personality . Later in the movie he shows he's darker , more mature side.The other actors give solid support to Pullman . I have to mention Michael Beach who really seems to be cold blooded psycho and good performance by Billy Bob Thornton (who is also the writer of the movie).I give it 7/10.

This fascinating first film by Carl Franklin stayed with me long after I turned it off--which is a good sign; my initial impulse was to give it a medium rating as higher ratings are alloted to films which are not only brilliant conceived and acted, but which ultimately are highly individual in tone and have something positive to say about the human condition.Perhaps that sounds a little pretentious for a cops and robbers film, which this is, a buddies-on-the-lam film combined with several contemporary film motifs--the absent father, forbidden love, and violent crime. Hitching the rating way up is first-rate ensemble acting, first with an in-depth performances from Billy Bob Thornton, as well as with lesser known but equally able performances from Cyndi Willimas, Michael Beach, and Bill Paxton (who turns out to be an unlikely hero of sorts).The final twenty minutes is mesmerizing, with a professional editing job that carefully links together all the complex interweaving gone before, taking the viewer all the way from LA to Arkansas back country. While not the greatest film ever made, One False Move accomplishes all its goals with perfection, pretends to be nothing it isn't, and ultimately offers a positive statement about people; that's why earns a high rating from me.

...heralding the rise of at least two notable acting careers, "One False Move" commits only a few of its own while limning the classic tragic arcs of a handful of well-drawn characters. With an admirably tight script by co-writer/star, Billy Bob "Slingblade" Thornton, and longtime collaborator, Tom "The Gift" Epperson, "One False Move" not only helped solidify Thornton's creds, it equally established Bill "Near Dark" Paxton as an actor with more than scene-chewing chops. It's a simple noir-ish tale of the inevitable collision of two homicidal ex-cons with a down-home Dudley Do-Right of a sheriff. Thornton's loose cannon is nicely balanced by a cucumber cool Michael "Third Watch" Beach as his dispassionate partner with a penchant for knives, while the pair's quest for drug money is enabled and then scuttled by Fantasia, Thornton's chippy girlfriend (and real-life wife at the time), Cynda "Mo' Better Blues" Williams. After a grim opening to establish the bad guys' brutality, "One False Move" settles into a groove reminiscent of an Elmore Leonard novel as its protagonists move toward their fates. Carl "Devil in a Blue Dress" Franklin, a veteran TV actor turned director, coaxes solid performances from his leads and supporting cast, ably abetted by DP James L. "Don't Answer the Phone!" Carter, and choice music from two founding members of the Climax Blues Band.I mentioned that there are a few false moves, and there are, but to me the only egregious one is a scene (that could have easily been rewritten) in which an Arkansas state trooper handles a traffic stop in a decidedly unprofessional manner, much to his regret. See if I'm not right when you watch the film; it caused me to lose a great deal of sympathy for a character that requires it desperately. At any rate, it's still a minor quibble, and the story only stumbles a bit because of it. Highly recommended to genre fans everywhere.