Delusion (1991)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Carl Colpaert

Writers:

Carl Colpaert (writer)
Kurt Voss (writer)

Release Date:

7 June 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

She only wanted love. But money's better than nothing.

Plot:

A man who has just embezzled money from his company is driving through the Nevada desert. He picks up a pretty girl and her seemingly goofy boyfriend...

Plot Keywords:

Desert | Money | Road Movie | On The Road | America

Cast

Jim Metzler	...	George O'Brien
Jennifer Rubin	...	Patti
Kyle Secor	...	Chevy
Jerry Orbach	...	Larry
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Albert Albala	...	Conference Room Executive
Charles Ayers	...	Mover with Christmas Tree
Tracy Collins	...	Dancing Girl
Robert Costanzo	...	Myron Sales
Lurezia Covacevich	...	Dancing Girl
Darryl Cox	...	2nd Thug
María de Souza	...	Dancing Girl
Angelina Fiordellisi	...	Biker Girl
Rachel Gebler	...	Conference Room Executive
Maria Gulezian	...	Secretary
John W. Hart	...	Conference Room Executive
Tommy Redmond Hicks	...	Cop
Suzan Nesbit Hiett	...	Dancing Girl
Barbara Horan	...	Carly
Marc James	...	Executive in Hallway
Richard Jordan	...	Conference Room Executive
Tamara Landry	...	Arabella
Carol Lang	...	Conference Room Executive
Laura Lang	...	Conference Room Executive
Jeffrey Madison	...	Mover with Christmas Tree
James Magowan	...	Executive in Hallway
Frankie Maiolo	...	Gas Station Attendant
Tony Markes	...	Man on Beach (as Anthony Markes)
Bob McCracken	...	3rd Thug
Brendan McKane	...	2nd Executive
Chitra F. Mojtabai	...	Conference Room Executive (as Chitra Mojtabai)
Pat Reilly	...	4th Thug
Craig Sexton	...	Conference Room Executive
Raymond Singer	...	Jim
Kristin Stuart	...	Conference Room Executive
Roxanne Thompson	...	Secretary
Tracey Walter	...	Hotel Desk Clerk
Kevin West	...	Thug #1
Seth Willenson	...	Conference Room Executive (as Seth M. Willenson)
Rudolph Willrich	...	1st Executive
Barbara Alyn Woods	...	Julie

Runtime:

Germany:88 min | USA:100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Australia:M | Germany:16 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Amargosa Valley, Nevada, USA

Company:

Cineville

Soundtrack:

Boppin' Out/Eternal Morning

Spectacular, One of a Kind

This movie is flawless. The characters, the plot, dialogue, and the hauntingly beautiful scenery combine to make a movie that is breathtaking. The story is plausible and fascinating, the timing perfect. George O'Brien (Jim Metzler) plays a clean-cut, yuppyish computer executive who takes off from Southern California for Reno with almost half a million dollars in embezzled money in the trunk of his car (Volvo, of course) to set up a new operation in Reno. He suddenly finds himself in a different world when he stops on a lonely stretch of highway near Death Valley and picks up a young couple who have rolled their car on the side of the highway. The duo, perky Patti (Jennifer Rubin) and her sickly companion Chevy (Kyle Secor), quickly turn out to be far more trouble than George could ever have imagined.

The way the personalities of the characters unfold is psychological drama at its absolute finest. At first George cringes at the sophomoric banter of his two passengers, a sleazy gambler and his part-showgirl, part-prostitute "better half." But things get really edgy when he tries to part ways with the luckless pair, and soon George finds himself and his car taken hostage at the point of a gun.

As the story moves quickly along, so does the viewer's insight into the complex personalities of the three main characters. Patti is as much a survivor as Chevy is a pathological and abusive hoodlum. The movie deserves to be viewed over and over again. Every piece of dialogue, even the smallest gesture, carries its own bit of symbolism, clues to the troubled lives of the hitchhikers and the confusion and mounting terror felt by their unwilling host.

This movie accomplishes more with body language than others achieve with the most spectacular visual effects. Even minor characters like Robert Costanzo, who plays a tawdry Las Vegas mobster, and Jerry Orbach as his inconvenient operative, are fascinating and memorable.

If the definitive mark of the film noir is the interaction between tragic, troubled people with conflicting agendas, this is the future face of the genre. There isn't a meaningless moment.