Even Nicolas Cage fans have forgotten: released 31 years ago, this western-tinged thriller is a real gem

(Re)discover this thriller not devoid of dark humor carried by a perfect Nicolas Cage: “Red Rock West”.

How about a film noir-style road trip with Nicolas Cage in the heartland of America? Welcome to Red Rock West, a thriller to rediscover, which allows the future actor of Castor Troy to deliver a remarkable performance opposite a meaner-than-ever Dennis Hopper.

Nicolas Cage in a 'Coen Brothers' atmosphere

The story? Michael (Nicolas Cage) enters a lost bar one evening, the Red Rock. The owner of the place, convinced that Michael is the professional killer he was waiting for, offers him $5,000 to murder his wife Suzanne. Michael decides to take the money, and warns Suzanne… who offers him $10,000 to kill her husband!

After the pleasant but forgettable Amos & Andrew with Samuel L. Jackson, Nicolas Cage continued his career in independent cinema and – on the influence of his uncle Francis Ford Coppola – joined the Red Rock West project. The film is difficult to put into a box, which played tricks on it when it was released in theaters.

A real “UFO”!

Director John Dahl (who would later make The Gamblers and Last Seduction) offers both an investigative film, a humor flirting with the cinema of the Coen brothers (with Nic Cage constantly manipulated and who understands nothing of what is happening), a film noir and a modern western. Does that make the whole thing indigestible? Quite the contrary!

Because by having fun mixing genres, and if you can stand Dennis Hopper's hamming it up as an unmanageable psychopath, Red Rock West becomes an absolutely remarkable Unidentified Film Object. The plot is constantly relaunched by twists and turns, the poor hero is tossed from one situation to another while trying to get out of it, and the violence surprises with its suddenness and harshness.

Lara Flynn Boyle, a femme fatale worthy of the classics of film noir

When it was released in theaters, the film was deemed unsaleable and was released discreetly, without going through the festivals that could have helped it. It went relatively unnoticed, but today we can (re)discover it, unfortunately only in physical format or VOD.