Directed by: Robert Towne
Starring: Mel Gibson, Kurt Russell, Michelle Pfeiffer, Raul Julia, J.T. Walsh, Arliss Howard, Arye Gross
Tequila Sunrise has a film noir feel without the noir. The people in it, even the villains, are simply too darn good and nice for this silly drama to be happening to them. Maybe Tequila Sunrise would've worked better if Kurt Russell played the former drug dealer trying to go straight and Mel Gibson played the cop friend conflicted about busting his buddy. Russell would've brought an edge to the role and Gibson plays cops as well as anyone. But as a drug dealer who works for the most ruthless drug lord in Mexico, or used to...nah, I just wasn't buying Gibson in the role.
The characters in Tequila Sunrise are Conflicted indeed. Even the drug lord, played by the late, great Raul Julia, comes across as too sweet a guy to be mixed up in this cocaine business. If he's the most ruthless cartel leader in Mexico, then the rest must do buy one kilo, get one free promotions. Dale (Gibson) is trying to leave his life of drug dealing behind and start a legitimate business, but the drug lord Carlos (Julia) wants to come to town to set up a big score and play ping pong with Dale. Yes, you read that right. It seems many years ago, Carlos saved Dale's life in a Mexican prison and now Dale feels obligated to help Carlos. Nick (Russell) bends over backwards not to bust his lifelong buddy Dale, even with the DEA setting up shop in his office to take down Carlos.
There is a woman in the middle of this war of morals and drugs, and that is Joanne (Pfeiffer), the obliging owner of an Italian restaurant frequented by Dale. Nick tails Dale there one night and falls for Joanne, while Dale is secretly in love with Joanne already and dines at the restaurant nightly just to have a chance to interact with his beloved. Nick decides to woo Joanne, partly because he likes her and partly because he thinks she could spy on Dale and provide much needed information about Nick. What would Nick need to know that he doesn't already through surveillance and one hundred cops already on the case? What kind of sauce Dale prefers with his ravioli?
If you think Dale will simply sit on the sidelines as Nick and Joanne do the rumpy-pumpy, then you're sorely mistaken. Dale invites Joanne to his son's birthday party, and the sparks fly from there. Joanne becomes entrapped in this world of drugs, secrets, and violence. She should've found another guy and left these two in the dust. Life would've been a lot less dramatic for her.
There isn't a lot of heat between Gibson and Pfeiffer or Russell and Pfeiffer. The kisses and PG-rated sex scenes are accompanied by the cheesy saxophone-laden score which overwhelms the movie. The sax is so loud it threatens to drown out some of the dialogue at times. Writer-director Robert Towne, who wrote Chinatown (1974), tries to recreate the magic of that movie here, but you can see the twists coming from a mile away; twists which provide more questions than answers.
Some questions which popped into my head: Why does the biggest drug lord in Mexico need to have a day job? And a high profile one at that? Isn't it a bigger headache to keep your moonlighting a secret? Does he do it because the medical and dental benefits are really good? Tequila Sunrise looks polished and slick, perhaps even as slick as Kurt Russell's hair, which doesn't seem to move even in the rain. This is but one more reason Russell should've played Dale. Put a mustache on him, and he would look like a silent movie villain.
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