Film Review: Tequila Sunrise (1988)

One of the most frustrating experiences for any cinephile is a film that looks undeserving of high praise or commercial success, especially when notable names in front and behind camera are involved. Such experience might be provided by Tequila Sunrise, 1988 romantic thriller written and directed by Robert Towne.

The protagonists are Dale “Mac” McKussic (played by Mel Gibson) and Nick Frescia (played by Kurt Russell), two men who became best friends as teenagers and remained so throughout their lives despite ending on the opposite sides of the law. Mac used to be major cocaine dealer in California and now wants to switch careers and become legitimate businessman. Nick became chief narcotics detective for Los Angeles County who doesn’t have any qualms about possibility to put away his friend. DEA agents led by Hal Maguire (played by J. T. Walsh) have received information that Mac might make one last major drug deal and that “Carlos”, mysterious Mexican drug kingpin who happens to be his supplier, might arrive in order to personally supervise the operation. Mac is put on surveillance and Nick notices that he spends almost all evenings dining in a restaurant run by beautiful woman named Jo Ann Vallenari (played by Michelle Pfeiffer). At first Nick suspects her of being involved in trafficking but later, when he learns that she is actually innocent, falls in love with her. Mac has also fallen in love with Jo Ann and while the love triangle develops the investigation against Mac is joined by Mexican police commander Xavier Escalante (played by Raul Julia).

Robert Towne is best known as the screenwriter who, following his seminal script on Chinatown, built career by writing or doctoring scripts for many prestigious Hollywood productions. Towne’s career as director, on the other hand, was less impressive, both in numbers and the general quality of films. Tequila Sunrise was big commercial hit, but the critics were not particularly enthusiastic, and this might be explained that the ultimate result of Towne’s work wasn’t up to his screenwriting reputation. While Towne had good idea of mixing old school plot of film noir and fatalism of classic French gangster films with the sunny and “hip” surroundings of 1980s California, the directing left much to be desired. The complicated plot moved very slowly and many viewers could have been confused by large number of characters (including Mac’s ex wife and son, which appear too briefly in the film with the single purpose of making potentially unsympathetic criminal character into dedicated family man). Towne’s lack of proper directing skills can be also seen in sex scene which is supposed to be steamy but which ends up as overlong and non-erotic. The predictably melodramatic and violent finale is handled badly and the epilogue looks corny (allegedly at the insistence of studio which wanted happy end). The last minutes of the film also test audience’s patience due to pop ballad “Surrender to Me”, one of the corniest theme songs of 1980s Hollywood.

On the other hand, there are some elements that make Tequila Sunrise more than watchable. First among them is excellent cinematography by Conrad L. Hall, which puts sunny beaches and luxury restaurants of Southern California as an attractive location for combination of crime and love story. Hall is also good in night time scenes which provide “noirish” atmosphere. But the best thing about Tequila Sunrise is the reason why this film did well at the box office – the cast. All three major players – Gibson, Russell and Pfeiffer – act very well and have good chemistry together. Veteran character actor J. T. Walsh provides another great performance as overzealous and dislikable federal agent, while Raul Julia impresses not only by great role of a Mexican policeman, but also by displaying his singing skills, rarely used in his film appearances. In the end, that would be enough to recommend Tequila Sunrise, at least for the audience with lowered expectations.

RATING: 5/10 (++)

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Movie URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/10396-tequila-sunrise
Critic: AA