red rock west movie review

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, red rock west.

Now streaming on:

"Red Rock West" is a diabolical movie that exists sneakily between a western and a thriller, between a film noir and a black comedy. When I saw it at the Toronto Film Festival a couple of years ago, I assumed it would be arriving in theaters in a few weeks.

Instead, it almost missed theatrical release altogether, maybe because it's so hard to categorize. After playing on cable and being released on video, it was booked into the Roxie Theater in San Francisco, whose owner liked it so much he thought it deserved to be seen on the big screen. After breaking the theater's house record for any feature, it is now going into theaters around the country.

No wonder. This is a movie like " Blood Simple " (which it somewhat resembles) or the David Lynch movies, constructed out of passion, murder, revenge and a quirky sense of humor. The plot is incredibly complicated. It is also easy to follow and, eventually, makes perfect sense. This kind of lovingly contrived melodrama requires juicy actors, who can luxuriate in the ironies of a scene, and the movie has them: Nicolas Cage , J. T. Walsh, Dennis Hopper and Lara Flynn Boyle . They must have had a lot of fun with this material.

The movie stars Cage as a poor but honest drifter who arrives, nearly broke, in the small Western town of Red Rock. He walks into the local saloon, and is mistaken by the owner (Walsh) for the professional killer from Texas that Walsh has hired to murder his wife (Boyle). Cage plays along with the joke, collects an advance on the hit, and goes out to Walsh's ranch to visit the wife. There is, of course, an immediate sexual attraction between them. He thinks it only fair to let her in on the secret. She then offers to pay Cage to murder her husband.

So Cage has two offers on the table when a stranger (Dennis Hopper) drives into town. This is, of course, the real hit man from Texas. Walsh is not amused to discover he has paid an advance to the wrong man.

OK. So that's the set-up. It's ingenious, but it doesn't even begin to suggest the pleasures of this movie, which depend less on plot than on the reactions of the characters to finding themselves in such a plot. Cage's drifter is especially interesting, because most of the time he's operating without a good idea of the whole situation; he has to keep quiet and look like he knows what the others think he knows.

At some fundamental level, all he really wants to do is get out of Red Rock and never come back again, and the movie's running gag is that he keeps leaving town and finding himself returning to it. The "Welcome to Red Rock" sign turns up in the movie like a signpost in a nightmare. And eventually it's clear that Cage, and all of the others, are going to be trapped there until they bring their deadly quadrangle to some sort of a conclusion.

J. T. Walsh, whose character has secrets I will not reveal, is one of the most interesting of recent movie villains because he seems so superficially open and honest (one of his first big roles, significantly, was as a Chicago alderman in " Backdraft "). Other villains snarl and bluster. He desperately tries to reason things through, to appeal to logic or to dependable strategies like threats.

In a way he's the most confused by the labyrinthine situations he finds himself in, since they don't seem to respond to reasonable strategies.

Hopper plays a version of the character he has become famous for: The smiling, charming, cold-blooded killer with a screw loose. All he really wants to do is collect his money and do his job, and he only gets dangerous when he realizes how thoroughly a simple hit has been screwed up. Lara Flynn Boyle, cool under fire, diabolical in her ingenuity, has both Cage and the audience wondering how she really thinks about him; one of the pleasures the movie saves until the very end is a revelation of what she really values, and why.

"Red Rock West" was directed by John Dahl , who co-wrote it with his brother, Rick. John is 34, Rick is 28, and this is their second feature. It's the kind of movie made by people who love movies, have had some good times at them, and want to celebrate the very texture of old genres like the western and the film noir. In a sense, we've been in Red Rock many times before: It's a town where plots lie in wait for unsuspecting visitors, where hatred runs deep, where love is never enough of a motive for doing anything when cash is available.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

Now playing

Brian Tallerico

Simon Abrams

Dune: Part Two

About Dry Grasses

Carlos aguilar.

Bring Him to Me

Glenn kenny, film credits.

Red Rock West (1994)

Rated R Sex, Violence, Profanity

Dennis Hopper as Lyle

J. T. Walsh as Wayne

Lara Flynn Boyle as Suzanne

Nicolas Cage as Michael

Directed by

Latest blog posts.

Steve Martin Is an Auteur Without Having Directed a Thing

The Unloved, Part 124: Play Dirty

Beyoncé and My Daughter Love Country Music

A Poet of an Actor: Louis Gossett, Jr. (1936-2024)

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

• Upcoming Movies and TV shows
• Trivia & Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
• Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

Movies / TV

No results found.

• What's the Tomatometer®?
• Login/signup

Movies in theaters

• Opening this week
• Top box office
• Coming soon to theaters
• Certified fresh movies

Movies at home

• Netflix streaming
• Prime Video
• Most popular streaming movies
• What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

• Love Lies Bleeding Link to Love Lies Bleeding
• Problemista Link to Problemista
• Late Night with the Devil Link to Late Night with the Devil

New TV Tonight

• Mary & George: Season 1
• Star Trek: Discovery: Season 5
• Sugar: Season 1
• American Horror Story: Season 12
• Parish: Season 1
• Ripley: Season 1
• Loot: Season 2
• Lopez vs Lopez: Season 2
• The Magic Prank Show With Justin Willman: Season 1

Most Popular TV on RT

• 3 Body Problem: Season 1
• A Gentleman in Moscow: Season 1
• We Were the Lucky Ones: Season 1
• Shōgun: Season 1
• The Gentlemen: Season 1
• Palm Royale: Season 1
• Manhunt: Season 1
• The Regime: Season 1
• Best TV Shows
• Most Popular TV
• TV & Streaming News

Certified fresh pick

• We Were the Lucky Ones Link to We Were the Lucky Ones
• All-Time Lists
• Binge Guide
• Comics on TV
• Five Favorite Films
• Video Interviews
• Weekend Box Office
• Weekly Ketchup
• What to Watch

Pedro Pascal Movies and Series Ranked by Tomatometer

Dwayne Johnson Movies Ranked by Tomatometer

What to Watch: In Theaters and On Streaming

Awards Tour

TV Premiere Dates 2024

Renewed and Cancelled TV Shows 2024

• Trending on RT
• 3 Body Problem
• Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire
• Play Movie Trivia

Red Rock West Reviews

...a slow-moving yet predominantly engaging film noir...

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jan 11, 2024

And though Cage is effortlessly watchable as Williams, the performance of the movie is Dennis Hopper as the typically extroverted hitman “Lyle, From Dallas”.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 19, 2023

While it does naval-gaze a little too much, the focus and pacing keeps it on track.

Full Review | Aug 17, 2022

Helping the story move along at a brisk clip is Dahl’s tight control of the editing coupled with a well-tuned ear for the rhythms and cadences of everyday conversation.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 6, 2022

...a little gem. Its success is due to the fact that there are so few authentic movie plots around these days...

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Feb 25, 2022

It's well worth tracking down, wherever you can find it. For it has the kind of tension and energy -- maybe even a touch of delirium -- that is only a memory in most of today's big studio movies.

