One False Move I’ve mentioned several times before that I haven’t always watched as many movies as I do now, so there are plenty of gems out there that I’ve missed over the years. One of my greatest pleasures is inadvertently discovering one of those gems at random as I’m browsing through my local video rental store. That’s precisely what happened last week when I came across a 15-year-old film called One False Move, a title I’d never even heard before I saw the DVD cover on the shelves — even though it stars Billy Bob Thornton and Bill Paxton. Anyway, it turned out to be an excellent find.

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): One False Move opens with three criminals — Ray Malcolm (played by Thornton), Pluto Franklin (Michael Beach), and Fantasia (Cynda Williams) — carrying out a plan to rob an L.A. coke dealer of drugs and money. They’re able to discover where the dealer lives by forcing one of Fantasia’s acquaintances to lead them to the house. The gang gets what they’re looking for — leaving six bodies in their wake. But they also leave a witness behind. It’s the drug dealer’s young son, whom Fantasia couldn’t bring herself to expose to the ultra-violent Ray.

The plan is to drive to Houston to sell the coke to dealer that Pluto knows. Once they get money for the drugs, they’ll split up and go their separate ways. They head for Texas immediately, hoping to get a big head start on the cops.

The next day, their crime is discovered. The brutal nature of the killings leads to widespread media coverage and also generates lots of phone-in tips from from the community. The lead detectives on the case, Dudley Cole (Jim Metzler) and John McFeely (Earl Billings), are able to piece together enough clues to figure out that Malcolm and Franklin are the perps they’re looking for. After pulling their files, Cole and McFeely come to the conclusion that the fugitives are heading towards Star City, Arkansas to hide out at Malcolm’s uncle’s place.

From this point, the movie breaks into two separate but connected stories. Most of the action now shifts to Star City, where the sheriff of that small town, a man named Dale “Hurricane” Dixon (Paxton) is extremely excited at getting a chance to work a real case with real LAPD detectives. Cole and McFeely are skeptical of Dixon’s enthusiasm and good ol’ boy manner, but they’re soon won over by the guy’s personality.

Dixon, Cole, and McFeely start doing some legwork to prepare for Malcolm, Franklin, and Fantasia’s arrival. They’re still convinced that the Malcolm’s uncle is the key piece to the puzzle and will lead to the eventual capture of the fugitives, but once Dixon sees a picture of Fantasia, he realizes that they’re looking in the wrong direction.

Dixon recognizes Fantasia as Lila Walker, a girl who grew up in Star City and whom Dixon tried to straighten out after she was caught shoplifting at age 17. After the cops visit Walker’s family’s house and see that Lila left a young 5-year-old son behind, Dixon immediately senses the real purpose for the trio’s upcoming visit to Star City.

These Star City scenes are interrupted by updates on Malcolm, Pluto, and Fantasia’s progress towards Arkansas. We see them fight amongst each other as tensions run high, we see the coke sale go horribly wrong, and we see Fantasia shoot a Texas state trooper in the head to avoid capture. Finally, Fantasia gets on a bus to head to Star City alone, taking the money from the original robbery to guarantee that Malcolm and Pluto won’t abandon her.

The ending of the film shows what happens when everyone finally converges in Star City. It’s an unexpectedly emotional ending, so be prepared for that!

My Reaction: At first, I thought this movie was a bit difficult to get into. I didn’t really understand the ultimate plan that Malcolm, Pluto, and Fantasia had in mind. The whole thing seemed rather vague, which totally undermined the brutality of the opening murders. Why was that necessary? Just to show how cold-blooded these people were, I guess.

But once the focus shifted to Dale Dixon, the pace and energy really picked up. I have always liked Bill Paxton’s work, and found him to be the best part of this movie by far. The emotionally charged ending is entirely dependent on the viewer liking and caring for Paxton’s character, so this was a crucial role. Paxton was up to the task, as usual, and helped make One False Move a very good film.

I was caught off guard by many aspects of this movie, but I have to say that I liked the direction the screenplay (co-written by Thornton and Tom Epperson) took. I liked how One False Move started off as a film about robbery, murder, drugs, and money, and ended up being a film about the people who get involved along the way.

One False Move was a truly great find at the video store, a pleasant surprise in a lot of different ways. I give the film 7.5 stars and recommend that you try to get ahold of it if you haven’t seen it already!