No Man's Land (1987) was a movie I had never heard of, no one I knew had ever heard of, and the internet has very little footprint for. Yet it is one of the better gems this blog has unearthed - a classic Donnie Brasco-esque story about the perils of undercover work, except here involving a stolen Porsche ring run by yuppies (!!!!).
This is a topic I'm especially interested in - my uncle has been well known Porsche mechanic in my region for over 35 years, and I grew up around Porsches, oily Porsche parts, Porsche rims laying in the grass behind my grandmother's house, the works. PORSCHE. So this movie was extra fun for me.
The plot is pretty simple yet effective anyway - D. B. Sweeney is a hotshot Porsche mechanic who apparently knows everything and more about the cars, and is recruited by the cops to infiltrate a Porsche theft ring. Eventually though his loyalties become cloudy and divided and he can't easily tell right from wrong anymore. Until it's too late (dum dum DUMMMMM). Meanwhile, he begins a romance with the theft ring's sister ... another In Too Deep symptom.
His undercover handler is Randy Quaid, and the leader of the ring is ... Charlie Sheen!!! And this is one of Sheen's best roles. He's dirty yet appealing, crooked yet charming, evil yet exciting. He is perfectly cast here. Sweeney, too, is well cast. He looks fresh and boyish enough to pull off his naivety, but adult enough to do the things he does. The whole cast other than these guys is great as well.
The movie looks fantastic - glossy cars, glossy guns, interesting settings, interesting outfits, lots for the eye to feast on. Why is it so unknown? I have no idea. It was directed by Peter Werner, who did a couple movies but a TON of TV movies, and now works in TV series, including several episodes of my beloved Justified. Good on you, Peter Werner. And nice job here. It was written by Dick Wolf, who everyone knows from his work writing and producing Law and Order.
It grossed, according to Wikipedia, $2,800,000 ... but I can't find any info on how much it cost to make, so no idea if it was successful or not. Probably not so much. But I can tell you that I wish I had seen this when I was younger. It's exciting and interesting and on top of everything else it great, well-choreographed chase scenes.
Factoid: No Man's Land is Brad Pitt's film debut!!! Good luck finding him. I was glued to the screen and somehow completely missed him. Apparently he's a waiter.
Meanwhile, Witness (1985) I *did* see as a kid, and liked it a lot. It's a pretty well known movie, especially among Harrison Ford fans.
The plot is somewhat unusual - an Amish family on a trip into the city (Philadelphia) experiences an unexpected trauma when little boy Samuel (Luke Haas in his signature role) witnesses a murder. Harrison Ford (detective John Book ... that's right, he does things ::drumroll:: by the Book) is assigned to the murder and at first callously drags around the little boy and his mother. But when the boy identifies the murderer as a cop, Ford realizes it's too hot to remain in Philly and they all end up back in Amish country.
While there, Ford starts a small romance, learns the beauty of the simple, moral life, participates in community life, and eventually solves the crime as the villains discover the whereabouts of the witness and decide to clean up the messy affair.
A lot of the movie is about Ford's character's transformation from a cynical city detective whose sister enumerates all his many social problems to the Amish mother Rachel (played very well by Kelly McGillis) into someone who finds value in being around other people, being helpful, being sensitive, and really listening for a change. The pace of his life slows by a factor of ten, and it helps him a lot.
A great scene that illustrates this is when Detective Book helps the community raise a barn. It's also a sort of sly in-joke, because Harrison Ford was a carpenter before he was an actor, and his skills get put on display a little bit. Nice touch. The whole scene is very well executed. Another classic scene I appreciated more this viewing was when Book dances with Rachel to Sam Cooke's "Wonderful World." Really nicely done.
Notable here, as well, is Danny Glover as a really villainous bastard who has one of the better death scenes I can remember from cop dramas. Speaking of, the film has a very tense climax that reminds me of High Noon where the hero has to outwit the villains by navigating a strange small environment and using it to his advantage.
Factoid: this is the film debut of Viggo Mortensen!
Witness was directed by the rather well known Australian Peter Weir, who film students love, and who made some great films like Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Year of Living Dangerously, Gallipoli... and some well-liked Hollywood fare like Dead Poets Society, Green Card, The Truman Show, Master and Commander: Far Side of the World, and recently The Way Back. Quite the pedigree.
Witness's release was a case of bad timing, as it competed head to head with Beverly Hills Cop, which everyone knows was one of the smash monster hits of the entire decade. But Witness still did well - there is a big slice of demographics where the two don't overlap - it cost $12 million to make and brought back $65 million. Very respectable. This one comes with my seal of approval.
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