User reviews

There are two things about this movie that make it a must-watch: Jack Nicholson in one of his best performances, and the issue of immigration.

Nicholson is a border guard who tries to resist the money available but his crazy wife (Valerie Perrine) just spends, spends, and spends like he was a Rockefeller. He finally joins with his neighbor and partner (Harvey Keitel) and runs some Mexicans across the border.

Charlie (Nicholson) still has some morals and that causes problems for his partner. He is also taken with Maria (Elpidia Carrillo), and that causes problems for their Mexican contact, so he sets him up to control him.

However, he can't control Charlie, and now even the boss (Warren Oates) is mad at him.

Tony Richardson's film has a lot of elements of Sam Peckinpah. Exciting to the end.

Music by the great Ry Cooder.

Jack Nicholson does solid work in the role of Charlie Smith, a border patrol officer who moves from California to Texas. Saddled with a well meaning but materialistic wife, Marcy (Valerie Perrine), he realizes that his pocketbook can't keep up with her dreams, so he yields to corruption. This is also encouraged by his new neighbor / partner "Cat" (Harvey Keitel). Soon Charlie is taking pity on young mother Maria (Elpidia Carrillo). When her baby is stolen for the purpose of being sold on the black market, he gets involved in her plight.

All of the actors here deliver rather under rated performances. With Nicholson, there's no theatricality, no eccentricity, just a good, straightforward, impassioned portrayal. Perrine plays the wife in such a way that you can't really hate her. Keitel is great as always as the shady partner, as is the sadly short lived Warren Oates, near the end of his life and career, as Charlies' new boss. Carrillo is lovely and extremely engaging, and one might wish that she'd had more opportunities in American film over the years. (Most people likely know her as the sole female character in "Predator".) There's a fair bunch of recognizable actors in supporting and bit parts: Shannon Wilcox, Jeff Morris, Dirk Blocker, Lonny Chapman, William Russ, Gary Grubbs, etc.

The story, written by Deric Washburn, Walon Green, and David Freeman, is not a great one, but it is entertaining and involving enough to keep ones' attention. Vivid on location shooting is one asset, the sad depiction of the reality of dirt poor Mexicans is another. You can understand why some of these people want to see if their fortunes in the U.S. will be any better. It also benefits from having a main character who's not a squeaky clean, Dudley Do Right type, but is still a basically decent person who will NOT cross certain lines. Viewers will love the expansive widescreen photography and the lovely score by Ry Cooder.

At a time when the issues of border policing and illegal aliens are very much on peoples' minds, this film does remain relevant.

Seven out of 10.

When one considers the extraordinary acting career of Jack Nicholson, the performances that immediately spring to mind are the likes of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Shining and even Tim Burton's Batman. They were roles seemingly tailor-made for Nicholson's manic arched eyebrows and devilish grin, but he was capable of so much more when, ironically, doing far less. Arguably, he has never been better than as Charlie Smith, the middle-aged and weary border agent working within a corrupt organisation in El Paso. When we first meet him, he is discussing with the owner of a factory which of his illegal immigrant employees to arrest so he can meet his quota of deportations. He reads the Mexican youths their rights like reading from a shopping list, but they'll be back in a few days. Charlie's job is ineffective and he knows it, and it takes a special actor to pull off indifference and boredom without appearing disinterested.

Every night he returns to his nondescript trailer to eat a TV dinner cooked by his stay-at-home wife Marcy (Valerie Perrine). It is Marcy who convinces Charlie to quit his job as an immigration enforcement officer and move to El Paso, where property is cheaper and a job as a border agent awaits him. To please the wife he has fallen out of love with but nevertheless tolerates, Charlie agrees, and falls in with fellow border agent Cat (Harvey Keitel). Along with his supervisor Red (Warren Oates), Cat runs a human trafficking operation across the border, and wants Charlie to join the payroll. Meanwhile, young Mexican mother Maria (Elpidia Carrillo) attempts to flee into the U.S. with her baby and younger brother after an earthquake decimates her town. When she frequently comes up against the border patrols, Charlie start to sympathise with her situation, as well as growing increasingly weary of his wife's wild spending and his colleagues' abuse of power.

