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Tequila Sunrise
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Tequila Sunrise (1988) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
5.7/10   10,232 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 6% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
Robert Towne
Writer (WGA):
Robert Towne (written by)
Contact:
View company contact information for Tequila Sunrise on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
2 December 1988 (USA) more
Tagline:
Un cocktail explosif [French] more
Plot:
Mac Mckussic is an unlikely drug dealer who wants to go straight. His old and best friend Nick Frescia... more | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
Nominated for Oscar. Another 2 wins & 1 nomination more
NewsDesk:
'39 Steps' Reborn
 (From WENN. 8 January 2004)

User Comments:
More of a writer's film than a director's one more

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Mel Gibson ... Dale 'Mac' McKussic

Michelle Pfeiffer ... Jo Ann Vallenari

Kurt Russell ... Det. Lt. Nicholas 'Nick' Frescia

Raul Julia ... Carlos / Comandante Xavier Escalante

J.T. Walsh ... DEA Agent Hal Maguire

Gabriel Damon ... Cody McKussic

Arliss Howard ... Gregg Lindroff

Arye Gross ... Andy Leonard
Daniel Zacapa ... Arturo, Bartender at Vallenari's (as Garret Pearson)
Eric Thiele ... Vittorio Vallenari
Tom Nolan ... Leland
Dawn Martel ... Sin Sister #1

Lala Sloatman ... Sin Sister #2 (as Lala)
Budd Boetticher ... Judge Nizetitch

Ann Magnuson ... Shaleen McKussic
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Additional Details

Runtime:
115 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English | Spanish
Color:
Color
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Dolby

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
It was at one point meant to star real-life buddies Nick Nolte and Jeff Bridges, with Nolte as the cop and Bridges as the dealer. more
Goofs:
Continuity: When Pfeiffer is at the police station getting her chef released, Russell pulls up and parks directly in front of her car. When they leave the station, his car isn't there and Pfeiffer is able to drive away unobstructed. more
Quotes:
Hal Maguire: Come on Nick. Escalante's waiting. He wants to give you a token of his government's friendship.
Nick Frescia: What?
Maguire: A gun. What can I say? He's Mexican.
more
Movie Connections:
Featured in Here's Looking at You, Warner Bros. (1991) (TV) more
Soundtrack:
Don't Worry, Baby more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful:-
More of a writer's film than a director's one, 26 June 2008
5/10
Author: James Hitchcock from Tunbridge Wells, England

"Tequila Sunrise" is sometimes quoted as an example of neo-noir, a genre of film which uses modern cinema techniques while trying to capture the spirit of the classic films noirs from the forties and fifties. Other examples include Polanski's "Chinatown", the Michael Winner remake of "The Big Sleep", Lawrence Kasdan's "Body Heat" and Curtis Hanson's more recent "L.A. Confidential".

The title is derived from the well-known cocktail which has three ingredients, tequila, orange juice, and grenadine. Mel Gibson is seen drinking this cocktail on a couple of occasions, but the significance of the title may be that the film explores the triangular relationship between a "cocktail" of three main characters, Dale "Mac" McKussic, Nick Frescia and Jo Ann Vallinari. (The film was advertised in France under the slogan "Un Cocktail Explosif").

Mac is a former drug dealer who claims that he is now trying to go straight. Nick is not only the head of the Los Angeles narcotics squad for but also Mac's close friend. Jo Ann is a local restaurant owner with whom both Mac and Nick are in love. The two men's friendship is therefore under severe strain, and not only because of their feelings for Jo Ann. There are suspicions that Mac has slipped back into his old ways and may be trying to pull off one last deal with another old friend, a Mexican drug baron named Carlos. If these suspicions prove correct, Nick will be duty-bound to arrest him.

Like many examples of both film noir and neo-noir, "Tequila Sunrise" has a complex plot, one where the motives of all the characters are suspect and where nobody knows whom they can trust. (The writer/director Robert Towne was also the scriptwriter for "Chinatown", a film with one of the most convoluted plots in cinema history). Nevertheless, I have never really regarded it as authentic neo-noir. There was always more to film noir than a crime-related theme and a complicated storyline. Atmosphere was equally important; in some cases (such as Howard Hawks' original "The Big Sleep") it was paramount. In the eighties it would have been virtually impossible to make a film using the moody black-and-white photography which characterised film noir, but neo-noir directors were often able to give their films an equivalent atmospheric look. "Body Heat", for example, has an atmosphere of extreme heat, of sweat, of physical lassitude, of moral decay and of sexual tension, something emphasised not only by John Barry's jazz score but also Kasdan's colour scheme dominated by blacks, reds and oranges.

The film stars three of the up-and-coming stars of the eighties in Gibson, Kurt Russell and Michelle Pfeiffer. None of them really give their best performance here, although Pfeiffer is always very watchable. Although in the eighties Gibson was best known for his "tough guy" roles, especially in the "Mad Max" series, he does not bring much menace to the role of Mac or suggest his criminal background. Roger Ebert called him "the nicest drug dealer you'd ever want to know".

In 1988 Towne was much more experienced as a screenwriter than as a director. He had worked on the scripts for more than a dozen films and several TV series, but had only directed one previous film, the very different "Personal Best". It is therefore perhaps not surprising that "Tequila Sunrise" comes across as more of a writer's film than a director's one. Towne inserts all the plot twists and turns that we have come to expect from noir and neo-noir, but there are none of the visual touches we associate with the genre. The film is surprisingly slow-moving and wordy for what is supposed to be a crime thriller, dominated more by talk than by physical action except during the (literally) explosive finale. Towne may have had ambitions to become an auteur director like Polanski, but "Tequila Sunrise", a run-of-the-mill crime drama, is not the work of an auteur. 5/10

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Very under-rated! Brand_X_Savior
Has there been a movie where people were tanner? zurichpoet
Help with the most ambiguous film ever. mahditoohottie
Why the name Tequila sunrise? bubs-6
Theme song wxad
Give TEQUILA a special edition DVD!!!!!! pale69rider
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