A sordid family dynamic permeates this picture, as two wayward brothers look to their renegade father to break the chains of poverty and lack of an education. I found Brad Whiteford Sr.'s (Christopher Walken) choice of criminal occupation strangely odd. Stealing industrial tractors looked like a big deal in the picture, but who do you fence farm equipment to? Couldn't figure that one out. As real-life brothers, Sean and Chris Penn complement each other as sons attempting to get a jump up and out of their tenuous existence as small-town troublemakers and all-around hooligans. Brad Jr.'s (Sean Penn) circumstances might have been bettered by new found girlfriend Terry (Mary Stuart Masterson), but unfortunately, she fell under his influence, desperately seeking a quick way out of her own family situation. They might have gone a modern day Bonnie and Clyde route if not for Brad Jr.'s change of heart after witnessing his father's forced execution of a would-be informant. The same modus operandi was at work, that is, get the victim drunk before lowering the boom, when Brad Sr. And young accomplice Lucas (Crispin Glover) did the same to Terry right before they assaulted and raped her off screen. As a villain, Walken's character here is about the worst you'll ever come across, with no compunction whatsoever about killing his own sons if it meant saving his own neck. There really are no heroes in this one, so better to fix your expectations on the stunning performances of the principals in this family crime drama.
Review of At Close Range
