There, the criminals hope to keep a low profile and avoid law enforcement officials intent on their capture. Leaving deadly havoc in their wake, the violent trio flees to Star City (Lincoln County), where Williams’s character had grown up before leaving for Hollywood in hopes of an acting career. One False Move follows three criminals (Thornton, Williams, and Michael Beach) who leave Los Angeles after a drug deal gone bad. It was the final film role for Little Rock (Pulaski County) advertising executive Robert (Bob) Ginnaven, who was an actor in several of fellow Arkansan Harry Thomason’s movies, as well as the hit movie Steel Magnolias (1989). Arkansan Natalie Canerday, originally from Russellville (Pope County), appeared in a featured role and went on to co-star in Thornton’s award-winning Sling Blade(1996). One False Move was a low-budget independent film that became popular through word of mouth as well as critical raves from film critic Roger Ebert and his reviewing partner, Gene Siskel, who named it his favorite movie of 1992.Īlong with location filming in Los Angeles and Pearblossom, California, One False Move was shot in Arkansas around Brinkley (Monroe County) and Cotton Plant (Woodruff County). The screenplay was written by Thornton and Tom Epperson, a native of Malvern (Hot Spring County). The director of One False Move was Carl Franklin, who went on to direct Denzel Washington in 1995’s Devil in a Blue Dress. Running for one hour and forty-five minutes, the R-rated film stars Thornton, his future wife Cynda Williams, and Bill Paxton, known for roles in the hit films Apollo 13, Twister, and Titanic. Highly Recommended.One False Move is a 1992 thriller co-written by Arkansan Billy Bob Thornton, who was born in Hot Springs (Garland County). Author William Boyle provides the liner notes essay. Other bonuses include a trailer and optional subtitles. There's a new, fascinating sit-down conversation with Franklin and Thornton, which is fun and revealing. It includes a commentary track by Franklin, recorded in 1999 for the DVD release (which is fortunately still available, since Criterion did not include a DVD option for this title). (The 4K set comes with bonus Blu-ray discs.) As I have not yet upgraded to 4K, I viewed the Blu-ray and found it magnificent, both in terms of audio and video. In 2023, the Criterion Collection gave this film a much-deserved release on Blu-ray and 4K. It's a film about storytelling, characters, and mood, and in its way, it goes on to say more about the tragedies and inequalities of life than an issue-driven film could. While most others were making movies about Blackness, like Boyz N the Hood and Menace II Society, Franklin's film was mixed-race, with very little attention called to that fact. We're still talking about One False Move today not only because Siskel & Ebert called attention to it, but also because Franklin was one of the few Black filmmakers working at the time. Co-star and co-screenwriter Thornton went on to write, direct and star in Sling Blade. Director Carl Franklin, who had made low-rent action movies for Roger Corman, went on to direct the excellent Devil in a Blue Dress. As the story unfolds, a tenuous connection between the two halves becomes clear, and it packs a mighty wallop. "Hurricane" desperately wants to fit in with the city slickers, although they see him only as a local hayseed. The other story follows small town sheriff Dale "Hurricane" Dixon (Bill Paxton), and two big city police detectives, Dud Cole (Jim Metzler) and John McFeely (Earl Billings), who are trying to catch the criminals. The first follows three bad guys on the run through Texas and Arkansas: the quiet, yet violent Black, bespectacled Pluto (Michael Beach), the psychotic, white Ray (Billy Bob Thornton), and his girlfriend, Fantasia (Cynda Williams). The movie unfolds in two equal halves, and one of its greatest achievements is that both halves are told with the same attention to detail and the same emotional weight. ![]() ![]() Siskel selected it as the year's best film, and Ebert ranked it as #2, after Spike Lee's Malcolm X. This excellent crime movie about murder, drugs, and money came out about the same time as Reservoir Dogs but did not receive the same kind of attention, aside from Siskel & Ebert. Book Review: Cult Filmmakers: 50 Movie Mavericks You Need to Know.Book Review: Sam Wasson's The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood.Book Reviews - Guillermo Del Toro: The Iconic Filmmaker and His Work & The Unofficial Hocus Pocus Cookbook.Book Review: Escape Into Meaning: Essays on Superman, Public Benches, and Other Obsessions. ![]() The 2022 San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle Awards.Book Review: Once Upon a Rind In Hollywood.Peter Nicks on Stephen Curry: Underrated.
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