This 1991 neo-noir opens with a scene that got under my skin. It is a one-two punch of home invasions in Los Angeles.
At the first house, there’s a birthday party for a teen boy underway, and this event is being videotaped by his father. Cynda Williams appears to be a friend of the family because they let her in. Bad move, as she has brought boyfriend Billy Bob Thornton with her, along with an associate he met in prison (Michael Beach).
After learning the location of a certain drug dealer, Thornton and Williams leave for that house, where Thornton steals everything in the safe and kills the adults. Williams discovers a boy hiding in the house but doesn’t tell her boyfriend, as she knows what will happen.
Back at the first house, Beach is putting pillowcases over the heads of the partygoers before stabbing each to death. He does this methodically and without emotion, as if this is just some mundane task to be completed. While this is happening, he has had the videotape the father had been making of the party playing in the background. I was strongly reminded of the home invasion scene in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, something which is burned into the retina of my mind’s eye despite last seeing it roughly three decades ago.
The kid Williams did not turn over to Thornton that night helps the police piece together who committed those home invasions. The trio learns of this while on the road to Star City, Arkansas. This is where Thornton has a decrepit uncle, so they might be planning to hide out at his place. But this is also where Williams is from, and her mother and brother still live there, taking care of the son she secretly had.
She knows the sheriff of this podunk town, played by Bill Payton. This is definitely the right actor for this part, a bit of a buffoon who still has brains. He’s desperate to apprehend the murderous trio, should Star City truly be their destination. It would be a bonus for him if he could impress the visiting detectives from L.A. (Jim Metzler and Earl Billings). He might also have a history with Williams he wouldn’t want his wife (Natalie Canerday) or daughter to know about.
Along the way, the trio makes a pitstop in Houston to try to sell the large quantity of cocaine they stole from that dealer’s house. Their prospective client is out of town until the next day, so Thornton and Beach stay there while Williams goes on to Arkansas alone. She also absconded with the loot.
There’s a lot to chew on here. The script written by Thornton and Tom Epperson is solid. I believed all the performances, especially Beach as a disturbingly calm psychopath. It is weird to find oneself agreeing with a cold-hearted killer because their cool-headed logic in a crisis is so sound, even if their goal is nothing more than self-preservation.
An element that distinguishes One False Move from most other similar films of the era is not just a cast with many Black actors, but also a Black director (Carl Franklin). Even if I had not known the race of the director, there is something here that gives weight to such lines as “I already look guilty. And looking guilty is being guilty for Black people.” It is refreshing to have voices represented in neo-noir of the early 1990’s, when they often were not welcomed.
Dir: Carl Franklin
Starring Cynda Williams, Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton, Michael Beach
Watched on Criterion Collection blu-ray