Full Review | Mar 13, 2009

A wry thriller with a keen edge.

Full Review | Sep 16, 2008

A rather ho-hum if watchable neo-noir, though it's been treated in some quarters as something special.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 30, 2007

It's a brilliant noir movie that seems to understand the inner workings of film noir, rather than just paying tribute to it.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 30, 2007

A forceful, witty film noir played almost straight.

Full Review | Original Score: A | Apr 9, 2007

John Dahl's second feature is a quirky, low-budget "Western noir," baosting a fresh narrative angle and a quintessentially indie cast, including Nicolas Cage (before he became a star), J.T. Walsh, and the ubiquitous enfant terrible Dennis Hopper

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Dec 14, 2006

[A] well-played, highly entertaining and playfully ingenious thriller.

Full Review | Jun 24, 2006

With J.T. Walsh, Dennis Hopper, and Lara Flynn Boyle in your desert thriller, it's hard to go wrong, and in his riveting sophomore feature, John Dahl rarely gets tripped up.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 1, 2006

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 26, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 2, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 19, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 13, 2004

A great, twisty noir that plants a Jim Thompson plot in the American Southwest.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 11, 2003

A great example of western film noir from director John Dahl, a modern day master of these types of films.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 14, 2003

Red Rock West (1993)

• User Reviews

Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews

• User Ratings
• External Reviews
• Metacritic Reviews
• Full Cast and Crew
• Release Dates
• Official Sites
• Company Credits
• Filming & Production
• Technical Specs
• Plot Summary
• Plot Keywords
• Parents Guide

Did You Know?

• Crazy Credits
• Alternate Versions
• Connections
• Soundtracks

Photo & Video

• Photo Gallery
• Trailers and Videos

Related Items

• External Sites

Related lists from IMDb users

Recently Viewed

MOVIE REVIEW : ‘Red Rock West’: An Honest, Stylishly Likable Film Noir

• Show more sharing options
• Copy Link URL Copied!

John Dahl’s terrific film noir “Red Rock West” brings to mind the Coen brothers’ “Blood Simple,” Carl Colpaert’s “Delusion” and his own “Kill Me Again” in its clever plotting and wide-open-spaces setting.

It’s also got an admirable something more: a concern for decency, embodied by Nicolas Cage’s entirely likable Michael. He’s so honest that when a friend helps him line up a job as an oil-rigger in Wyoming, he blows the chance by admitting that he’s got a game leg. When stopping for gas in his seedy old Cadillac, he resists reaching into an open till for some much-needed cash.

Temptation a third time around, however, is not exactly a charm. Landing in the tiny Wyoming burg of Red Rock, he heads for the local saloon whose proprietor (J.T. Walsh) promptly mistakes him for a Dallas hit man, hired to rub out his pretty, much younger wife, Suzanne (Lara Flynn Boyle). While it’s plain to see that Michael is not about to kill anybody, he’s in such a moment of weakness he can no more resist taking the money any more than he can resist Suzanne’s offer to double her husband’s fee if he spares her.

Dahl and his co-writer brother, Rick, are endlessly imaginative in coming up with escalating plot twists and turns, but each convolution not only heightens suspense but also reveals character.

“Red Rock West,” which was rescued from cable through the efforts of San Francisco exhibitor Bill Banning, may be a classic B-picture, but it has an A-cast, which includes Dennis Hopper as a sly, witty Texan, a man in well-tailored all-black Western duds whose folksy drawl proves dangerously disarming.

Cage’s naturalness as a nice guy in a big jam lends the film considerable substance while Hopper’s wily foil, Boyle’s tough dame and Walsh’s minor-league baddie provide much amusement. With Mark Reshovsky’s sleek camera work, authentic locales and William Olvis’ mood-setting score, “Red Rock West” has style to burn.

* MPAA rating: Unrated. Times guidelines: It contains adult themes, much coarse language, and complicated narrative structure. ‘Red Rock West’

Nicolas Cage: Michael

Dennis Hopper: Lyle

Lara Flynn Boyle: Suzanne

J.T. Walsh: Wayne

A Polygram Filmed Entertainment presentation of Propaganda Films production. Writer-director John Dahl. Producers Sigurjon Sighvatsson, Steve Golin. Executive producers Michael Kuhn, Janie McCann. Writer/associate producer Rick Dahl. Cinematographer Mark Reshovsky. Editor Scott Chestnut. Costumes Terry Dresbach. Music William Olvis. Production designer Rob Pearson. Art director Don Diers. Sound Mark Deren. Running time: 1 hour, 33 minutes.

* In limited release at the Sunset 5, Sunset Boulevard and Crescent Heights, West Hollywood. (213) 848-3500.

More to Read

Louis Gossett Jr., ‘An Officer and a Gentleman’ star who broke barriers in Hollywood, dies

March 29, 2024

Review: Vicious ‘Dogman’ shows a director known for excess at his most unmuzzled

‘Beau Is Afraid’ explained: A disturbingly in-depth analysis of Ari Aster’s guilt trip to hell

April 19, 2023

Only good movies

Get the Indie Focus newsletter, Mark Olsen's weekly guide to the world of cinema.

You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.

More From the Los Angeles Times

Entertainment & Arts

Michael Stuhlbarg returns to Broadway after man allegedly hurled a rock at his head

April 2, 2024

Andrew Scott and Dakota Fanning say their ‘Ripley’ characters aren’t rivals, ‘they’re frenemies’

Barbara Rush, ‘It Came From Outer Space’ and ‘Peyton Place’ actor, dies at 97

April 1, 2024

‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’ smashes its way to $80 million. How it won the box office

March 31, 2024

Red Rock West Review

01 Jan 1992

Red Rock West

Starring a trio of actors with more than a passing association with David Lynch, John Dahl's film takes the familiar Lynchian theme of smalltown America - Red Rock, Wyoming - and does the old trick of peeling back the veneer to reveal that all is not well beneath the dusty exterior.

Idling into town comes Michael (Cage), an out of work former Marine, meandering his way north in search of gainful employment. Pulling over for an innocent bevvy at the local bar, a classic case of mistaken identity occurs and, by virtue of his motor's Texas plates, shady bar proprietor Wayne (Walsh) assumes Michael to be the Lone Star hitman he hired to bump off his heiress wife.

With a $5,000 downpayment slapped into his grubby mitts and being, well, a bit strapped for cash, Michael goes along with the ruse, traipsing off to despatch the brains of Wayne's missus (Flynn Boyle) in a general westerly direction. Being a decent sort of bloke, he never really intends to go through with it, of course, but a further complication prevents him doing a speedy runner from Red Rock.

Thus, when the real hitman (Hopper) shows up, the fun and games begin, with everybody doublecrossing everybody else but with all of them out to nail Michael good and proper. Cage, Hollywood's favourite world-weary individual, slopes about with his usual downtrodden competence and J. T. Walsh, the supporting actor's supporting actor, is nicely chilling, but the real joy here is Hopper in a superbly psychotic turn as gunman Lyle, not a million miles away from, and probably related to, Blue Velvet's Frank.

