Colors look very strong here, while skin tones look nice and lifelike. Detail is vastly improved over the DVD not just in the close up shots but in pretty all of the wider angle compositions as well (and as this was shot in scope there are quite a few of them in the movie). Supporting work from a young Mary Stuart Masterson is also impressive while Kiefer Sutherland, Crispin Glover and Stephen Geoffreys are all fun to watch as Brad Jr.'s upstart partners in crime.Īt Close Range arrives on Blu-ray from the MVD Rewind Collection framed at 2.35.1 widescreen in a gorgeous AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer on a 50GB disc that offers a very impressive upgrade over the previous DVD release from MGM and seems to mirror the out of print release from Twilight Time. The back and forth between the two leads here is often the highlight of the movie. that a lesser actor might not have been able to convey with as much success. There's an angst and an aggression to Brad Jr. Of course, Sean Penn's character does just that, and at this point, even early in his career, he proves he can do the troubled young man thing really, really well. His character is a manipulative and dangerous man, and Walken uses his inimitable screen presence to craft a man who should not be trifled with. Walken may not bear the strongest resemblance to the Penn brothers cast as his son but once you can accept him in the role based on that, it's easy to appreciate his performance here. Not surprisingly, a big part of the draw for this film is the cast. This helps, when the tension starts to mount and things turn violent, to keep us intrigued - actions very definitely have consequences in this picture, there's no doubt about that. The story unfolds well, defining the characters nicely and establishing their individual motivations so that when things start to unravel and get nasty, we understand why they behave and react that way that they do. There's a nice rural charm to a lot of the locations used here and this makes for an interesting place for a crime picture to take place (given that the vast majority of them take place in very urban settings this characteristic of At Close Range helps to set it apart from the pack). It's a nicely paced picture and the Tennessee locations stand in well for the Pennsylvania settings. at all and when Jr.'s plans start to wreak havoc with his own, family ties become very strained and things move towards an inevitable confrontation…Īt Close Range is an interesting mix of crime, suspense and family drama skillfully directed by Foley with an emphasis on the two main characters. Of course, they're inexperienced and they don't know what they're doing and almost as soon as they get started at this, they're nabbed. Before you know it, the two brothers have enlisted Lucas (Crispin Glover), Tim (Kiefer Sutherland) and Aggie (Stephen Geoffreys) and are out trying to steal farm equipment that they figure they can fence for a profit. decides he and his younger brother Tommy (Christopher Penn) should get a crew together of their own, and so they do just that. It goes well, too well almost, because after a taste of success Brad Jr. Call), Tony (David Strathairn) and Boyd (J.C. When Brad meets 'the girl' in the form of sixteen year old beauty Terry (Mary Stuart Masterson), he figures without any money he doesn't have much of a shot of winning her over, and so he decides to join up with his father on one of the heists he and his crew - Patch (Tracey Walter), Dickie (R. (Christopher Walken) - a career criminal. He's a bit of the disenfranchised type, uninterested in settling down and starting a family and more interest in following in the footsteps of his father, Brad Sr. (Sean Penn) who has recently finished school but doesn't seem to have any real job prospects. Cast: Christopher Walken, Sean Penn, Eileen Ryan, Mary Stuart MastersonĪt Close Range, directed by James Foley in 1986, takes place in rural Pennsylvania - farm country- and it tells the story of a young man named Brad Whitewood Jr.
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