RED ROCK WEST Explained: Brilliant Crime Noir from the 90s

The fact is, Cage has been starring in productions that are not particularly demanding for quite some time, at best average, at worst – absurdly bad, but those who remember his most important works know that he is an unpredictable actor, capable of making the greatest sacrifices, often giving the film in which he appears a completely different character through his performance. It is easy to mock him today, but this is only due to his increasingly questionable project choices, not his talent or its gradual decline. If the actor chooses to, he will surprise us again, and let us just hope that it will be in a positive way. Now, about Red Rock West.

Meanwhile, we are increasingly revisiting, especially thanks to round anniversaries, his most famous achievements, whether in action films, where he triumphed from the mid-‘90s (The Rock, Con Air, Face/Off), in films by great and respected directors, now considered masterpieces (Birdy, Wild at Heart), or in celluloid oddities, now mainly associated with the actor’s erratic performance on screen (Vampire’s Kiss, The Wicker Man). The smaller films, made before Cage became an Oscar-winning actor for Leaving Las Vegas, a top star, and then the subject of countless memes, have been lost. These are films in which he was able to control his inner drive, while also confirming his versatility and (at that time) sense for role selection. Hidden gems, not only because of Cage’s presence in the cast but, above all, due to their surprising quality. Strangely forgotten, Red Rock West by John Dahl from 25 years ago ranks among the best films of the actor.

Michael, a former Marine with a ruined knee, travels 1,800 kilometers for a drilling job that he ultimately does not get. When we meet him, he wakes up in a car on the side of an infrequently traveled road with five dollars in his wallet. He has no more money and won’t have any, even though a friend offers to lend him some, and at a nearby gas station, a few loose twenties are just waiting to be taken from the cash register. With his last bill, Michael buys some gas and heads to the small town of Red Rock, hoping for a job. He quickly finds work, but not the one he was hoping for – the owner of the local bar, a man named Wayne, mistakenly takes him for a hitman he hired, Lyle from Dallas. The target is the bartender’s wife, and the payment is ten thousand dollars. Tempted by the large sum of money, Michael confirms that he is the one Wayne is waiting for, takes half of the payment, and heads to warn his future victim. She turns out to be the beautiful but cold Suzanne, who raises the stakes by hiring “Lyle” to kill her husband.

There is in this black crime drama a precision worthy of the greatest masters of the genre, which surprises the viewer with ever new twists and turns, while the plot seems to be following the only possible track. One could speak of fate or destiny hanging over the characters, making even the greatest surprises unable to hinder the inevitability of the resolution. It is clear that Dahl, the director and co-screenwriter of the film, loves this genre. Red Rock West was not his only attempt to revive noir cinema early in his career – before it, he directed the praised, though somewhat clichéd, Kill Me Again with Val Kilmer, and later The Last Seduction, where Linda Fiorentino played a total femme fatale, Double Jeopardy, which blends crime and science fiction with not entirely satisfying results, and Rounders, with Matt Damon and Edward Norton, successfully building tension at a poker table. Today, he is a director primarily working in television, which is unfortunate because it may suggest that no one wants to watch modern-day noir crime films.

However, even now, Red Rock West still amazes. Just yesterday, I refreshed it in my memory, and what immediately stands out is the economy in the construction of the world, the characters, and the atmosphere of the film. Perhaps this comes from setting the action in the sparsely populated lands of Wyoming, which almost forces a more laconic style, similar to what we recently saw in David Mackenzie’s Hell or High Water. After its premiere, the film was compared to the works of David Lynch, but this seems a significant exaggeration, not least because the first one remains faithful to the genre until the very end, which gives the whole thing the qualities of a morality tale, while the second likes to change the rules of the game and does not provide the audience with easy answers.

Dahl only needs 3–4 opening scenes to show how dire Michael’s situation is (played by Cage) and at the same time, how tightly he clings to the honesty that defines him. He could avoid mentioning his knee problems, which would have helped him get the job he needs so badly, but he knows that eventually, the truth would come out. He won’t take money from his friend, nor does he intend to steal it. However, someone makes a mistake in his favor, and when Wayne asks him if he is Lyle from Dallas, Michael confirms it. At first, he thinks it’s about work at the bar, but when his new employer reveals the true nature of the job, the main character decides to take advantage of the situation for an easy way to make money, especially since he can treat it as tricking the trickster.

This single lie does not change his noble nature – the first thing he does is warn the potential victim and write to the Red Rock sheriff, explaining Wayne and Suzanne’s “marital problems.” Black crime drama, however, is a very specific genre that exploits the momentary weakness of its protagonists in order to punish them for their naivety and shortsightedness. Therefore, Michael’s subsequent actions, although they confirm his morality, turn against him. Over the course of the entire story, he leaves Red Rock several times, only to quickly and involuntarily return to the unlucky town, as if fate will not let him escape until he answers for his sin. The town’s welcome sign becomes a highly ironic symbol, laughing in Michael’s face every time he enters Red Rock.

The film is not lacking in humor, often dark, which comes from the precision with which Dahl and his brother Rick construct the plot. Full of surprises, most of them related to the true identities and characters of the characters, the story initially revolves around the confusion of an ordinary man with a murderer, of course, until the real Lyle from Dallas shows up. He is played by Dennis Hopper, a few years after his diabolical performance in Blue Velvet, and just before his role as the brilliant madman in Speed. His Lyle is almost a culmination of those roles – a psychopath with an explosive character who poses as much more civilized than he really is. Hopper evidently had fun playing such characters, and in Red Rock West, he ensures that the audience has no idea how far the Dallas hitman character will go in achieving his goals.

As Wayne, we watch J.T. Walsh, who in the ’90s was one of the most distinctive American character actors (unfortunately passing away prematurely in 1998), often playing various types of villains, bureaucrats, and two-faced people, to name just a few roles in A Few Good Men, Nixon, The Negotiator, and The Burning Season. His character seems to be a one-dimensional villain, greedy for his wife’s money, but in Wayne’s case, the screenwriters have prepared plenty of surprises, gradually served throughout the entire film. Only Suzanne seems to be the most predictable character, though Lara Flynn Boyle (Twin Peaks) plays her with a voice that sounds almost like a whisper and a penetrating gaze, effectively evoking the best traits of the femme fatale.

And what about Nicolas Cage in this film? Restrained, ordinary, it may seem that he is the least spectacular of the entire cast, but this is precisely why it is easy to identify with his character. His lie does not so much set off a chain of bloody events as completely changes its course; through his role, Cage introduces the perspective of an ordinary, mistake-making but fundamentally honest man, faced with a situation beyond his control and people with vile souls. He is not yet the hero Nicolas we know from the action films that came later, which is why we can genuinely worry for his Michael. Not yet the Cage who guarantees unforgettable, albeit questionable performances in third-rate productions. Here, he doesn’t even try to compete with the over-the-top Hopper, which seems unimaginable if one only knows the actor’s current performances.

After more than 30 years since the release of Red Rock West, it can easily be placed alongside other first-rate contemporary noir crime films – Lawrence Kasdan’s Body Heat, the Coen brothers’ Blood Simple, and the aforementioned The Last Seduction. It may be a bit more modest, not as flashy as the other titles, but its specific aura, emphasized by William Olvis’ guitar music and Marc Reshovsky’s stylish cinematography, draws the viewer into a nightmarish world where a million good deeds lead to nothing, but one bad act brings an incomparable punishment. So why is Dahl’s work not talked about today? On the other hand, do we remember those films? Noir seems to have faded into obscurity, leaving behind a wonderful memory, like a quieter, less flashy version of Cage. Maybe one day they will find each other again. Adios, Red Rock.