While they were married, Madonna and Sean Penn enjoyed reputation of Hollywood supercouple. Their relationship reflected on their respective film careers, which included joint appearances. The most successful of such collaborations was, however, the film in both of them haven’t appeared together. It was At Close Range, 1986 crime drama directed by James Foley, critically acclaimed but relatively title, nowadays best known for “Live to Tell”, theme song performed by Madonna which became one of the greatest hits of its time.
Script by Nicholas Kazan is based on true events that occurred in 1970s Pennsylvania, although names and certain details were changed. The plot starts in Spring 1978 when 19-year old Brad Whitewood Jr. (played by Sean Penn) lives in impoverished rural home with divorced mother Julie (played by Millie Perkins), grandmother (played by Eileen Ryan) and younger brother Tommy (played by Chris Penn). They are occasionally visited and given money by Brad’s father Brad Whitewood Sr. (played by Christopher Walken). Brad Junior, after coming in conflict with mother’s boyfriend, accepts offer to move with his father, despite knowing that he had made the fortune through illegal means, as leader of gang specialised in thefts of tractors and similar equipment. Brad Junior has recently started relationship with 16-year old high student Terry (played by Mary Stuart Masterson) and volunteers to join father’s gang or at least take part in its schemes. After a while, Brad Junior forms his own gang and uses father and his connection as fence. Their relationship, however, becomes marred when Junior witnesses Senior’s gang murder police informant. Things get further complicated when Junior’s inexperienced cohorts allow themselves and Junior to get arrested. Senior becomes concerned that son, faced with long prison sentence, might turn on him and become government witness so decides to prevent it at all cost, which would ultimately lead to bloodbath.
Despite huge promotion provided by Madonna’s song and music video, At Close Range failed at the box office. This could be explained with the exceptionally grim tale about poverty and crime in rural America being too hard to digest for average cinema audience, which preferred such content in much “cooler” urban environment. Critics, on the other hand, liked the film and the main reason can be found in very talented and inspired cast. By that point young Sean Penn has already proven that he can handle difficult roles, but his performance in At Close Range established him as one of the finest actors of his generation. Penn is great both in subtle scenes that display hopelessness of his situations and scenes when Brad Jr. goes through emotional roller coaster, from admiration for his father, love for his angelic girlfriend and final desire for revenge. Christopher Walken is also great in his role, displaying charisma and charm before his character turns into embodiment of pure murderous evil. Mary Stuart Masterson is also good in role of protagonist’s girlfriend that could have been thankless; introduced simply as quiet angelic figure, character of Terry develops in self-conscious and outspoken young woman who bravely, and much to her detriment, confronts Brad Senior. The rest of the cast is also very effective in small roles – whether formidable character actors like R.D. Call, Tracey Walter and David Strathairn who play members of Brad Senior’s gang or younger actors like Crispin Glover who play members of Junior’s gang.
Although most of its good reputation among critics is well-deserved, At Close Range isn’t without its flaws. The most of them are related to Foley’s directorial style. Foley, perhaps worried that a story of relatively petty rural criminals won’t look attractive, employs many tricks that should make this film “larger than life” or in line with MTV-style films that were in vogue at the time. That includes a lot of slow motion and wide shots that display vastness of Tennessee locations (which stand for Pennsylvania). As a result, film at times looks too “artsy” and pretentious, and is ultimately much longer than it should have been. Especially disappointing is the ending, which features intensely dramatic scene that looks too much like Hollywood-like fiction artificially inserted into real life. Yet, despite this flaws, At Close Range is a solid film that should be recommended even to audience that aren’t among the greatest fans of its star and main song performer.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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