The Border didn't do particularly well on its release and its memory has somewhat faded since, but director Tony Richardson's film packs enough of a punch to warrant a reevaluation. It perhaps arrived too late in a decade when cinema had moved away from the character-driven 70s and more towards visual decadence. Yet The Border could also be released today, and its subject matter would be just as relevant, if not more so. It highlights the problems on both sides, with corruption rife and those caught in the middle treated like dogs, and what little progress has been made in the decades since. Recent films like Sin Nombre and Cartel Land have explored and highlighted the same issues, and the result is always violence upon violence. Richardson, who is better known for his exceptional British works Look Back in Anger, A Taste of Honey, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runnier and Tom Jones (amongst others), directs with little flair but trusts the story to pack enough power on its own. Although it descends into a generic, action-packed climax (which was forced in after test audiences reacted badly to the original ending), The Border deserves another shot, and features a Jack Nicholson at the very top of his game.

Jack Nicholson's transition from brilliant character actor to self-parodic superstar happened sometime in the 1980s. 'The Border' is closer to his best 1970s work ('Five Easy Pieces', 'The Last Detail', 'The King Of Marvin Gardens', 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest') than to most of his subsequent output. Two of his best performances in recent years have been in movies directed by Sean Penn ('The Crossing Guard' and 'The Pledge'), and 'The Border' reminds me a lot of those. I wonder if Penn is a fan? The director Tony Richardson made his name with British "kitchen sink" dramas and he brings to this Peckinpah-esque material an empathy for "little people" rarely seen in American movies of the 1980s and '90s. Nicholson gives a superb performance, one of his very best. The two women in his life are played by Valerie Perrine and Elpidia Carrillo. The former is best remembered for her appearance in 'Superman' but has acting chops she has rarely been asked to use (see also 'Lenny' alongside Dustin Hoffman). The latter is best known for appearing in the Arnie action classic 'Predator'. Both of them are surprisingly good in this movie. Harvey Keitel is even better. This is one of his "lost" movies - see also 'Fingers', 'Deathwatch' and 'Copkiller' - and seeing him act alongside Nicholson is a real treat. Add to that one of the final roles by the legendary Warren Oates, who had co-starred with Nicholson fifteen years earlier in Monte Hellman's cult western 'The Shooting', and 'The Border' is essential viewing for film buffs. I think the movie has a few flaws but they are easily overlooked, and repeated viewings reveal its true worth. 'The Border' is a real sleeper, and recommended to fans of intelligent, character based drama.

Whatever you do, don't take the more negative reviews of this film seriously if you consider yourself socially and culturally aware in an American sense, or a person interested in immigration issues - see Trevor Aclea's review "The Broken Promise Land", Nov. 2006. This kitty cat's review clearly demonstrates that where you live, in his case across the pond in that "country" called "Europe", can sometimes produce analysis that is so off target and devoid of cultural understanding, you just got to utter "what". Save us all from the armchair anthropology, or lack of, Mr. Aclea.

For Nicholson fans who are aware of his timely ability to freshen the palette, especially more than his contemporaries (DeNiro, Pacino, Hoffman, to name a few), a more subdued and ethically challenged protagonist is Nicholson's "Charlie Smith". THe film has numerous humanistic angles filled with critical social commentary that will remain timeless to film aficionados, students of social science, and culture hungry types interested in more real-life events (non-linear) versus entertainment driven plots filled with predictable formula.

South of the border, during church services, an earthquake strikes. North of the border, patrol agent Charlie Smith (Jack Nicholson) arrests two illegals working below minimum wages at a sweatshop. These vignettes introduce to this movie about illegal immigration by Mexicans to the USA, and the corruption that goes along with it, from the Mexican coyotes, American lawmen, and Mexican hustlers. The border patrol cops work to keep out illegals, but businesses pay to keep them. In the beginning the movie focuses on illegal immigrants, but it morphs into an action movie (with little action) until the end.