Unfortunately, Flynn Boyle doesn't cut the mustard as a scheming femme fatale, but there are enough cracking twists and a genuine feeling of suspense to notch this up as one of the superior "noirs" of the early 90s.

Related Articles

Movies | 22 04 2022

Letterboxd — Your life in film

Forgotten username or password ?

• Start a new list…
• Add all films to a list…
• Add all films to watchlist

Add to your films…

Press Tab to complete, Enter to create

A moderator has locked this field.

Add to lists

Where to watch

Red rock west.

1993 Directed by John Dahl

Where nothing is as it seems.

When a promised job for Texan Michael fails to materialize in Wyoming, Mike is mistaken by Wayne to be the hitman he hired to kill his unfaithful wife, Suzanne. Mike takes full advantage of the situation, collects the money, and runs. During his getaway, things go wrong, and soon get worse when he runs into the real hitman, Lyle.

Nicolas Cage Dennis Hopper Lara Flynn Boyle J.T. Walsh Timothy Carhart Dan Shor Dwight Yoakam Craig Reay Vance Johnson Robert Apel Bobby Joe McFadden Dale Gibson Ted Parks Babs Bram Robert Guajardo Sarah Sullivan Michael Ruud Peter Kevin Quinn Jeff Levine Shawn Michael Ryan Barbara Glover Robert Beecher Jody Carter

Director Director

Assistant directors asst. directors.

Mike Topoozian Michael McCue

Producers Producers

Steve Golin Sigurjón Sighvatsson Rick Dahl Lynn Weimer

Executive Producers Exec. Producers

Michael Kuhn Jane McGann

Writers Writers

John Dahl Rick Dahl

Casting Casting

Carol Lewis

Editor Editor

Scott Chestnut

Cinematography Cinematography

Marc Reshovsky

Lighting Lighting

Stephen Rocha

Additional Photography Add. Photography

Rohn Schmidt

Production Design Production Design

Robert Pearson

Art Direction Art Direction

Set decoration set decoration.

Kate J. Sullivan

Special Effects Special Effects

Frank Ceglia Mark R. Byers

Stunts Stunts

Dan Bradley Rick Barker Keith Campbell Dale Gibson Don Ruffin Scott Alan Cook Charlie Carpenter

Composer Composer

William Olvis

Sound Sound

Mark Weingarten

Costume Design Costume Design

Terry Dresbach

Makeup Makeup

Patty York John Carl Buechler

Hairstyling Hairstyling

Fríða Aradóttir

Propaganda Films PolyGram Filmed Entertainment Universal Pictures

Releases by Date

14 may 1993, 16 jun 1993, 02 jul 1993, 08 jul 1993, 01 oct 1993, 30 oct 1993, 04 nov 1993, 18 nov 1993, 28 jan 1994, 08 apr 1994, 03 jun 1995, 17 oct 1995, 11 jun 2002, 15 nov 1997, 05 feb 2000, releases by country.

• Theatrical 13
• Theatrical M
• Theatrical 16
• Physical DVD
• Theatrical T

Netherlands

• Theatrical M/12

South Korea

• Theatrical 15
• Theatrical R

98 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by Brianna

do you think they talked about working with david lynch in their downtime

Review by Kat ★★★ 4

A fun 90s neo noir thriller with unexpected twists. Dennis Hopper and Nicolas Cage are continuously trying to outdo each other's crazy the entire runtime. I loved the western feel and everyone's lil Texas outfits. Nic Cage wears Levi's and cowboy boots surprisingly well!

Review by Nakul ★★★★

John Dahl's RED ROCK WEST is a solid hidden gem, an entertaining & suspenseful neo-noir thriller - shades of Lynch and early Coens, with some fantastic first act setups. Nic Cage, Hopper, Boyle and the great JT Walsh hitting on all cylinders.

Review by Brian Saur ★★★★ 7

One of the very best Neo-Noirs. Had been long enough since I had seen it that I had forgotten many of the twists - which are great. Insane this isn’t on Blu-ray.

Review by 🇵🇱 Steve G 🇵🇸 ★★★★½ 6

Would you like to be chased by JT Walsh and Dennis Hopper?

I mean, being chased after one of them is bad enough, but both at the same time? If I was Nicolas Cage then no amount of cash and Lara Flynn Boyle, as nice as both of them are, would persuade me to stay within a thousand miles of Red Rock.

It's terrific seeing Walsh get as large a role as this. I think this may have been the film where I first saw him or at least started to recognise him. He may have distinguished himself in many character actor roles throughout his sadly abbreviated career, but many of those roles were still too small for a guy…

Review by Slig001 ★★★★½ 2

John Dahl's neo-noir thriller harkens back to a bygone age in the best way possible. This is every bit the classic film noir - if it were filmed in black and white, anyone could have believed it was from the fifties. The story starts low and draws you in - Nicolas Cage is a drifter who happens upon a job as a hitman after stumbling into a backwater bar. What follows is a game of cat and mouse as our hero struggles to stay abreast of the situation. The film benefits from an excellent quartet in the central roles - Cage, Hopper, Lara Flynn Boyle and JT Boyle absolutely live and breathe their respective characters. The plot moves fast and…

Review by Josh Lewis ★★★ 3

A pretty fun little western neo-noir thriller/David Lynch reunion tour with Cage as a denim cowboy drifter who finds himself in a for-hire husband-wife murder scheme that’s drawn with such grim atmospherics and farcical crime movie coincides that passages of it sort of play like Blood Simple B-sides. This is a very Screenwriter Brain movie in that it’s quite good at setting up its central location/hook and the mechanical interlocking suspense logic of its various genre pieces (and it’s seen enough movies to know what makes for fun character personality/introductions: JT Walsh and Dennis Hopper are both having a blast, even if clearly not particularly directed just let loose lol) but as soon as it gets everything tightly into place…

Review by Justin Decloux ★★★★ 2

It should have been a series where Nic Cage goes from town to town, gets mixed up with a new pretty lady murderer, and then has to go on the run again.

Review by Blake Bergman "Various Spaghetti" ★★★★½

Red Rock West is a 1993 crime film directed by John Dahl. The film is the second film within Dahl’s directed grouping of films, all holding noir-based themes as the hinging basis for their plot build. “Red Rock West” is considered something of a neo-western, but it’s also a neo-noir in combined application. It’s a processed plot that is a wonderful combination of plot twists and backstabbing, a proportion noir if you will, but aided by the grand western tradition of the standoff and accentuated by the lonely “one-horse” western town. Starring Nicholas Cage in something of an earlier role but still with plenty of projects under his belt, Cage plays the character of Michael Williams. Williams is the drifter…

Review by Justin LaLiberty ★★★★ 4

the platonic ideal of drifter-noir, with Cage as a down on his luck USMC vet with a bum knee taking on shit kicker hitman Dennis Hopper (clad in bolo tie, cowboy hat and oversized belt buckle) and falling for low-key femme fatale Lara Flynn Boyle -- nighttime graveyard scene is an all timer and everyone in this cast is perfect, including the Dwight Yoakam cameo as a trucker with an "uncontrollable response to bullshit"

Review by christolm ★★★★½ 1

"Adios, Red Rock"

One of my new favorite movie endings ever, Nicolas Cage and Dennis Hopper are my goats

Review by BeardofTsu ★★★★ 2

Another day another neo-noir thriller. I really miss the days when Dennis Hopper just used to show up as a weirdo scumbag characters. He is joined by a double denim-wearing Nicolas Cage who seemingly just try and out-crazy each other for the entire film! I think Hopper just about shades it this time but Cage put up a hell of a fight. It's not perfect but there are enough twists, turns, and solid performances from the stellar cast to overlook its flaws. Having not seen this in a number of years was glad to see it holds up pretty well.

