Extreme Prejudice

Walter Hill's film on the Texas border, running two genres at once: a western and 1980s military action. Jack Benteen is a Texas Ranger. Cash Bailey, running drugs on the other side of the border, is his childhood friend. They loved the same woman, and now they are facing each other. The second strand is a covert unit of six soldiers who are officially dead. They are sent to the border to rob a bank, without knowing what the real objective is. The story openly carries the skeleton of The Wild Bunch: obsolete men, a border, betrayal and a long gunfight at the end. Nick Nolte plays Benteen, Powers Boothe plays Bailey and Michael Ironside commands the unit. The story is by John Milius. A solid choice for anyone who likes 1980s action and Hill's hard dramas about men. For a viewer wanting depth of character, the film leans heavily on its formula, and the woman exists almost solely as the matter between two men.