To please his extravagant wife Marcy (Valerie Perrine), Charlie transfers from his rundown trailer in Los Angeles to a desert duplex in El Paso, Texas, her hometown. To furnish her "dream house," Marcy loves to buy things (on the installment plan) that Charlie knows that the couple simply cannot afford: huge water bed, large sofa, pool in yard. She hosts expensive parties. Charlie's border patrol partner at work is Cat (Harvey Keitel), married to Savannah (Shannon Wilcox), Marcy's high school friend. They live on the other side of the duplex. Cat has offered Charlie a buy-in to his system of earning more cash. This involves allowing illegals inside the USA to do day jobs at nearby businesses and farms. The decent-minded Charlie vehemently turns down the offer at first, but his wife's constant spending changes his mind. Meanwhile Charlie becomes obsessed with helping young Mexican mom Maria (Elpidia Carrillo), who's new infant was stolen from her in a smuggling ring that sells babies for adoption. The compassionate Charlie wants to help Maria and ask for nothing in return. She winds up trapped working in the sleaziest bar you'll ever see and run by the slimiest of characters. Meanwhile Cat is not against an occasional murder. ("We take care of business.") These issues upset Charlie greatly: he decides to take a stand against corruption.

The acting holds up well. To mention a few names, Nicholson is always good. But this feature is not like "Easy Rider," "Five Easy Pieces," "Chinatown," "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest," or "The Shining." His performance this time is sufficiently subdued and brooding. Keitel is also a good actor; he plays devious characters very well. Warren Oates is effective in a small part as Border Patrol Chief "Red." Mike Gomez as Manuel plays a sufficiently dastardly, creepy snake. The Freddie Fender soundtrack helps. But the film suffers from any lack of excitement.

The funniest line in the film emanates from a drunken woman: "You look like my husband. He'd f*** a woodpile if he thought there was a snake in it."

Adequate thriller is tough and suspenseful exposing police corruption and the downfalls of lower middle-class American life; once again, Jack Nicholson delivers a strong performance.

I remember seeing this movie at a seedy downtown LA theater, the second film of a double bill that I almost walked out on before it began. I was glad I stayed. I don't remember what the feature film was, but I have never forgotten this movie.

Jack Nicholson plays a on-the-take border patrol cop trying to go straight, but surrounded by corruption on both sides of the fence. He finally has to choose between fitting in by being a dirt bag, and being true to himself and cutting his ties with his buddies and his family.

The border is not only a fence between two countries, it's a moral line between decency and indecency, between moral compromise and being a truly humane and compassionate person regardless of the consequences.

The acting is superb, and the the plot could not be more timely. So give this box office bomb a go soon! It's a real diamond in the rough.

I'll speak plainly, I found it boring. The cover art looks great, the metascore & critic score seems inviting as does the synopsis & screen shots. Also once you see its a Jack Nicholson & Harvey Kietel movie you're immediately sold, but believe me when I say, it just doesn't work.

A lot of the movie feels asif it's been shot from a helicopter, that's how empty & dull alot of the scenes in this movie are. It's asif nobody has much to say. There's not really any classic lines/conversations, theres not much room for a standout performance, it just teeters on at a slow pace until the end.

Nothing evoked any emotion, nothing spoke to me, it was just dull & empty. It sets up something early on where a border patrol man is shot in what feels like a set-up/execution, & you feel asif later on Nicholsons character will work it out. But no, never brings it up again. Also Kietel character seems to just dissappear for long segments, & relationships between bad guys are never really touched on.

Feels like a TV movie which could have been a classic with alot of tweaking in the script/story.

5/10 very 'meh' not the worst film in the world, but not something I'd ever recommend.

Although this is not a great film it is a lot better than its reputation. Jack Nicholson is excellent and Harvey Keitel is very good. The beautiful and beguiling Mexican actress, Elpidia Carrillo, handles a limited role with enough artistry to make me wonder why I never heard of her before. Turns out she does have a healthy list of credits both internationally and in the US.

The direction by Tony Richardson, who had his heyday in the sixties with films as varied as The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962), Tom Jones (1963), and The Loved One (1965), all adapted from novels, is at times inspired and artistic, and at other times as ordinary as dishwater. I don't think he was able to make up his mind while directing this film about whether he wanted win an award at Cannes or Venice or to just sell some tickets. As it turns out he did neither as well as he might have. Nonetheless as a snapshot of poor Mexican immigrants (and would-be immigrants) as they clash with the border patrol culture twenty-some years ago The Border is definitely worth a look. Particularly vivid is the depiction of the absurdities and hypocrisies among the coyotes, the "wets," the border patrol rank-and-file, the law and the realities of life along both sides of the thin strip separating the promised land from the third world.