We need more movies that start with Nic Cage doing one-arm press-ups in the middle of the road.

Similar Films

Mentioned by

Select your preferred poster

Upgrade to remove ads.

Letterboxd is an independent service created by a small team, and we rely mostly on the support of our members to maintain our site and apps. Please consider upgrading to a Pro account —for less than a couple bucks a month, you’ll get cool additional features like all-time and annual stats pages ( example ), the ability to select (and filter by) your favorite streaming services, and no ads!

• COMING SOON
• OUT NOW - US
• COMING SOON - US

• COMPETITIONS

Eye For Film >> Movies >> Red Rock West (1993) Film Review

Red Rock West

Reviewed by: Jeff Robson

The synopsis doesn’t do justice to the multiple twists and turns in Dahl’s superb blending of the noir and Western genres. But to give away too much would be to ruin the pleasure for first-time viewers of a film where you’re never quite sure what’s going to happen next – or whether any of the main characters is quite who they seem.

In only his second feature (co-written with his brotehr Nick) Dahl takes the stock characters of classic noir – the drifter with a good heart but not too much upstairs, the femme fatale, the rich overlord, the implacable assassin – and dumps them in the vastness of the American West, leaving them to turn on each other in a series of plot developments ingenious enough to keep even the most seasoned whodunnit veteran guessing but just believable enough to keep the whole edifice from crashing down under the weight of its essential implausibility.

And, like al the best noirs, he not only keeps the tension dialled up to 11 but creates a world where morality is an irrelevance at best and a mortal danger at worst; where all the characters are damaged and desperate and escaping with a modicum of self-respect – not to mention your life – is the best you can hope for.

Nicolas Cage is the perfect ‘hero’ for such a fable – at a stage in his career before Leaving Las Vegas and Con Air simultaneously made him a blockbuster action hero and the go-to-guy for those occasions when an ‘intense’ or ‘eccentric’ (or both) performance is what’s required, he still radiates the youthful energy, slightly gormless charm and propensity for sudden violence that made his star turn in David Lynch ’s Wild At Heart such a stand-out.

He plays Michael, a recently-discharged Marine with some experience on the Texas oil rigs trying to find similar work in Wyoming. He drifts into the one-bar town of Red Rock where the barman ( JT Walsh ) catches sight of his number plates and mistakes him for ‘Lyle from Texas’ – a hitman he’s hired to murder his wife Suzanne ( Lara Flynn Boyle ).

Michael initially plays along, desperate for the money. But after pocketing it, he warns Suzanne and attempts to move on. Noir’s rarely that simple, though, and Michael finds himself back in Red Rock after a series of Kafkaesque twists in which every action has an unexpected consequence and assumptions of characters’ identity are constantly undermined.

You’ll be sharing his sense of nightmarish confusion and rooting for him as he attempts to get out of town with his hide and his sanity intact. But matters are complicated by the arrival of the real hitman ( Dennis Hopper ) and Michael’s growing attraction to Suzanne – with its attendant temptations to embrace the dark side...

Dahl keeps the suspense ratcheted up throughout, but also creates an atmosphere of doubt and duplicity, where the characters worldview is as basic and desolate as the landscape around them – make some money, stay one step ahead of the law and get rid of anything that stands in your way. Even characters like Michael, who try to stay on the straight and narrow, are constantly reminded of their failings and disappointments. Essentially it’s a country and western song brought to life, an impression enhanced by the classy, rootsy soundtrack and a memorable cameo from singer-songwriter Dwight Yoakam as an ornery trucker.

He’s equally well-served by the other members of the doomed quartet. Hopper, well into his career reinvigoration, has a whale of a time as the Stetson-wearing assassin, constantly trying to scoop the entire pot and get rid of all the other contenders, veering from good ol’ boy bonhomie to remorseless cruelty in a heartbeat.

Boyle, fresh from Twin Peaks , can’t quite match up to the leading ladies of classic noir but she has a jolly good go; radiating smouldering sex appeal, amoral intelligence and an acute awareness of how easy it is to manipulate men, it’s no wonder Cage falls under her spell but equally clear that he’ll only be able to stay with her by sacrificing more than his freedom. Walsh has the least showy role, but brings a quiet, unnerving deliberation to the character of the jealous husband who (more than anyone else, in the end) has a secret life...

It climaxes in a fog-shrouded graveyard that the old stagers would have been proud of, with a Mexican stand-off that’s the equal of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly or Reservoir Dogs . It never transcends genre in the way that a true classic like Touch of Evil (with which it shares more than a strand of DNA) does but as a gritty, intricate thriller it more than passes muster. Stick a Johnny Cash CD on, fix yourself a JD and a Bud, then settle down for some good, thoroughly unclean fun.

Director: John Dahl

Writer: John Dahl, Rick Dahl

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Dennis Hopper, Lara Flynn Boyle, JT Walsh

Runtime: 98 minutes

Country: US

Search database:

If you like this, try:

• News & Features

Red Rock West (United States, 1993)

There's a fine line between coincidence and contrivance, and what characterizes that demarcation has more to do with enjoyability than believability. Red Rock West , a film consigned to cable and video until a Bay Area theater decided to give it a shot, has a number of plot elements that don't bear close scrutiny. Their presentation is so stylish, however, that there isn't any real incentive to start picking apart the story. Red Rock West works well on its own terms, and that's good enough for ninety-plus minutes of solid entertainment.

I wish I could say that the film noir genre is undergoing a renaissance, but many of the recent offerings have been marginal at best. The plots don't twist enough, the characters often aren't grungy, and the cinematography is frequently a bit too crisp. None of those faults manacle Red Rock West . Atmospheric because of its low-budget look, and boasting a marvellous performance by Nicholas Cage, this film manages to capture the right spirit from the first scene.

Michael (Cage) is a down-on-his luck ex-Marine with a bad leg and an empty wallet. Driving 1100 miles on the mistaken promise of work, Mike finds himself in the town of Red Rock with no job, no money, and little hope - until he wanders into the Red Rock Bar, that is. There he meets Wayne (J.T. Walsh), who immediately asks him if he's Lyle from Dallas, ready to do "the job." At first, Mike is ecstatic, recognizing that there's money involved and figuring that he can do anything this Lyle can. By the time he learns that the job in question is to kill Wayne's wife Suzanne (Lara Flynn Boyle), he's in too deep to back out.

