Extreme Prejudice

Texas Ranger Jack Benteen (Nick Nolte) is a cop's cop and a man's man. Working the beat down in on the Texas-Mexico border, Benteen regularly puts his man down when the time comes for killing. Often operating in tandem with feisty and foul-mouthed local sheriff Hank Pearson, Benteen's biggest problem in the heat blasted climes of Southern Texas is curbing narcotics trafficking. When he isn't out killing local boys gone bad Jack argues incessantly with his live in lover Sarita Cisneros (Maria Conchita Alonso), a woman who works as a singer at the local watering hole and who just happens to be the former girlfriend of ex-cop and now big time drug dealer Cash Bailey (Powers Boothe). Benteen and Bailey get along with each other despite their differences largely due to an unspoken agreement the two have about staying out of each other's way, but that's all about to change after Pearson dies in a violent shootout with some local drug dealers ostensibly working for Bailey's outfit. Now it's personal for Benteen (shouldn't it have been before?), and nothing will get in his way as he prepares to bring down Bailey once and for all.

Then a problem materializes. The federal government, hoping to stem the flow of narcotics into the country, orchestrates a black operation composed of elite ex-military specialists and sends them into Benteen's stomping grounds to wipe out Cash Bailey. These guys are highly trained killers operating under such heavy secrecy that the feds faked the soldiers' deaths in order to protect their identities. Headed up by a thug named Paul Hackett--a man who has his own dirty little secrets--the team plans to rob a bank so they can steal Bailey's files. Perceiving Benteen as a potential problem, Hackett plays the part of a sympathetic DEA agent and feeds the Texas Ranger false information to keep him out of the picture until the operatives can finish the mission. Predictably, the robbery goes horribly awry, a couple of the team members end up in Benteen's jail, and out comes the dirty laundry. Jack teams up with Hackett's team as they head to Bailey's hideout in Mexico, still determined to do in Bailey and liberate the hapless Sarita while he's at it (You didn't think the girl would stay safely behind in Texas for the entire film, did you?). The conclusion is pure Peckinpah as the entire compound erupts into total gunfire riddled chaos.

For all its flaws, I still like watching "Extreme Prejudice" whenever I get the chance because the performances are so much fun. Nick Nolte is at his sweaty, scene chewing best as the relentless cop Jack Benteen. Rip Torn plays Sheriff Hank Pearson so over the top that he is a wonder to watch. Maria Conchita Alonso serves mainly as eye candy in her scenes, and Powers Boothe doesn't start rocking and rolling until the end of the film. The real show stealers here is Hackett's gang. Check out the actors involved in these roles: Michael Ironsides, William Forsythe, Clancy Brown, Matt Mulhern, Larry B.Scott, and Dan Tullis Jr. all play critical parts. If you aren't familiar with low budget cinema, you might not recognize these names or faces, but the rest of us who follow these types of movies know this list represents a goldmine of talent. If you've ever wondered how these guys would work together in a single film, "Extreme Prejudice" is your movie. Heck, even Tom "Tiny" Lister turns up here in a small role as one of Bailey's main henchmen. About the only guy missing from the roster is Randall "Tex" Cobb. Throw these actors into a plot loaded with gunfire, the heat blasted plains of Texas and Mexico, and a script that isn't afraid to punch up the testosterone laden dialogue to unheard of levels, and you have the makings for an entertaining couple of hours.

Sadly, plot holes abound. I still cannot figure out how Benteen could run a computer check on two of Hackett's men and discover that they are supposedly dead. Wouldn't the government cover its tracks with loads of high tech wizardry to prevent some backwoods cop from finding out who these guys are? Moreover, some of the scenes in the film are laughably ridiculous. For example, Bailey blows some guy's head off because of a drug dispute, and then promptly cozies up to Sarita as though nothing happened. In what universe would a woman readily accept with open arms a man who just committed a grisly murder IN FRONT OF HER just seconds before? Only a guy could write such nonsense into a script and think it would work. Give "Extreme Prejudice" a look if you like movies like "Roadhouse." If not, skip it.


