{"id":12545,"date":"2015-11-04T17:54:34","date_gmt":"2015-11-04T22:54:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=12545"},"modified":"2016-07-25T02:27:43","modified_gmt":"2016-07-25T06:27:43","slug":"br-tequila-sunrise-1988","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=12545","title":{"rendered":"BR: Tequila Sunrise (1988)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\"TequilaSunrise_BR\"<\/a>Film<\/strong>: Excellent<\/p>\n

Transfer<\/strong>: \u00a0Very Good<\/p>\n

Extras<\/strong>: Good<\/p>\n

Label:\u00a0<\/strong> Warner Home Video<\/a><\/p>\n

Region:<\/strong>\u00a0All<\/p>\n

Released:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0January 7, 2014<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong>\u00a0 Suspense \/ Comedy<\/p>\n

Synopsis:<\/strong>\u00a0The arrival of a wanted Mexican drug lord upsets the tenuous friendship between a newly minted lieutenant, a known drug dealer, and an independent-minded restauranteur.<\/p>\n

Special Features:<\/strong>\u00a0 2010 Audio Commentary by producer Thom Mount \/ Theatrical Trailer.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Review:<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to producer Thom Mount (who provided a commentary track for the film\u2019s original 2010 DVD release), Tequila Sunrise<\/strong> came into being when Towne launched a lawsuit with Warner Bros. regarding his prior directing debut, Personal Best<\/strong>, and part of the settlement including the studio funding and releasing a film which the esteemed screenwriter would act as writer & director.<\/p>\n

The film that ultimately emerged was part film noir, part detective thriller, but with an emphasis on major character building between two university buddies who took polar career paths \u2013 one a drug dealer, the other a lieutenant applying sometimes sneaky methods to achieve goals.<\/p>\n

Towne had initially wanted Harrison Ford and Alec Baldwin, but the final casting choices of Mel Gibson and Kurt Russell proved perfect \u2013 especially since TR ranks as one of Russell\u2019s best screen performances, balancing humour with a dark undercurrent.<\/p>\n

Gibson\u2019s fine as McKussic, the too-successful, highly reluctant drug dealer sitting on a stash of coke and cash belonging to an associate and \u2018buddy\u2019 named Carlos, while Russell reportedly patterned Lt. Frescia after Lakers coach Pat Riley, adopting the slicked-back hair and attention to fine duds and chunky bling. Both actors maintain great screen chemistry in spite of their characters being lifelong rivals, almost trying to outdo the other in crime and law enforcement, and women.<\/p>\n

The pair\u2019s already wobbly friendship is tested when Frescia swoops in and starts to impress the restauranteur whom McKussic has an almost boyish infatuation: \u00a0Jo Ann Valenari (Michelle Pfreiffer), a woman quick to return an equally sharp jab to an accuser, but one easy to fall for bad boys because they offer a certain risk that\u2019s wholly absent from her regimented job.<\/p>\n

The film\u2019s core relationships are the two competitive friends, and McKussic\u2019s dangerous friendship with drug dealer Carlos (whose inimitable voice makes it clear which actor will reveal himself as the Mexican drug lord).<\/p>\n

Mount\u2019s commentary \u2013 which starts strong but withers into sporadic bits around the film\u2019s midpoint \u2013 sheds light on the early casting choices and extra character scenes pruned for redundancy and length, including scenes shot but deleted involving Carlos\u2019 son.<\/p>\n

TS never becomes dark or sadistic, which is typical of late eighties action-mystery-thrillers beloved (or disliked) for their unique combination of light drama, doses of smart-ass comedy, fast quips, and action.\u00a0Towne\u2019s film maintains a steady tone that\u2019s always straddling the border of light comedy and elemental aspects of a classic noir \u2013 namely the double-cross, friends pitted against each other, and a hot dame \u2013 and for most of its nearly 2 hour running time it is a perfect movie, transcending audience expectations with engrossing character moments that keep layering details and tension as McKussic and Frescia are forced into starkly defined corners, but then things get hazy, as though Towne knew (or was asked) to steer the film\u2019s new foes into a rapprochement.<\/p>\n

Carlos is the script\u2019s fall guy: being a \u2018good\u2019 bad guy, he has to suffer and be the chief orchestrator of all malaise to ensure Frescia and McKussic\u2019s friendship remains tethered from a taut arm\u2019s length. That aspect makes sense (and ensures the film’s happy ending), but what happens to Valenari in the final third is kind of a betrayal to the character\u2019s steely independence.<\/p>\n