As grim as Red Rock West might at first appear, it never takes itself very seriously. There's a lot of humor in this film, much of which is supplied by Nicholas Cage's unspoken "why me?"s as circumstances conspire to pull him deeper and deeper into a quagmire of which he wants no part. There's also a running joke involving the "Welcome to Red Rock" and "You are now leaving Red Rock" signs.

The crowning irony of this film is that Michael, the supposed hit man, is a genuinely good guy. He doesn't get a job because he tells his prospective employer about his bum knee. Given a perfect opportunity, he doesn't steal an inviting pile of $20 bills left out in the open at an abandoned gas station. He wants to do right, yet suddenly he has been hired as a cold-blooded killer.

Dennis Hopper, whose latest few efforts in front of and behind the camera have been rather unimpressive, enjoys himself immensely as the real Lyle, and his scenes with Cage crackle with suppressed energy. Hopper seems to be at his best playing this sort of character, as was made abundantly clear in David Lynch's Blue Velvet . Lara Flynn Boyle, never an actress of particular depth, gives a decent turn as Suzanne, the femme fatal, although her chemistry with Cage never causes sparks to fly. He carries most of their scenes together.

Red Rock West is a roller-coaster ride of a film, designed for those who like their thrillers spiced with the unexpected. While it's probably not playing at your local multiplex, it more-than-likely is available at a nearby video store. Red Rock West will likely surprise any viewer -- in more ways than one.

Comments Add Comment

• Rear Window (1954)
• Sleuth (1969)
• Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
• Neon Demon, The (2016)
• Left Behind (2014)
• Jade (1995)
• (There are no more better movies of Nicholas Cage)
• (There are no more worst movies of Nicholas Cage)
• Happiness (1998)
• (There are no more better movies of Lara Flynn Boyle)
• Men in Black II (2002)
• (There are no more worst movies of Lara Flynn Boyle)
• Blue Velvet (1986)
• Speed (1994)
• Elegy (2008)
• Sleepwalking (2008)
• Hell Ride (2008)
• Basquiat (1996)

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

Review/Film; The New Boy in a Town Ruled by Coincidence

By Caryn James

• April 8, 1994

A dusty, desolate Wyoming town is a logical setting for an updated film noir. The first of many gleeful twists in "Red Rock West" is that Nicolas Cage arrives, as the man least likely to survive a tangle of murder, greed and infidelity. Michael is not stupid; he just has the hapless luck of the terminally honest.

He drives 1,200 miles from Texas to a promised job at a Wyoming oil rig, only to admit on his application that he has a bad knee. Back on the road, he spends his last $5 on gas, though an unguarded cash drawer is spilling bills in front of him. This time his honesty saves him, for the gas-station owner enters at the moment Michael would have had his hand in the till. The director and co-writer, John Dahl, keeps up this perfect swift timing throughout the film, playfully loading on every suspense-genre trick he can imagine. "Red Rock West" is a terrifically enjoyable, smartly acted, over-the-top thriller.

Mr. Cage, once a champion over-the-top actor himself, has become more restrained, funnier and appealing in the last few years (in films like "Honeymoon in Vegas"). He gives the film an intelligent edge, playing Michael with the slightest Elvis drawl and the trace of a dim-witted expression.

When Michael arrives in the town of Red Rock, he allows himself to be mistaken for someone named Lyle, a Texan who has been offered a job at the dingy bar owned by Wayne Brown (J. T. Walsh). It turns out that Lyle is not the bartender Michael assumed, but a hit man hired for $10,000 to bump off Wayne's beautiful young wife, Suzanne (Lara Flynn Boyle). When Michael warns Suzanne, she instantly doubles the offer if he will take care of Wayne instead. Even Michael is smart enough to figure out that this has something to do with Suzanne's lover, a young, good-looking man who lives in a trailer.

The straight-faced wit of "Red Rock West" is most apparent in the polite, neatly written note that Michael then sends to the sheriff: "Wayne Brown may have hired a killer to murder his wife. She may have done the same. Please talk to them before someone gets hurt." The sheriff, it turns out, is not inclined to be sympathetic. Michael and Suzanne try to escape Red Rock alive, but somehow always find their way back.

The many coincidences that threaten their lives include stolen money, false identities and two car accidents, one involving Michael and Suzanne's lover, the other Michael and the real Lyle. (Well, it's a small town.) Lyle is played by Dennis Hopper with his trademark mix of menace and likable good will. He insists on buying Michael a drink because they are both former marines. Michael is dragged back into Wayne's bar, the last place he wants to be. Eventually, the entire cast slugs it out and shoots it out in a foggy cemetery.

"Red Rock West" opens today at the Cinema Village, though the film had such a hard time finding a distributor that it has already been released on video. It should never have fallen through the cracks. This clever little film is a real find. Red Rock West Directed by John Dahl; written by John and Rick Dahl; director of photography, Mark Reshovsky; edited by Scott Chestnut; music by William Olvis; production designer, Rob Pearson; produced by Sigurjon Sighvatsson and Steve Golin; released by Roxie Releasing. At the Cinema Village, 22 East 12th Street, Greenwich Village. Running time: 98 minutes. This film is not rated. Michael . . . Nicolas Cage Lyle . . . Dennis Hopper Suzanne . . . Lara Flynn Boyle Wayne . . . J. T. Walsh Truck Driver . . . Dwight Yoakam

Red Rock West

There was a time in the early-to-mid nineties when this neo-noir thing was big. I mean, it’s always been big, but this movie, Red Rock West , along with another John Dahl film, The Last Seduction , were all the rage. These kind of claustrophobic indie films with relatively simple, crime-based narratives that were one part film noir, one part updated Western. But at the heart there is a gritty realism that kind of takes that 40s noir plot (complete with a femme fatale), but adds the violence and tactile feel of the real world that came out of the 70s. Any of the gloss or “modern” flavor of those pretty awful 80s movies have been excised.

Before I even get into the movie itself, I have a question. How is it possible Nicolas Cage is only like 28 years old in this movie? He’s referred to as “son” a few times, and my brain was instantly like, “Why do they keep calling this 40-year-old man these diminutive names as if he’s a young person?” Well, because apparently he was a young person when he made this, despite all appearances to the contrary. Just as weird, Lara Flynn Boyle is only like 22 or 23, which definitely doesn’t play either. Maybe it’s because her husband is played by a 50-year-old J.T. Walsh , or maybe it’s her oddly matronly haircut, but she doesn’t seem like a woman just out of college. Whatever the case, this instantaneously distracted me.

