Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 6, 1995 TAG: 9507060039
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TOM SHALES
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The best thing about ``The Desperate Trail,'' which premieres Sunday night at 8 on the TNT network, is that it has a genuine sense of style, a real and distinctive personality. Too many of the films made for cable, and for TV generally, come off as competent but bland, as if a computer had been calling the shots and cranking them out.
``Desperate Trail'' introduces a bright new filmmaking talent who could well become a major player: P.J. Pesce, who co-wrote the script as well as directed the picture. He gives ``Desperate Trail'' pungent, plangent qualities that owe something to classic Westerns but also seem new and fresh. Pesce, a student of superstar directors Martin Scorsese and Brian De Palma, also does a cameo as, according to the closing credits, a ``scared, mustachioed cowboy,'' apparently in a barroom scene.
The film teeters provocatively on the line between tragedy and comedy, sometimes moving, sometimes wry. Among those on board the stagecoach that comes down the dusty if not quite desperate trail in the first scene are a ruthless, vindictive U.S. marshal (Sam Elliott), a no-nonsense young woman named Sarah O'Rourke (Linda Fiorentino), who is handcuffed to him, and a seemingly mild-mannered nerd named Jack Cooper (Craig Sheffer) who carries a small wooden box.
What's in it? ``A farming implement'' is all he'll say.
Before long, there's trouble, as you would expect. Robbers attack the stagecoach. The assault goes wrong and through a series of reversals, Sarah and Jack end up riding off together with a cache of cash. A manhunt, or rather a man- and womanhunt, ensues, full of dark complications and the occasional irreverent laugh.
``This here's a business relationship,'' Sarah tells Jack along the trail. ``I sleep alone.'' But about 50 minutes into the movie, by the light of a campfire, the inevitable romance blooms, and nicely, too.
The movie is full of witty details and smart touches. One thing Pesce manages to do is make violence shocking without being overly graphic. When a gunfight breaks out on the streets - or rather the single street - of a dustbin town called Deposit City, a family of three is caught in the crossfire. Father, mother and son dive under a wagon to flee harm's way. Not all escape it.
When the shooting stops, Pesce lingers to show the terrible effects of the violence. He isn't preachy or politically correct about it, just poignantly blunt. The script seems to be straining, though, when, more than once, it gets into the topic of spousal abuse, although Fiorentino proves awfully good at exposing and opposing it.
Fiorentino's macho deadpan delivery works just right for her character and never seems posed. Sheffer, in a tidy mustache, is probably more affecting than he has been in any of his other films, including Robert Redford's ``A River Runs Through It'' (Sheffer played Brad Pitt's brother). Elliott, with his terminal cragginess and subterranean growl of a voice, is best taken in small doses and Pesce manages to parcel him out just right.
Something of a lull settles in when Sarah and Jack settle in at the ranch of Jack's naive brother, Walter (Frank Whaley), a would-be astronomer. But things heat up again fairly quickly. Pesce knows how to bring out all the tension inherent in his story. Another asset is composer Stephen Endelman, whose eclectic score includes imaginative use of chimes and bells.
Clearly, this is not a movie made by slackers or hacks. The filmmakers put a lot of thought into it, and an audience can get a lot of thought out of it, and a lot of pleasure, too.
by CNB