Nicholson plays Charlie Smith, a border patrol cop with a trailer trash wife (Valerie Perrine) who yearns to move up to the luxury of duplex living. In particular she wants to move in next door to her high school girlfriend Savannah (Shannon Wilcox) who is married to the "Cat" (Harvey Keitel). Charlie Smith is a bit of an innocent who was satisfied with his trailer home and his sexy, loving, but not overly sharp, wife Mary. When they do pick up and move to Texas he runs headlong into the corrupt lifestyle of the Cat and the cruel realities of his job which consists of arresting illegal immigrants and sending them back to Mexico. Meanwhile Mary isn't just sitting home twiddling her thumbs. Instead she is out buying water beds and dinette sets, overstuffed chairs and sofas, and other knickknacks that put a strain on the couple's budget which leads Charlie into temptation. But when taking kickbacks turns to murder, Charlie draws the line in the sand (literally as it happens) and he and the Cat have a rather rude falling out.

Meanwhile Charles spots Carrillo as the lovely Maria with babe in arms and a little brother at her side. Predictably the system cruelly exploits her, bringing Charlie to her rescue.

I think the striking contrast between Charlie's air-headed Mary and the desperate and needy Maria needed to be further explored. As it was played Charlie is just a good joe doing a good deed or two when in fact we know he is much more involved than that. I think the movie would have been improved by making him choose between the two women as he had to make the moral choice between going with the Cat's corruption or going against him.

See this for Jack Nicholson, one of the great actors of our time, who brings subtlety and veracity to a role that could have been ordinary, while giving us only a hint of the commanding and irreverent style that he would adopt in later years.

(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!)

"The Border" has a powerhouse cast in it's favor. Jack Nicholson, Harvey Keitel, Warren Oates, are uniformly good. What is not so good is the script, and editing. The script seems somewhat redundant, and the editing is seasickness inducing choppy. Despite these flaws, the film is watchable, but I doubt repeat viewings would be necessary. The corruption that is shown, certainly portrays the United States Border Patrol in a most negative way. The plight of the Mexicans is not a very pretty picture, and is exploited throughout the movie. Is it a political statement or entertainment, I am not certain? As a movie I would call it marginally successful at best. - MERK

This film has been making the TV rounds lately, and that inspired us to go rent this overlooked classic and enjoy it once again. It always stands up, it never lets us down, and it is unjustly overlooked. And Ry Cooder's score is a definite plus.

This is an unabashedly simple movie, much to its credit. And that simplicity includes Jack. Almost all of the critics point out that this is Jack at his "UnJackest". Only one true "Jack" moment, and that is when he dumps the grill into that awful, tacky poolette and exclaims, "Soup's on!". And even that moment is appropriate to the situation, hilarious, and much needed comic relief.

'The Border' has every chance to drown in cliche, but to Tony Richardson's credit, it never does. The characters could so easily have become good guy/bad guy caricatures, but to the credit of an amazing supporting cast, they never do.

And OH what a supporting cast! Harvey Keitel is terrific, especially when he is trying to reign in his bimbo, drunken, horndog wife. Cat can handle the meanest border scum, but is a whipped puppy with Ms. Thang. Which leads to the superb performances of both Shannon Wilcox and Valerie Perrine as the Boobsey Twin Airheads from Hell. Check out their rendition of their high school cheerleading chant. Also loved Warren Oates as the crooked Border Patrol Chief, particularly the scene where he explains to the sleazy drop point bad guy (one character dangerously close to cliche) that their truck of "wets" got caught by a couple of honest border guards and "Goddamit, I ain't got no control over that! That's just gonna happen sometimes."