The fact that the conceit here is that everything that triggers the narrative is based on a misunderstanding isn’t great. It’s like an extended Three’s Company episode. Except instead of Mr. Furley overhearing Chrissy talking about a turkey she plans to buy for Thanksgiving and thinking she’s talking about a baby she’s going to have (I thought Chrissy was a virgin!), in this case J.T. Walsh confuses Cage’s drifter character for the assassin he’s hired to murder his wife. And why would he do a thing like that? Uh, because Cage has Texas plates on his car — and he knows the killer is coming from Texas. Because apparently Texas plates are out of the ordinary in this Wyoming town? Erm, I guess. But, really, if you’re going to hire a dude to kill your wife, you’d think you’d have like a codeword or something to confirm the guy is who he says he is. Also, is there like some murder-for-hire hotline you can call? Like a service that sends a guy all the way from Texas? Are there not local assassins? Like a Wyoming affiliate of Murder For Hire, Inc.? Guess not.

Anyhow, Cage, after not landing that plumb oil rig job he planned to get because of his bum leg, figures that he’ll take the money to kill the wife despite having no plan to kill the wife. He’s a desperate guy, after all. He doesn’t even have enough cash to gas up his insanely large car that probably gets four miles per gallon! And he also figured he’ll just keep that money, warn the woman that her old-ass husband is trying to murder her and move on. But how did he know the wife was such a young hottie? I mean, she’s so cute, why not stick around knowing that in a day or so the real assassin is going to show up and everyone will realize what’s up. The guy coming to town who murders for a living. Yeah, man, not a great plan.

So, in a long line of films where dudes make really dumb decisions for “love” (which definitely isn’t actually love), Cage decides against his best interest and gets himself entangled with the real killer, Dennis Hopper . A dude so ridiculously Texas, that he becomes almost clownish. I think Hopper is always one dude in directors’ minds, but turns out to be something else when he shows up. Sure, he can be menacing, and is a pretty charismatic guy. But is he a good actor? I mean, he’s way better in this than he was in 24 when trying to do a Russian accent, but if you’re going to hire a below-the-radar murderer to quietly come into town to kill your wife, do you hire a dude in a giant Cadillac who talks loudly and hangs out in public places in a bad-guy, gunslinger getup that looks like he ripped it off a mannequin at the Gene Autry museum ? Yeah, it’s completely unrealistic and stupid and Hopper’s over-acting only adds to the silliness.

In fact, the entirety of the film once we get into the minutia of the plot is weirdly stilted. I’m not sure if it’s the chemistry of the cast (none of whom are particularly Shakespearean) or just the fact that past the initial “confusion” they didn’t have much of an idea of what to do, but the movie mostly just kind of lies there. Lays there? Anyway, there’s just a lot of build up to what you know is going to be a confrontation between Cage and Hopper. And when it does happen, it’s kind of not that interesting. They do try to throw in a twist or two, but again, it kind of falls flat. And what you end up with is an “acting” vehicle for Cage to emote and pretend to run on a bad leg that is mostly good, but sometimes bad when it’s least convenient. It’s not a subtle affair.

Now, I imagine this is a bit of recency bias, but this film doesn’t really hold up very well. I remember seeing it back in 1993 and thinking it was pretty badass. But I was taking a film noir class in college, so I thought anything in this genre was pretty cool. And we all apparently loved the darker nature of these films over the bubble gum of the late eighties. So I don’t know if my taste has improved, or if I just demand more out of my media, but this thing is just kind wallpaper in a landscape now that feels much more like high-wire art.

Blu-ray Review: Red Rock West (1993)

Nicolas Cage stars as drifter and ex-Marine, Michael Williams, who coasts into the small country town of Red Rock West. Unemployed and short on cash, Michael is offered a job by a local tavern owner named Wayne (Walsh), but his would-be employer has mistaken him for a hitman, hired to kill his wife, Suzanne (Boyle).

I was on board with this crime thriller almost instantly and while I’m not the biggest Nicolas Cage fan, this is the type of restrained performance I prefer from him as he’s since become a “meme” due to his special brand of outrageousness. Michael is an honest and instantly likeable guy, who you genuinely want to see succeed, but his worsening predicament and bad fortune are almost comedic. Despite some almost laugh-out-loud moments at our hero’s expense, the sinister element at play is never diminished and the tension remains for his well-being.

Michael’s inability to leave town is comparable to the Australian classic, Wake in Fright , which Ian Schultz mentions in his essay, included in this set, was a likely influence on director John Dahl. Unlike the aforementioned film, our protagonist doesn’t succumb to a town’s intoxicating culture, instead, he’s caught in a web of deception and double-cross. Following the arrival of the actual hitman, played by Dennis Hopper, the narrative’s stakes intensify. Hopper brings along his psychotic Blue Velvet persona, countering the cold demeanour of J.T. Walsh, who had the market cornered on playing mean bastards. He’s at his best as the plot’s instigator, Wayne, while Lara Flynn Boyle as his wife, Suzanne, is giving low-key vibes of a 1940s femme fatale, who plants doubt in the viewer’s mind of her intentions.

VIDEO AND AU DIO

In this age of endless streaming, physical media has become a tough racket, so not every label can offer the same premium quality. However, both Plan B Entertainment and Signal One Entertainment present an exceptional transfer for Red Rock West , despite it only being advertised valuably as a “High Definition Transfer”. I’ve never given this much thought previously, but this is a rare case in which the aesthetic and colour pallet featured on the Blu-ray cover, pretty much matches the 1.37:1 image. Deep blacks, high contrast and a signature orange-purple hue not only evoke the film’s noir quality but feels like we caught a very ambient perpetual sunset.

After covering a string of releases with rather limited LPCM tracks, it was nice to be treated to full 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, which nicely enveloped my viewing space with the rich sounds of our titular Wyoming town and the dialogue volume was comfortably high and not drowned out during action sequences. – English SDH subtitles are included and the edition’s DVD copy is region 2 locked on a PAL-formatted DVD9 disc with a runtime of 98 minutes, 2 minutes less of its Blu-ray counterpart.

SPECIAL FEATURES

• Audio Commentary with Director John Dahl
• New Interview with Director John Dahl
• New interview with Editor Scott Chestnut
• New interview with actor Dale Gibson
• “Caged In” host Petros Patsilivas talks Nicolas Cage’s performance
• Booklet by Ian Schultz
• Poster (A4)
• Still Gallery

Red Rock West was worth the wait and the release has exceeded expectations, of which I’m very grateful for being given the opportunity to review and I hope many copies find their way Down Under. I think the film’s mixed tone will resonate better with today’s audiences as it’s a solid, entertaining thriller that deserved a much wider release.

RED ROCK WEST    (1993, John Dahl)

direct blu-ray screen captures

You can follow cinematic randomness on Twitter and Facebook where you’ll find all my cinematic exploits. Thank you for visiting!

Blu-ray Review: Fear City (1984)

Blu-ray Review: Triple Cross (1966)

Blu-ray Review: Houdini

When you purchase through Movies Anywhere , we bring your favorite movies from your connected digital retailers together into one synced collection.   Join Now

Red Rock West | Full Movie | Movies Anywhere

Rotten Tomatoes® Score

...a slow-moving yet predominantly engaging film noir...

And though Cage is effortlessly watchable as Williams, the performance of the movie is Dennis Hopper as the typically extroverted hitman “Lyle, From Dallas”.

While it does naval-gaze a little too much, the focus and pacing keeps it on track.