The consummation of McKussic\u2019s silent, distant boyish affection for Valenari happens not in a bedroom tussle but in a backyard hot tub where the intertwined lovers literally surge upwards from the steaming water like ocean mammals, set to Dave Grusin\u2019s pop jazz theme rendition with obligatory wailing sax.<\/p>\n

Unlike Jerry Goldsmith\u2019s music for the Towne-scripted seventies noir classic Chinatown<\/strong> (1974), there\u2019s no tragedy in Grusin\u2019s theme \u2013 at best, there’s light mystery packaged in an up-tempo container \u2013 although a Mexican guitar piece nails McKussic\u2019s squirmy relationship with Carlos: it\u2019s a genuine friendship rooted in a pivotal event (being rescued from jail) but it\u2019s also a relationship that will potentially destroy McKussic when Carlos returns after a long absence to reclaim his dope.<\/p>\n

Where the script betrays the heroine is in the inevitable expression of love between McKussic and Valenari: each of her three \u2018I love you\u2019 are blurted in a weird catatonic state that\u2019s supposed to evoke desperation and being love-struck (or perhaps they\u2019re truly clumsy attempts by Towne to invoke a bit of screwball comedy).<\/p>\n

At this point Valenari is downgraded to a mere pretty girl, and although she\u2019s reunited with McKussic in an ending that\u2019s interestingly anathema to the grotesque finale where Chinatown<\/strong>\u2019s hero is left emotionally shredded and the heroine (spoiler alert) quite dead, the headstrong heroine seen in the film\u2019s first half is now gone for good.<\/p>\n

Dramatically, TS does recover from the Valenari downgrading when Carlos re-enters the scenario: even when dying, Raul Julia\u2019s version of Carlos is a guy you\u2019d be okay with shooting you in the head because although it\u2019s just business, he\u2019d do it with regret<\/em>. Frescia\u2019s still a womanizing cad, but in the finale he does the honorable thing and lets his friend get the girl.<\/p>\n

Other memorable cast members include J.T. Walsh playing another \u2018ethically challenged\u2019 character, Arliss Howard as McKussic\u2019s dink of a cousin, Arye Gross as McKussic\u2019s lawyer, and cult western director Budd Boetticher (Bullfighter and the Lady<\/strong>, Comanche Station<\/strong>) in a short bit as a judge.<\/p>\n

Warner Home Video\u2019s Blu-ray features a clean transfer, but the last reel seems to have been taken from a lesser source \u2013 either the last few scenes were shot in soft focus, or it\u2019s an older interlaced transfer up-resed to 1080p. It\u2019s also a pity Grusin\u2019s score couldn\u2019t have been isolated as a separate stereo track \u2013 it\u2019s a sparse score of which fewer pieces (2) were included on the short soundtrack album \u2013 but it sounds nice in uncompressed 2.0 DTS (although the old laserdisc did feature warmer bass that was closer to the original theatrical presentation).<\/p>\n

Towne\u2019s directed just a handful of films, but this ranks as a near-perfect work, blessed with stunning cinematography by Conrad Hall (In Cold Blood<\/strong>, Black Widow<\/a><\/strong>) and set design by Richard Sylbert (Grand Prix<\/a><\/strong>, Chinatown<\/strong>, The Cotton Club<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

His films as director include Personal Best<\/strong> (1982), Tequila Sunrise<\/strong> (1988), the superb Without Limits<\/strong> (1998), and As the Dust <\/strong>(2006). The following year Michelle Pfeiffer appeared in a genuinely perfect variant, Steve Kloves\u2019 The Fabulous Baker Boys<\/a><\/strong> (1989), blessed with a more superior Dave Grusin score.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2015 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

External References:<\/strong>
\nEditor’s Blog<\/a> — IMDB \u00a0<\/a>— \u00a0Soundtrack Album<\/a>\u00a0— Composer Filmography<\/a>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nVendor Search Links:<\/strong>
\nAmazon.ca<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.warnerbros.com\/studio\/divisions\/home-entertainment\/warner-home-video<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to producer Thom Mount (who provided a commentary track for the film\u2019s original 2010 DVD release), Tequila Sunrise came into being when Towne launched a lawsuit with Warner Bros. regarding his prior directing debut, Personal Best, and part of the settlement including the studio funding and releasing a film which the esteemed screenwriter would act as writer & director…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[4062,2878,352,4057,4058,4056,4053,4061],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-3gl","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12545"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12545"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12545\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13971,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12545\/revisions\/13971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}