Desperate to get out of prison, convicted felon Robert Mitchum enlists the aide of his three very different sons (the scholarly James Spader, the less than scholarly Eric Stoltz, and the very troubled Lance Kerwin), along with partner Stuart Margolin, and creates a reign of terror for a family whom they stop and whom Mitchum emotionally tortures before the brutal slaughter. A very disturbing true life crime story that doesn't exactly have leading characters that you can root for, because there's really no motive other than the desire for carnage, with Mitchum very manipulative in the opening scenes at a picnic on the prison lawn with the sons and wife Lynn Carlin.
The legendary Robert Mitchum is always worth watching, not so much because he was a great actor but he simply just read his lines as he believed they would be spoken and came off more naturally than many people attempting to act. This is as brutal a character as he's ever played, up there with "Night of the Hunter" and "Cape Fear" for his cold-bloodedness. Margolin is a creepy sidekick, and Spader shows promise as the oldest son. But I don't believe that the three sons were as innocent and manipulated as the script attempts to trick the audience to believe, and the film itself is dark and unpleasant. There are some interesting photographic images, particularly of them standing at the end of a rail line looking at the mountains in the distance. Some true life crime stories should just remain newspaper headlines rather than be made into movies, and when those movies are made, it should be noted that it is for educational purposes only and not really considered entertainment.
The legendary Robert Mitchum is always worth watching, not so much because he was a great actor but he simply just read his lines as he believed they would be spoken and came off more naturally than many people attempting to act. This is as brutal a character as he's ever played, up there with "Night of the Hunter" and "Cape Fear" for his cold-bloodedness. Margolin is a creepy sidekick, and Spader shows promise as the oldest son. But I don't believe that the three sons were as innocent and manipulated as the script attempts to trick the audience to believe, and the film itself is dark and unpleasant. There are some interesting photographic images, particularly of them standing at the end of a rail line looking at the mountains in the distance. Some true life crime stories should just remain newspaper headlines rather than be made into movies, and when those movies are made, it should be noted that it is for educational purposes only and not really considered entertainment.