66
Metascore
11 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80SalonCharles TaylorSalonCharles TaylorJack Nicholson is at his best playing a burned-out border patrol officer in a small Texas town.
- 80The New YorkerPauline KaelThe New YorkerPauline KaelRichardson is able to encompass so much in the widescreen frame that he shows how the whole corrupt mess works.
- 75Slant MagazineChuck BowenSlant MagazineChuck BowenThe Border is marvelously detailed. The script, by Deric Washburn, Walon Green, David Freeman, is peppered with lively obscenities and slights that communicate the debauched cynicism of this world.
- 75The Associated PressBob ThomasThe Associated PressBob ThomasThe Border is a well-made action-adventure film enhanced by authentic settings and a superlative performance by Jack Nicholson. [08 Feb 1982]
- 70NewsweekDavid AnsenNewsweekDavid AnsenThe Border has the air of a project marred by studio compromises -marred but not broken. Warts and all, it has more passion, texture and bite than anything Richardson has done in a long while. [01 Feb 1982, p.72]
- 50The New York TimesVincent CanbyThe New York TimesVincent CanbyAlthough it has been made with intelligence, is well directed and acted and is in touch with the ways of lower-middle-class American life, it has the sort of predictable outrage and shape of a made-for-television movie. It has suspense but little excitement.
- 50Time OutTime OutA Tex-Mex stew that looks to have all the right spicy ingredients, but emerges under gringo chef Richardson as not exactly indigestible, merely flavourless.
- 50TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineDespite fine performances from its lead actors, The Border fails to involve the viewer at more than a perfunctory level.