Helping the story move along at a brisk clip is Dahl’s tight control of the editing coupled with a well-tuned ear for the rhythms and cadences of everyday conversation.

...a little gem. Its success is due to the fact that there are so few authentic movie plots around these days...

It's well worth tracking down, wherever you can find it. For it has the kind of tension and energy -- maybe even a touch of delirium -- that is only a memory in most of today's big studio movies.

A wry thriller with a keen edge.

A rather ho-hum if watchable neo-noir, though it's been treated in some quarters as something special.

It's a brilliant noir movie that seems to understand the inner workings of film noir, rather than just paying tribute to it.

Additional Info

• Genre : Drama, Thriller
• Release Date : April 8, 1994
• Languages : English
• Captions : English
• Audio Format : Stereo

You Might Also Like...

New Releases

RED ROCK WEST

What You Need To Know:

(H, LLL, VV, SS, A/D) Humanism; 30 obscenities & 10 profanities; two deaths by shooting, one by knife & man impaled on graveyard statue; adultery both implied & vividly depicted; and, drinking & smoking throughout.

More Detail:

RED ROCK WEST is a slick and diverting crime thriller which is currently wandering through a theater or two before showing up in video stores. Michael (Nicolas Cage) is a Marine vet who drives 1,000 miles to get an oil rig job promised by a buddy in Red Rock, Wyoming. Arriving in Red Rock, Michael is mistaken by a local bar owner to be someone else coming to “do a job”–namely killing the bar owner’s wife, Suzanne. He receives $5,000 from the man and goes to Suzanne’s house, where she pays him $10,000 to kill her husband. Michael takes the money and leaves town, but because of an accident he heads back to Red Rock. The bar owner, Wayne, turns out to be the sheriff who tries to capture Michael. From here, the story zigzags in and out of Red Rock, as Michael plays a cat and mouse game in his attempt to escape both Wayne and the real assassin, the psychopathic Lyle (Dennis Hopper).

RED ROCK WEST is expertly acted and directed and could have served as an intense cautionary tale about the risks of dishonesty (not to mention sexual immorality). However, much of the point is lost amidst intense sprays of foul language, a brief but vivid scene of adultery, and an escalating level of violence in the final sequence. This is all too much to endure in exchange for a few depictions of one character’s refreshing honesty.

Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.

Red Rock West - Cinématographe Limited Edition

Filmmaker John Dahl turned in some real delicious entertainment in the 90s with his erotic thriller The Last Seduction and the neo-noir Red Rock West , the latter of which has now received a superlative Blu-ray release courtesy of Vinegar Syndrome's newly minted sub-label Cinématographe. This Blu-ray release offers a wonderful new transfer of the film, a bevy of physical and digital supplements, plus unique packaging that is sure to please physical media fans and luddites alike. Revisit (or visit for the first time) one of Nicolas Cage’s key 90s performances with this Highly Recommended release.

Michael (Nicolas Cage, Wild at Heart), a discharged marine turned drifter, ends up in Red Rock, Wyoming in search of honest work. Wayne (J.T. Walsh, Breakdown), a local bar owner, offers Michael the dishonest work of carrying out a hit on his wife Suzanne (Lara Flynn Boyle, The Last Seduction) after mistaking him for the actual hitman, “Lyle, from Dallas”, that he hired to murder his spouse. Before Michael can split town with his downpayment, he runs into the real Lyle (Dennis Hopper, Blue Velvet) and, from there, all hell breaks loose.

Directed and co-written by John Dahl (Kill Me Again), RED ROCK WEST is an endlessly twisty slice of distinctly American neo-noir set in the heartland of the United States. Featuring stellar performances from all three leads and a nearly repellent mean-streak, Dahl’s film is an often forgotten jewel of 90s crime cinema, making its US blu-ray debut in an all new restoration from Cinématographe.

directed by: John Dahl starring: Nicolas Cage, Dennis Hopper, Lara Flynn Boyle, J.T. Walsh 1993 / 98 min / 1.85:1 / English DTS-HD MA 2.0

Additional info:

• Region A Blu-ray
• New 4K Restoration of the 35mm Interpositive with original stereo soundtrack
• New interview with director and co-writer John Dahl
• New interview with co-director Rick Dahl
• New commentary track with historian Alain Silver and filmmaker Christopher Coppola
• "Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures" -- New video essay by Chris O'Neill
• Archival interview with editor Scott Chestnut
• "Caged In" -- Archival video essay by Petros Patsilivas
• New text essays by writers Jourdain Searles, Keith Phipps and Justin LaLiberty
• English SDH subtitles

Storyline: Our Reviewer's Take

I’m not quite sure if it’s because I’ve heard this remark from multiple people I’m close to or if this is a well-known fact, but Nicolas Cage puts Red Rock Wes t up with some of his favorite performances. And as someone who has just watched the film for the first time, I can see why he may say that, although I do have a couple reservations. The film itself is kind of in the style of those direct-to-cable or -video thrillers from the early 90s, with what appears to be the flat, muted look that pervades that string of films. That being said, Dahl sidesteps and turns that look into something much more surreal, and ultimately, otherworldly. To this viewer, Red Rock West is married to its universe of noir trappings than anything else, thus it’s fair to read it as something that doesn’t reflect reality. 

Red Rock West starts and ends with drifters. First, it’s Michael Williams (Nicolas Cage), a Texan driving to Wyoming to look for work on an oil field. His time as a Marine has left him with a bad limp, which proves to be a point of contention for the hiring manager at the oil field, leaving Michael to hit the road and find another way to make money. But when Michael arrives at a dusty bar and the owner, Wayne (J.T. Walsh), mistakes him for a hitman he hired to kill his wife, Michael chooses to take up the task. His mark is Suzanne (Lara Flynn Boyle), who convinces Michael to turn on Wayne for twice the cash and promise of love. Michael tries to flee town, only to discover after quickly becoming involved in a car accident that Wayne is actually the sheriff of Red Rock. Oh, and the original hitman he hired, Lyle from Dallas (Dennis Hopper), just got to town and wants to get paid.

John Dahl aptly puts in the attached supplements on this release that Red Rock West is grown out of his love for spaghetti westerns and noirs, in particular the key sequence in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly when the grand duel happens. Not because of the action, but because of the pure moral ambiguity of all these men. They’re all equally bad, drawn out into the light and forced to make a quick decision. It makes for wonderful entertainment, and the way Dahl uses common genre tropes to benefit a playful sense of humor only adds to that fact.

Some may find the film hokey, and I get why they may, however the understated Cage performance (yes, really) and over-the-top Dennis Hopper performance (per usual) kind of cancel each other out in interesting ways. I’m not saying that makes an excuse for what amounts to more homage than actual unique storytelling, but I find the way in which Dahl plays with genre to be much more fun than many filmmakers. Plus, you know, Dennis Hopper at his Looney Tunes best and Lara Flynn Boyle smoldering at every turn, it’s like walking into a David Lynch tangent in certain sequences.