But for me, the supporting performance at the soul of this film is Elpidia Carrillo's heart-wrenching, moving portrayal of Maria. All she is asked to do is symbolize everything pure, noble, and long-suffering, to be the Mexican Madonna. And to do it with about 5 lines of dialogue in the entire film, and that is in Spanish. Oh, and she's about 18 years old and this is her first American film. And guess what? She's simply amazing, conveying more in a single expression than most actresses could in 10 pages of dialogue. Of course it helps to be born with one of the most expressive, open faces in the universe, and boy does she know how to use it. (Carrillo had a similar role, even named Maria, in Oliver Stone's 'Salvador' a couple of years later, and was equally as good. She was also outstanding as Jimmy Smits' wife in 'My Family'. She finally got her just acclaim a couple of years ago in Ken Louche's 'Bread and Roses', winning an ALMA and even having the critics talking Oscar, and for the lead in the Mexican historical epic 'The Other Conquest').

The scene that will always stick in my mind has Charley going to the sad hovel occupied by Maria and her brother to give them the money to pay a coyote to bring them across. Maria is confused, wondering why he would help them. Then she thinks she knows, and with a whole world of sad resignation on her young shoulders, without a word, begins to undress. The Jack/Charley that responds, telling her gently that she owes him nothing, that he just wants to to feel good about something, sometime, is so simple, so sweet, and so heart-felt that it may be one of Jack's finest, most authentic screen moments. Never mind that she doesn't understand a word; they connect. A simple but deeply moving scene; it connects.

Go rent this simple straightforward film with its fine acting and directing. In its simple way, it is a powerful, unforgettable classic.

1982's "The Border" is clearly not a film classic and it certainly is not one of Jack's best, yet it's far from one of his worst films also. The theme and issue centers around illegal immigration which in 1982 this topic was being portrayed ahead of it's time, as anyone knows over the last several years the issue is a hot button topic. Again Jack Nicholson makes the film with his direct and straight performance. Nicholson is Charlie Smith a guy who's left the police force to become a border guard and in the meantime along with his gold digging and greedy wife(Valerie Perrine)Smith again reunites with a former friend a now ruthless guard(Harvey Keitel). Soon this is not what it appears to be as brought to life is the drug smuggling along the Rio Grande. Charlie must decide whether or not to cross the line as the whole department is running in a foul manner. Overall the action, suspense, and drama is good and Jack's performance made it a must see, as anything with Nicholson makes people pay attention to their screens.

Border agent, Charlie (Jack Nicholson) gets transferred to another city with better pay performing the same duties but only to find corruption within some of the people he works involving human trafficking.

Upon reading film critic Leonard Martin's brief movie review of "The Border" I could not help but agree with him since the movie does contain some action in it it still needed director Sam Peckinpah's touch for it could have been much more than what was shown. Jack Nicholson's performance is still superb as usual along with the rest of the cast as Harvey Keitel and Warren Oates. Viewers would have had more action in it had The Border had Peckinpah directed it.

this film is superb on many levels. while jack nicholson and harvey keitel both have an impressively long list of masterly performances, I believe this film ranks near the tops of their oeuvres with a handful of their other performances in films like "the shining" and "the passenger" for nicholson or "the duellists" and "bad timing" for keitel. all of the supporting cast members deliver excellent performances as well. the scenery is beautiful and is shot well. both the story and the dialogue are superlative. The plot progresses dramatically yet plausibly, at no point is the viewer obliged to suspend her disbelief as nicholson's character is backed into a corner by the circumstances developing around him. The action sequences are both dramatic and believable. go watch this film.

Maria (Elpidia Carrillo) leaves her earthquake ravaged homeland with her children. Charlie Smith (Jack Nicholson) is a world-weary US Bureau of Naturalization and Immmigration agent in L.A. living with his wife Marcy (Valerie Perrine) in a run-down trailer. Then he gets a new job in the border patrol in Texas with a nice house to please his wife. He and his partner Cat (Harvey Keitel) catch a group of illegals including Maria. Cat tries to pull him into his corruption which causes a major rift.

I like the dusty ugly border world. Nicholson does a good job but this is not an exciting movie. It doesn't have good cinematic style. This is more at a TV movie level. I think Charlie Smith would be more compelling if he is a naive newbie.

Charlie Smith (Jack Nicholson) is a border patrol officer that moves with his wife Marcy from a trailer to a duplex in El Paso with his best friend and colleague Cat (Harvey Keitel). Since Marcy buys lots of expensive items Charlie is introduced by Cat to a human smuggling operation and accepts to join. In the meanwhile a woman is separated from her child, and after lots of chases and investigations it will succedd to reunite them.