How Long Must We Wait??!!   April 8, 2004
SGECKO67 (richmond va)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

Plenty of other reviews here give a synopsis of this story so I'll skip that part, and get to the "Oh how I love this movie" part.
I first saw this Walter Hill movie around '88, and only on VHS, and it has always been on my top 10 list. Back in the day's before Robert Rodriquez,and Q.T. And when those of us on the east coast had no access to Hong Kong Cinema, Walter Hill was a name action fans looked for, along with the better known names of stylized action, Sergio Leone, Sam Peckenpaugh,Richard Donner, and John McTiernen. All of these directors delivered lots of entertaining action,but for my money in the 80s Hill delivered big time with this modern day western.
Performances are strong and memorable. What scenery isnt destroyed by gun fire is chewed to pieces. Rip Torn, and Powers Booth create characters that are especially fun. Nick Nolte does a great job of playing a Texas Ranger, in a mythological kinda way.
The direction is sharp despite some minor plot holes, but of course the action sequences are steller.
Big question now is "How long must we wait for a good DVD version of this film?" Widescreen is a must.


IT BLOWS - NOT THE MOVIE, THE DVD!   September 8, 2005
BOB (LOS ANGELES, CA)
9 out of 10 found this review helpful


This disc is terrible. It is a pan&scan transfer, and the picture is soft and blurry. It is one of the worst DVD's I have ever seen.

The last laserdisc version of this film was letterboxed, so why this travesty was produced, who knows? Obviously, someone didn't want to spend the money to do it right.

Don't waste your money to buy this. Sign up for Netflix and rent it whenever you feel like watching it. Don't put your hard earned cash into studio coffers for garbage like this!


Worst DVD transfer I've ever seen.   August 18, 2006
BlackBanana (San Francisco, CA)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

Are you kidding me? This is nothing more than a VHS to DVD transfer and it looks awful. It's a complete travesty. 'Extreme Prejudice' is one of the most underrated action flicks of the late eighties. A wonderful homage to Peckinpah that deserves better treatment than this piece of garbage. Oh, and the cover art sucks too.


Not great art, but terrific craft   August 24, 1999
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

With films like The Warriors and Hard Times to his credit, I'll always give Walter Hill the benefit of a doubt, and with Extreme Prejudice it wasn't difficult. He takes the well-worn plot of two boyhood buddies who end up on opposite sides of the law and throws in a few twists, some very good performances and some down-and-dirty directing to make this outing better than it should have been. The story takes place in a Texas town that borders Mexico where the local sheriff (played well by Nick Nolte) is trying to stop the over-the-border drug trafficing by his old buddy (played by Powers Booth in one of his better performances). Matters are complicated first by the fact that they share a love for the same woman, and second by the fact that there is an army colonel in town (played by Michael 'I never turned down a script in my life' Ironside) leading a troop of "dead" soldiers who are supposed to be trying to nail the local bank for drug money laundering, but are actually hiding another agenda. There are some obligatory scenes of tough-guy stuff and nifty, well directed shoot-outs but the various plot elements never let things drag. The action moves so well you can set your watch by it. Hill knows how to set up his shots, and his editor must have had a great time pasting it all together because it moves as smooth as silk. The proceedings are helped by some excellent support acting by the likes of Clancy Brown and William Forsythe et al. Some could easily complain that the final mayhem was lifted right out of "The Wild Bunch" and they'd be right. Hill doesn't do much more than throw in a few more pounds of grime, sweat and blood, but I didn't care one bit. This scene is choreographed as well as any I've ever seen and it keeps you on the edge of your seat. Walter Hill won't save the world with this film, but it deserves more than it got. The "guy" factor alone should have pushed it into the stratosphere. This is just one nifty flick, so pull up a pizza and enjoy.