Off Limits (1988)

It is a performances centric movie

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Profanity runs very high in this engrossing army thriller of unrealistic, over the top violence (not frequent though) impressive, out there dialogue, and partial sleaze thrown in, of course that discredits it a little. It also has good acting from our leads, and everyone else too. The much missed and loved Hines, proves here, he was much an underrated acting talent. Scott Glenn who makes a guest appearance is short and sweetly effective as a kinky and suicidal colonel. We have a whack job, who's doing prostitutes who have had babies, all fathered by army servicemen. The killer points towards a high ranking army official, that I didn't pick, though I know a few people who have, like the answer was staring them, straight in the face. Though I was eighteen, when I saw it, and I was less smarter, probably today I'd be much quicker off the bad. The photography is fantastic, truly capturing the period, you really believe it's 1968, this film released twenty years later. We even have old radio excerpts as well. But the problem with Saigon, is it does give too much away, in it's intelligent but self conscious script. We have great action, well shot, some of it quite thrilling, and scary. Fred Ward is totally unlike Fred Ward here, as a colonel who has his own demons. It's the best stuff I've ever seen from this guy. Explosions and violence, run amok, in Saigon, this city of madness, where several people, witnesses, who can finger this guy are eliminated, while attempts are made on the relentless duo, Dafoe and Hines, who won't stop until they get their man. Model, Pays is great as a sympathetic nun, who proves she can do other things, besides the latter. The opening for me, is one of a few cool openings in movies, it had a dangerous and riveting aura, right from the start. I still recommend this flick to people, especially being a Dafoe fan, like me.

Tough Sgt. Buck McGriff (the always excellent Willem Dafoe) and his equally hard-nosed partner Sgt. Albaby Perkins (a sound and convincing performance by Gregory Hines) find themselves in tremendous jeopardy as they investigate a series of vicious Vietnamese prostitute murders in 1968 Saigon. Director Christopher Crowe, who also co-wrote the coarse and engrossing script with Jack Tibeau, relates the gripping story at a steady pace, creates and maintains an uncompromisingly harsh and gritty tone, builds a good deal of tension, and stages the rousing action set pieces with real crackling aplomb. The strong chemistry between Dafoe and Hines really keeps the picture humming; they receive sturdy support from Amanda Pays as streetwise nun Nicole, Fred Ward as their easygoing superior Dix, Scott Glenn as the fearsome and unhinged Colonel Dexter Armstrong, Keith David as surly uncooperative witness Maurice, David Alan Grier as the helpful Rogers, Kay Tong Lim as meddlesome Vietnamese cop Lime Green, and Raymond O'Connor as the paranoid Elgin Flowers. The seedy exotic location, unsparingly profane dialogue, sordid subject matter, startling outbursts of raw brutal violence, and a sizable smattering of nudity give this movie an extra tart'n'tangy kick. David Gribble's glittery cinematography and James Newton Howard's pulsating score are both up to par. A most worthwhile film.

The Army has always wondered what side army CID is on so said Colonel Smokin' Joe Woodward to me many years ago. This film may answer good Colonel's question. In Vietnam the USACIDC worked for the VC.Following string of prostitute murders, Buck McGriff (Willem Dafoe) and his partner Albaby Perkins (Gregory Hines) are on the case. The suspects are all high ranking officers. Everyone including the ARVN (Army of The Republic of South Vietnam) QC (South Vietnamese Military Police) stand in their way. Only a French nun Sister Nicole (Amanda Pays) is of grudging assistance.Along the trail, they're kidnapped by troops fiercely loyal to their Colonel, witness US war crimes called playing helicopters, and finally take a taxi to VC headquarters to consort with Charlie himself.Yet despite their many adventures the answer has always been staring them in the face.Much of the film has been borrowed from WWII movies: In Vietnam with rotation and change over troops weren't quite as loyal to each other, their commanders or their units as had been the case in previous wars. The sidestory of the love affair with the French nun comes straight from HEAVEN KNOWS MR ALLISON; in the 1960s catholic nuns regularly left the convent to marry.Gregory Hines' character was about a decade before his time. The Army was late in placing Afro-Americans in the Military Police or in Criminal Investigation Command.Yet despite these shortcomings the film is well played and highly recommended.

Pretty decent offering featuring a couple of G.I. MP's who try to solve a string of brutal prostitute murders. After a while it was plain who the killer was. One part that just didn't play was the car bombing: I don't think yelling "get down" would save anybody in this case.