Red Rock West (1992)

Our Noir

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy Red Rock West on DVD

Red Rock West was an exciting event for us San Franciscans, because our Roxie Cinema was solely responsible for its success. The movie, made in 1992 and starring Dennis Hopper, Nicolas Cage and Lara Flynn Boyle had already gone straight to video when the Roxie began playing it in an unlimited run in 1994. It was so successful that other theatres picked it up too. It's a brilliant noir movie that seems to understand the inner workings of film noir, rather than just paying tribute to it. Cage plays a man looking for a job, who is mistaken for a hitman. He visits his supposed target (Boyle), but finds himself attracted to her instead. To complicate matters, the real hitman (Hopper) also turns up. J.T. Walsh plays the man who wants his wife whacked. Dahl's equally good The Last Seduction was rescued from cable and released in theatres later that same year.

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Lara Flynn Boyle, Dennis Hopper, J.T. Walsh, Dwight Yoakam
Written by: John Dahl, Rick Dahl
Directed by: John Dahl
MPAA Rating: R for language and violence, and for sexuality
Running Time: 98 minutes
Date: July 1, 1997