Once upon a time there was a man who went by the name of Billy Bob, and he wrote a handful of good screenplays. The world didn’t take much notice of them until he gave himself a weird haircut, grabbed himself a kaiser blade, some folks call it a sling blade, but he called it a kaiser blade, and ordered up some french fried potatoes from Jim Jarmusch. After watching that film the kingdom deemed that he was an Oscar worthy scribe and presented him with the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and nominated him for Best Actor. From that point on he rocketed to fame in movies such as Armageddon, The Man Who Wasn’t There, and Monster’s Ball. Hell, he even got to play an eating, drinking, fucking Santa Claus and marry Angelina Jolie. But while his career got bigger and bigger he found less and less time for writing and directing, which is a damn shame because today’s film, which he wrote with Tom Epperson, is a beast.
One False Move tells the story of two low rent repeat offending hoods, Ray and Pluto, played by Billy Bob and Michael Beach, as they murder for drugs and run cross country back to Arkansas, after a stop in Texas, alongside Ray’s dutiful girlfriend Fantasia, played by Cynda Williams. While their plan never goes well, the law enforcement waiting for them back home is sure to ruin their day. Among the boys in blue are two gentlemen from LA, where Ray and Pluto first botched it all up, and the local lawman, Dale “Hurricane” Dixon, played with manic energy by Bill Paxton.
Director Carl Franklin directs the script from Billy Bob Thornton with a southern fried neo-noir charm. The villains are cold and ruthless, the police officers capable but with problems of their own, and the femme fatale Fantasia, who’s really named Lila, perhaps holds all the cards and a blistering secret of her own. She often seems like she’s just along for the ride because she loves her boyfriend Ray, but as everything unfolds it’s obvious she has a plan of her own, and Ray and Pluto might not be a part of it. The story doesn’t shy away from the grimy bits of crime, unabashedly showing how quickly any situation can go from under control to chaotic violence in mere seconds, with the characters themselves, other than Pluto, not necessarily prepared for it’s consequences.
While Paxton gets the majority of the screen time, and it’s well-earned because his character Hurricane is captivating as a man who can handle the small town in his own charming way but is ill-prepared when big city criminals come knocking and bring up a part of his past that he’d rather keep hidden, it’s Billy Bob who steals the show. Despite his awful ponytail and clothing, his Ray is captivating, speaking a great deal with the deadly spark in his eyes as well as that dismissive tone that he’d eventually use so well in the tv series Fargo. He wrote himself a hell of a part, the biggest role he’d had to date in his short film career, and takes full advantage of it. Despite everything going wrong, we know he’ll do whatever is necessary to come out on top despite being undeserving of anything good in this world.
One False Move is a dark, fast paced, underseen crime gem that is currently playing on the Criterion Channel, but I keep my fingers crossed that they’ll eventually do a physical release so I can finally retire my VHS copy.
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
