#147: One False Move
Release Date: May 8th, 1992
Format: Criterion Collection on Blu-ray
Written by: Tom Epperson and Billy Bob Thornton
Directed by: Carl Franklin
4 Stars
One False Move is a beautiful, richly realized independent crime film. Shot on a modest $2.5 million budget in 1992, without a distribution deal in place and featuring a mostly unknown cast, it was almost relegated to video upon its release. Fortunately, the producers knew they had something special with this little movie and fought for a limited release in select theaters in New York City, Chicago, and Seattle. At the very least, they thought, maybe they can get a positive quote from a critic to slap on the front of the VHS box.
It was a prescient move, if a bit bittersweet. Warm critical reviews came flooding in (Gene Siskel chose it as his favorite movie of 1992), and One False Move opened up to a wider release nationally through sheer word of mouth.
But then it faded, crowded out by big budget summer blockbusters. It only made back $1.5 million at the box office, and didn’t really pop on the video market.
I certainly had never heard of it working at the video store through college, and I was, and still am, a fan of Billy Bob Thornton’s Sling Blade. After watching One False Move today, I’m kicking myself for not having seen it years ago. I think Thornton is a tremendous writer.
The story of One False Move involves two ex-cons, Ray (Thornton) and Pluto (a quietly menacing Michael Beach) who along with Ray’s girlfriend, Fantasia (a brilliant Cynda Williams), brutally rob and kill six people in a drug house in Los Angeles. They then hit the road together to sell stolen cocaine to a guy Pluto knows in Houston.
Unbeknownst to the trio, a running video camcorder in the drug house captures audio of somebody in the house mentioning “Star City.” Two LAPD detectives get a hunch that the killers might be headed to the small town of Star City, Arkansas and fly out to meet with the local Police Chief there, Dale “Hurricane” Dixon (a perfectly cast Bill Paxton).
Hurricane is excited to meet two LAPD detectives, excited to be a part of the case, and excited to see some real action. In his mind, he’s going to live out the childhood fantasies that made him want to be a cop in the first place.
When the three police officers learn the identities of the killers, and Hurricane learns that he has a troubling personal connection with Fantasia, the script takes a fascinating, haunting turn. One False Move isn’t just a fish out of water story about two LAPD cops in rural Arkansas, or three criminals on the run, or a dumb hick Police Chief trying to make a name for himself.
This is a movie about not being able to escape your past. It’s a movie about hurt and regret.
I can’t say enough about the script and the performances, especially Cynda Williams. In an era of American film where there were virtually no significant film roles for black actresses, Billy Bob Thornton and his writing partner Tom Epperson created a complex, manipulative, but wholly tragic and sympathetic character in Fantasia. And Williams (Thornton’s wife at the time) is captivating. She is beautiful, but doesn’t seem to know it, hanging out with these two ex-cons. She is a victim, but she is violent. She’s ignorant, but she’s a survivor. It’s a great role and a great performance.
You know those movies you’ll see and love, that not many people know, and you try to explain to them how much you liked it and how much they should see it, but you can’t quite get the words right?
One False Move is one of those.