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-rays  

Red Rock West finally makes its US Blu-ray debut thanks to Vinegar Syndrome with a single-disc (BD50) release that comes housed in a cloth-bound mediabook with an embossed foil title, a custom disc tray with the Cinématographe logo debossed on it and three essays. The mediabook is then housed in a slipcase that’s similar to the feel of the material used on Vinegar Syndrome’s box sets, plus an accompanying j-card with movie and supplement details that’s individually numbered. The disc boots up to a standard menu screen with options to play the film, set up audio and video, select chapters and browse bonus features. Oh, right, what’s the best part of the new mediabook packaging? It has that new book smell! I’m not kidding! 

Video Review

Red Rock West has received a few recent Blu-ray releases in non-US territories, but I’m eager to report that this new 1080p presentation sourced from a 4K scan of the interpositive truly blows those other releases out of the water. From the opening credits, a healthy grain field gives way to beautiful textures on clothes, faces and the wonderful production design. The way dust kicks around the Red Rock Bar once again proved to me just how anemic some of those previous transfers have looked. And I do understand this master not being right for a 2160p presentation, as it is more on the darker side. That’s not to say that the detail isn’t there for HDR and 2160p to be a benefit, but it’d be rather minor given the look of the film. No major source damage to report, and no encoding anomalies to note. This is truly the best the film has looked at home, so kudos to Cinématographe for delivering the goods right out of the gate. 

Audio Review

The original 2.0 track is presented in the DTS-HD MA codec and is overall very good. Dialogue is clear and crisp, with that William Olvis electronic score combined very naturally. I did notice a couple pops during one scene, although it was clear they were cleaned up to prevent blowing out your speakers. Otherwise, the source is in good condition. This isn’t the most creative or active soundtrack in the world, but everything here is presented well.

Special Features

As mentioned previously, Red Rock West has had a few releases internationally, thus Cinématographe had a bit of a challenge to compete. Luckily, they’ve provided new interviews with John and Rick Dahl, the latter of whom hasn’t had an interview on Blu-ray releases until now. Both newly produced interviews bring terrific context to the production, with John Dahl talking about his direct, indirect and surprise influences that helped to morph Red Rock West into something real and unique. The new video essay is similarly illuminating and focuses on the neo-noir genre, plus all three booklet essays provide unique views on the film, its influences and history. This is a very nicely curated collection of supplements that prevents repeating itself too much in terms of content and comments.

• Audio commentary with film noir scholar Alan Silver and Christopher Coppola
• John Dahl: A Thousand Miles from Nowhere – Interview with John Dahl (HD 26:33)
• Rick Dahl: Neon and Dust – Interview with co-writer Rick Dahl (HD 17:17)
• Interview with editor Scott Chestnut (HD 21:48)
• Video essay by Chris O’Neill (HD 13:46)
• Archival video essay by Petros Patsilivas (HD 9:19)
• Text essays by Justin LaLiberty, Keith Phipps and Jourdain Searles

Final Thoughts

Nic Cage is in full Cage mode and Dennis Hopper is there to party in John Dahl’s Red Rock West , an underrated neo-noir from the 90s that has fun playing with multiple genres to make something unique. Vinegar Syndrome's newly minted physical media sub-label Cinématographe provides the film with a stunning new presentation sourced from a new 4K restoration, plus a great collection of physical and digital features sure to please everyone. This twisty, turny and fun movie comes in a Highly Recommended release.

Order Your Copy of Red Rock West on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome 

Bringing you the best reviews of 4k and high definition entertainment

Blu-ray news.

The latest Blu-ray News

Blu-ray In Stores This Week

New Releases on Blu-ray

Blu-ray Coming Soon to Stores

Upcoming Releases on Blu-ray

• Rent or buy
• Categories Categories
• Getting Started

Red Rock West

Customers also watched.

Cast and Crew

Other formats

364 global ratings

How are ratings calculated? Toggle Expand Toggle Expand

• Amazon Newsletter
• About Amazon
• Accessibility
• Sustainability
• Press Center
• Investor Relations
• Amazon Devices
• Amazon Science
• Start Selling with Amazon
• Sell apps on Amazon
• Supply to Amazon
• Protect & Build Your Brand
• Become an Affiliate
• Become a Delivery Driver
• Start a Package Delivery Business
• Advertise Your Products
• Self-Publish with Us
• Host an Amazon Hub
• › See More Ways to Make Money
• Amazon Visa
• Amazon Store Card
• Amazon Secured Card
• Amazon Business Card
• Shop with Points
• Credit Card Marketplace
• Reload Your Balance
• Amazon Currency Converter
• Your Account
• Your Orders
• Shipping Rates & Policies
• Amazon Prime
• Returns & Replacements
• Manage Your Content and Devices
• Recalls and Product Safety Alerts
• Conditions of Use
• Privacy Notice
• Consumer Health Data Privacy Disclosure
• Your Ads Privacy Choices

We will keep fighting for all libraries - stand with us!

Internet Archive Audio

• This Just In
• Grateful Dead
• Old Time Radio
• 78 RPMs and Cylinder Recordings
• Audio Books & Poetry
• Computers, Technology and Science
• Music, Arts & Culture
• News & Public Affairs
• Spirituality & Religion
• Radio News Archive

• Flickr Commons
• Occupy Wall Street Flickr
• NASA Images
• Solar System Collection
• Ames Research Center

• All Software
• Old School Emulation
• MS-DOS Games
• Historical Software
• Classic PC Games
• Software Library
• Kodi Archive and Support File
• Vintage Software
• CD-ROM Software
• CD-ROM Software Library
• Software Sites
• Tucows Software Library
• Shareware CD-ROMs
• Software Capsules Compilation
• CD-ROM Images
• ZX Spectrum
• DOOM Level CD

• Smithsonian Libraries
• FEDLINK (US)
• Lincoln Collection
• American Libraries
• Canadian Libraries
• Universal Library
• Project Gutenberg
• Children's Library
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• Books by Language
• Additional Collections

• Prelinger Archives
• Democracy Now!
• Occupy Wall Street
• TV NSA Clip Library
• Animation & Cartoons
• Arts & Music
• Computers & Technology
• Cultural & Academic Films
• Ephemeral Films
• Sports Videos
• Videogame Videos
• Youth Media

Search the history of over 866 billion web pages on the Internet.

Mobile Apps

• Wayback Machine (iOS)
• Wayback Machine (Android)

Browser Extensions

Archive-it subscription.

• Explore the Collections
• Build Collections

Save Page Now

Capture a web page as it appears now for use as a trusted citation in the future.

Please enter a valid web address

• Donate Donate icon An illustration of a heart shape

Red Rock West (1992)

Video item preview, share or embed this item, flag this item for.

• Graphic Violence
• Explicit Sexual Content
• Hate Speech
• Misinformation/Disinformation
• Marketing/Phishing/Advertising
• Misleading/Inaccurate/Missing Metadata

plus-circle Add Review comment Reviews

7 Favorites

DOWNLOAD OPTIONS

In collections.

Uploaded by Stonerweird on November 11, 2023

SIMILAR ITEMS (based on metadata)