Cohen and Tate (1989)
A boy kidnapped by two mismatched hitmen puts them at each other's throats while being driven to their employers, possibly to be killed. Cohen, an older professional becomes increasingly irritated with his partner Tate, a brutish killer, when their prisoner uses unnatural guile and resourcefulness to play them off against each other.
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Sorry, this movie sucks
As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
Cohen And Tate is a dismal little waste of time and talent. Black comedy? No. Not a bit of humor in this uber-violent dreck. I stumbled upon it on the This TV channel, where the movies are either bad or old, or in this case, both.I stuck with it because Roy Schieder was in it. He made some good films in his day, and usually brings a lot to the table. In this film, however he shoots his gun a lot, bleeds a lot, and changes a flat tire.Yes, it is a road movie featuring two sociopathic hit men with a wiseacre kidnapped kid in the back seat. Hilarity ensues? Not. It can be summed up in the catchy tune from Music Man: Drive a little, shoot a little, drive a little, shoot a little; drive, drive, drive, shoot a lot, drive a little more.If your idea of suspense is seeing a bad guy shot to a bloody pulp, but managing to rise, fully-abled, a few moments later, then you have a treat in store. Both title characters eat a pound of lead and lose a gallon of blood, but keep on coming back like the Energizer Bunny. They take turns at this until one is crushed in a Texas oil field pump and the other puts a bullet into his own neck. Oops, I should have said "spoiler" – except nobody cares in this kind of sick pulp fest.If you are looking for dark comedy involving two miss-matched psychopaths hired to do a kidnapping that goes all wrong, skip this one and rent Fargo.
Two professional assassins are sent to kidnap a 9 year old boy named Travis Knight (Harley Cross), who is under the United States Federal Witness Protection Program after witnessing a mob killing in Texas. Cohen (Roy Scheider) is the older, jaded assassin with a little bit of humanity still in him. Tate (Adam Baldwin) is the younger, hotheaded and psychopathic killer.The film is a cinematic version of O. Henry's short story "The Ransom of Red Chief", which partially influenced both "Ruthless People" and "The Ref". The version here is significantly different than the original (as it involves no ransom and is much more violent) but has the general underlying concept intact.Is it time for this film to be re-examined and re-evaluated as a lost 1980s action classic? Perhaps. While Harley Cross is a bit annoying (especially that accent) and Adam Baldwin pushes his role too far... this is still a fine piece of entertainment.
In the opening of COHEN AND TATE, right away as we are introduced to a nervous family in a secluded farm outside of Houston Texas, being watched by witness protection agents, director Eric Red immediately establishes the mood, the dread, that will permeate throughout the entire film. Two hit men, one an aging pro, Cohen(Roy Scheider), the other a hotheaded and unstable rookie, Tate(Adam Baldwin)gun down everyone except a boy named Travis(Harley Cross), who they are given strict orders to return to their mob boss in Houston. As we follow them on a road trip back to Houston, Travis attempts to exploit the obvious volatile tensions between his two cold-blooded kidnappers, actually succeeding in turning the screw and capitalizing in taking advantage of a visible powder keg ready to disrupt. What amazed me about COHEN AND TATE was the fact that most of the entire film takes place inside a car(well, actually two, they eventually steal another after a harrowing road block escape)and yet Red finds ways thanks to his superb leads and the friction that develops as the road trip continues. Also fascinating is the fact that a child is able to become master manipulator and turn two hired killers against each other in order to survive. Baldwin is clearly unstable from the get-go, unloading shotgun blasts into Travis' mom and always pleading with Cohen to kill the kid. Cohen establishes early on that he has always worked alone, forced by the boss to take on a partner, not exactly the most trustworthy or level-headed at that. Cohen shoots Travis' father and doesn't see that he's dead, which essentially leads to his downfall. Tate reacts accordingly when they discover that pops survived and this fact fuels his desire to shoot Travis. So we spend the rest of the running time wondering how long Tate will wait before trying to kill Travis as Cohen interferes over and over. The beauty of the film is how we see the three interact with each other, particularly Cohen, the old timer,and Tate, the unpredictable hoodlum. I think we can see that Tate may be only good at this role, someone who kills people he doesn't know for a city mobster never named or given a face. It's not about why the kid is being taken to the mobster(the reason is barely elaborated, the kid may know something important the mobster needs to find out), but how the youngster stirs the pot, quite resourceful and bright. It's a testament to the actors that they can keep our attention while most of the time they argue and bicker inside a car, the result we know will end badly. Great finale around Texas oil rigs, not to mention the aforementioned road block where Cohen and Tate must avoid being arrested by deputies checking the cars of motorists.
Just seen it tonight on TV and wanted to highly recommend it to any fan of gritty, tense road-movies and Thrillers. I won't say anything about the plot, you've already read it, I guess. The director, Eric Red (writer of "Hitcher" and "Near Dark", comes up with a really dark and nihilistic atmosphere and tone that fits perfect to the minimalistic approach. There are very few characters in this one, but they are awesomely written. The dialog is short and kept to a minimum but totally fits to the mood and the characters. The movie isn't stylishly cut or edited, there are a lot of closeups to the characters but so you can really approach the great acting of Baldwin and Scheider. There is not that much action in this one but when something happens, it's gritty, violent and culminates in very tense moments. So, it's not you're everyday, loud and fast Blockbuster but if you like the early works of John Carpenter or Walter Hill, you will surely love this one.