When THE BORDER began it looked good, but as it progressed it looked like it took a detour to badness. Nicholson has never been grouchier than here, and as time passes, his character becomes more and more hateful to the point that you won't care about him. Harvey Keitel was decent and in one of his rare likeable ''bad guy'' roles, while most of the supporting characters were annoying and bland. And some situations were cringy, such as Charlie going in a bar at night, being beaten and then thrown out like garbage; or when Charlie returns and yells to his wife because she cares only about expensive items such as water beds (and he falls in the new swimming pool).

Overall, a missed opportunity. On paper it looked good, but combine an irritable lead, supporting characters that are like cardboard cutouts and bad editing... it makes you wonder if the director even cared if the movie had to be good. And if that is what you look for in a movie, then THE BORDER is for you.

This film would probably do better if re-released in 1999. Between the casting, the scenery, the memorable "throwaway" lines that abounded, the "felt without being seen" undercurrent of quiet desperation that some of the characters emoted at JUST THE RIGHT TIMES, accompanied by one of the very finest sound tracks that has ever been recorded, by some stellar musicians (and why on earth is this not available on CD?), this movie would more than likely win a whole new cult following, particularly given the successes of some of the cast since then, the "oh yeah, I remember her/him" recognition factor of some of the other cast members, and the fact that dear Warren Oates will not be making any more films in the fine manner that he did. I don't remember this film being given the credit it deserved when it was originally released, and I wish to heck it could be given another chance, if for no other reasons than those mentioned above, and perhaps to give some record company another reason to release the soundtrack on CD!

Dry and uninspired "The Border" escapes from being weak thankful to some good performances and some good moments. But it's hard, tiring and not engaging movie about an honest border cop (Jack Nicholson) dealing with a practically whole corrupt force who smuggles illegal Mexican immigrants, drugs and gets an awful lot of money with this. Charlie, Nicholson's character, only enters in the game to satisfy his compulsive and big spender wife, who wants to live in a dream by buying stuff. But Charlie also wants to help a Mexican girl (Elpidia Carillo) her younger brother and her son to accomplish their prosperity in this new land, trying to compensate his lack of good deeds now that he's part of a dangerous system that also involves dealers and mercenaries.

Best thing was to make the bad cops as more likable folks than the blasé anti-hero. Probably because they were made as simple as possible, people to get ahead in a system that allows you to do that and they never threatened or treated Charlie differently after he turned down their offers, at first. It all changes when Charlie cannot look himself in the mirror disgusted with this situation and people start getting murdered. They are very seductive up to a certain point, and that made the movie more bearable, won't say enjoyable because it staggered frequently with some of its dramatic moments and relatively enjoyable action sequences. Its lack of purpose is upsetting just as much as the mixture of drama and thriller - only reaching memorable peaks with the climatic ending and when the baby is kidnapped.

The privileged look given by foreign directors of privileged countries (in this case, the British Tony Richardson) is always one dimensional and clichéd, never trying to be more than just a romanticized copy of reality - see my review of "Crossing Over" as well. And there's so much more to be explored here instead of just giving Charlie investigating everything or seeing his wife living this costly dream of fun barbecues, water bed and stuff. We should be able to relate a little more with the immigrant characters, hear their voices and wishes, give more substance instead of poor folks who want to live a better life - which is true - running away (as sort of pointed out) from earthquakes.

Despite its troubles, "The Border" offers a good performance from Nicholson and an outstanding Harvey Keitel as Charlie's "best buddy" who invites the good cop to a world of possibilities and illicit acts as well. At the end of day, you have something good from this film. 6/10

British filmmaker Tony Richardson would seem the least likely director to helm a drama about an angst-ridden Texas border patrolman, yet he manages to set an intriguing mood for this film...but also keeps a languid pace which may send viewers packing before the story has even taken shape. Jack Nicholson plays Charlie Smith, a border agent who goes against the grain to help a young Hispanic woman retrieve her stolen baby. Nicholson is solid, and the supporting players (Harvey Keitel, Valerie Perrine, Warren Oates among them) are exceptional, but the picture is enervated and rather ill-at-ease, with plot-points muffled by the static handling. ** from ****