An OK action/modern Western movie. Nick Nolte was wasted in this role. His character was humorless, stern, and utterly one-dimensional. Rip Torn was at his best in his role, and Powers Boothe plays his usual villain. Special kudos to Maria Conchita Alonso, who looked and sounded absolutely lovely. But her character was under-utilized. The action scenes were pretty good for the time, quite Peckinpah-esque. Pretty good. not great.

Jack Benteen and Cash Bailey were childhood friends. Now they are bitter adversaries - Benteen is a Texas Ranger and Bailey is a drug cartel kingpin. Things come to head when a mutual ex-flame gets stuck in the middle. The situation is exacerbated by the appearance of a CIA operative.OK, but not great. Intriguing for the most part, though it degenerates into a one-dimensional action movie towards the end. The final scenes feel like a rip-off of The Wild Bunch, with some of The A-Team thrown in. Action scenes are OK though.Decent performances by Nick Nolte and Powers Booth in the lead roles. Good support from Rip Torn and Maria Conchita Alonso. The performances as the ex- soldiers, however, are mostly over-the-top and hammy.

When it comes to steely eyed stares, Clint Eastwood has nothing on Nick Nolte. Except Nolte is a fine actor whose talents are largely wasted in this tiresomely Johnny-one-note performance. Powers Boothe, whose on-screen charisma is a match for Nolte's, expresses a broader range as the villain, but apparently never got the big break his talent deserves. Too bad. The movie itself goes downhill after a promising beginning. Director Walter Hill is simply unable to weave the subplots of a murky script by that avatar of violence for its own sake - John Milius - into anything like an engaging whole. The result is a fatal crash dive into gruesomely nonsensical parody of The Wild Bunch. The upshot provides a lesson for those who have the blood lust of a Peckinpah, without his cinematic stylishness or moral sensibility. In fact, the film probably works better as parody, particularly Nolte's cartoonish Texas Ranger. A waste of fine talent on third-rate bravado. Save your time.

this was when nick nolte, power boothe, michael ironside were at their prime, just over forty, all full grown men and their acting performances were also matured like wine. this movie was adapted from a very powerful co-authored paperback novel, then so nicely adapted into a screenplay, then again, got a very good director and top notched production team, the final production, of course, logically turned out to be a power house movie. the tension, the plot twists, the betrayals, the bullshitting patriotism and the self-righteous personal selfish gain, the blind follow-order discipline, the born hostile, the drug cartel, the kingpin, the tough like nail Texas ranger....wow, this was a very dangerous movie full of dynamites and bullets. i didn't think boothe did a better Job after this movie, he, like ironside, turned into a b-movie actor. only nolte continued to survive and prosperous in the big screen movies. this movie also reminded me of the later 'no country for old man' and some of the other similar ones focus movies, such of 'lone wolf mcQuade' franchised by chuck norris in the early 80s.now the border between Mexico and those four u.s. states is changing, the situation also rapidly changed and deteriorating. there are 15' feet high great wall-like steel walls separated these two country, there are several u.s./Mexico border-crossing customs. illegal aliens and drug smugglers/dealers playing cat and mouse games on a 24/7/365 basis. u.s. border patrols got new electronic devices and even predators cruising in the sky. the whole scene and the game plan now have changed into a totally different scenario. this movie also urged me to re-watch the 5 episodes 'border war' produced by the national geography. but i'd say that i like the movies better than the documentary films.