U Turn (1997)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Oliver Stone

Writers (WGA):

John Ridley (screenplay)
John Ridley (book)

Release Date:

3 October 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Expect the Unexpected.

Plot:

A drifter becomes entangled with a femme fatale and her husband after his car breaks down in their small Southwest town.

Plot Keywords:

Money | Desert | Femme Fatale | Small Town | Drifter

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Sean Penn	...	Bobby Cooper
Billy Bob Thornton	...	Darrell
Abraham Benrubi	...	Biker #1
Richard Rutowski	...	Biker #2
Jon Voight	...	Blind Man
Jennifer Lopez	...	Grace McKenna
Powers Boothe	...	Sheriff Potter
Nick Nolte	...	Jake McKenna
Aida Linares	...	Jamilla
Sean Stone	...	Boy in Grocery Store
Ilia Volok	...	Sergi (as Ilia Volokh)
Valeri Nikolayev	...	Mr. Arkady (as Valery Nikolaev)
Brent Briscoe	...	Boyd
Bo Hopkins	...	Ed
Julie Hagerty	...	Flo (as Julie Haggerty)

Also Known As:

Stray Dogs (USA) (working title)
U Turn - Ici commence l'enfer (France)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence, sexuality and language.

Runtime:

125 min

Country:

France | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

New Zealand:R18 | Singapore:R21 (re-rating) | Iceland:16 | Italy:VM18 | Australia:R | Canada:R (Canadian Home Video rating) | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Germany:18 (nf) | Hong Kong:III | Netherlands:16 (video premiere) | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:R(A) | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R (No. 35464)

Filming Locations:

Coachella Valley, Mecca, California, USA

Company:

Phoenix Pictures

Trivia:

When Jennifer Lopez's character (Grace McKenna) flashes back at the end of the film we see lots of photographs of her as a child. These photographs are actually photos from Jennifer Lopez's private collections of herself as a child.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Marker is visible during the scene where the men have cornered Bobby in the alley.

Quotes:

Jake McKenna: [walks in on Bobby and Grace kissing] Grace!
Grace: Jake! I thought you were in Phoenix.
Jake McKenna: Who the hell is this?
Bobby: Who the hell are you?
Jake McKenna: I'm her husband!
Bobby: Husband?

Movie Connections:

Features Hung fan au (1995)

Soundtrack:

La Mujer Que Amas

Black humour of a kind rarely seen in mainstream Hollywood

As usual before adding my two ha'porth-worth of comment, I looked at other comments (including Roger Ebert). And, although I didn't read all of them (there are very many), I was surprised that none I read seemed to pick up what was perfectly obvious to me: this is a very funny film, but done in a deadpan style. So deadpan, in fact, that I'm not surprised that might be news to many. I have, coincidentally, recently been buying up on DVD quite a few classic film noir (Build My Gallows High, The Strange Love Of Martha Ivers) and like everyone else thought that the era of film noir had come and gone and that such films were no longer being produced. Well, blow me if I'm not very wrong: this is quintessential film noir (though done in colour and with the proviso that most film noir is not intended to be funny). It would be pointless to recount the plot, but if you liked all those classic Mitchum/Bogart/Van Helin/Edwrad g Robinson etc films, you will love this. Sean Penn never disappoints. By the way the very final twist in the plot had me laughing out loud. Go for it: you won't be disappointed.